Route planning? (1 Viewer)

[Scattycat]

We are off shortly for our winter 3 month, +\- a few days, trip taking in France, Spain and Portugal.
But apart from our first night stop that gets us away from the house we don't really plan a route. Okay, we know a few places we'd like to visit but that's it we just take each day as it comes and probably only decide the night before where we'd like to stop the following night which often changes as the day goes on depending on what time we end up leaving and what we see or happens en-route.
Now I've seen folks post that they are trying to 'plan' a route to a certain destination.
So, my question is, ' How detailed do folks plan their trips and do they tend to keep to them? '

 

[parknride]

I get a bit annoyed nowadays that we feel we have to book certain sites in Spain in advance if we want to be there to meet up with others. Gone are the days when you could just turn up and get on. Never plan France much other than choose an area see what we like and stay and leave as we please. Plan is no plan Unless we are wanting to be sure of a place on a particular site. Sounds double Dutch

 

[wingman]

I plan every millimetre!

The 'wind in my hair' ........ 'Just see where the road takes us' ....... Point the bonnet and go.... doesn't work for me I'm afraid. Everything is planned with military precision.

Foreign sites are booked months in advance, Aires are researched via the net, books, or this forum and then 'driven' using Street View. Two alternates are up my sleeve in case they are full or unsuitable.

Apart from a file containing vehicle related doc's, I have another which resembles half aircraft checklist, half Monte Carlo Rally navigator's section map including timings and distances.

"Bugger that; where's your sense of adventure, man" I hear you cry. Well, I actually enjoy a bit of winter armchair planning and OCD when eventually off on my/our travels.

Couldn't relax if I didn't have a plan

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[Reallyretired]

I always plan what I'm going to do on the day in the morning, sometimes I even carry it out, though its usually more satisfactory to do something different and unplanned. I do book the tunnel going out in advance, and the return journey a couple of days in advance too, it's cheaper than just turning up at the terminal.

 

[ceejayt]

I love the planning bit but don't go overboard. Live life as it comes but have a plan B

 

[9526]

We are off shortly for our winter 3 month, +\- a few days, trip taking in France, Spain and Portugal.
But apart from our first night stop that gets us away from the house we don't really plan a route. Okay, we know a few places we'd like to visit but that's it we just take each day as it comes and probably only decide the night before where we'd like to stop the following night which often changes as the day goes on depending on what time we end up leaving and what we see or happens en-route.
Now I've seen folks post that they are trying to 'plan' a route to a certain destination.
So, my question is, ' How detailed do folks plan their trips and do they tend to keep to them? '

We're pretty much the same, we have booked the tunnel for a week on Sunday and are going to visit France, Spain, and Portugal for approx 3 Months.

That is the extent of our plans

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[sedge]

I like to do some planning - mainly because it's easier for me to look up 'Things to Do/Places to See' on the puter at home, instead of arriving somewhere in the middle of nowehere I didn't know we were going anywhere near and Pete saying 'What would you like to do today?' Grrrr. LOL

As you will gather - Pete just likes to get up and go. I do like leeway for spontaneity, don't like to think we MUST be somewhere by X o'clock or leave somewhere no later than Y, but at the same time if there's a chateau I really want to visit some time - don't want to arrive in the area, think Oh that's good - I can go there, at last! only to find out this is the one week they close every year.

 

[Chipster]

We just book the outbound channel crossing then wing it.

 

[Shrimp]

Before when we've come to France we've booked Ferry, have a basic idea of where we are going-South, taking in the west coast, then just followed our nose!
This time is different, used the chunnel and are property sitting for a few weeks then we will just amble and see when we get there!

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[DBK]

I like to do research to identify places to visit which usually includes places to stay nearby but I do little work on the actual route between them and certainly not a detailed itinerary. This is because I like to be flexible, staying somewhere longer if there is a lot to see or the weather is good.

I am also slowly learning to avoid "tunnel vision" by which I mean punching in a destination on the satnav and then just simply driving there, passing and ignoring lots of potentially interesting places along the way. There is so much to see in, for example, inland Spain but it takes a real effort to decide to stop on a journey and make an unscheduled detour to somewhere else, leaving your original destination for another time.

But you can never do too much research I think. We visited Salamanca last year and traipsed around the cathedral etc, which were good but I forgot all about the Battle of Salamanca which was the battle which established Wellington's reputation as a fighting general. There is nothing to see on the battlefield but I would have liked to have seen the low hills behind which Wellington hid his forces before they fell on the French and destroyed them in less than an hour according to contemporary accounts. I should have done more reading before visiting the area!

 

[BFM14]

We plan the dates of the tunnel, out and return and if we are sure of where we want to stop for 5 or 6 days book that. We like to stay at Camping Butterfly on the way into and out of Italy but the rest is just sorted the day before and we determine how far we want to travel by how tired we are. Unfortunately like DBK used to do, we tend to have tunnel vision and go place to place without detouring. Missed many good things by this approach. We are using this forum this year to help plan our two month trip. So thank you to all who contribute on this forum as it has been source of great inspiration, technical knowledge etc.

 

[Tincataylor]

We find the more trips we do the less we plan. Motorhoming and planning have become odd bedfellows for us......too many places we have never seen and too many people we have never met just seem to get in the way of planning,

The TIncas

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[peterc10]

30 years ago when we had kids and the caravan and a two week break in the summer it was all planned meticulously. Now we have the motorhome we are getting less and less into planning.

This spring we will book the tunnel for the outward journey a few days before we want to go (we are going to get the 10 ticket deal) and that is all. At the moment we are thinking of heading for Italy, but we may yet decide to return to Portugal, which we enjoyed so much last spring. May not even make the decision until we are in France, and even then may change it! And when we start wending our way home we will book the return tunnel a couple of days in advance.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a rough idea of where we are going if it's the first time in an area I do a fair bit of research of places I would like to mountains I'd like to walk up & rough idea of a route.
But if often goes tits up due to the weather, like the year we were heading for the Baltic coast of Germany, got as far as Belguim weather & forecasts horrible so we turned right and ended up in Slovenia. Also a couple of years ago heading for the Vogues to do some nice walking as we got into area raining, freezing cold (20 deg) again didn't even stop carried on to Provence and a pleasant 30 deg.

 

[Clarky]

Most of our planning is done via the weather apps I have on the phone.
Ferry or tunnel crossing is usually booked 2-3 days ahead and when we get to 'tother side we look to see where the weather looks best and head in that direction.
That usually seems to mean heading south rather than east to Germany.

Richard.

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