Talk:Preparation

Article about travel planning

I don’t think we have any kind of Tips for planning a trip/Travel for dummies - article. As long as we’ve had the Tourist Office, there have been quite many questions concerning planning itineraries. Also, if someone perhaps has been on charter trips to a resort and on some weekend trips by plane to some world cities but now would like to make a two-month transcontinental backpacker trip (through developing countries?), the person probably would need to know a couple of new things.

Many of us regular editors here have been on long and/or independent journeys, experienced several continents, cultures, writing systems and time zones and much of what is in such an article may look like advice from captain obvious. But we also must keep in mind that to some readers even a car trip a few hundred kilometers away from home may be a really big deal.

We’ve already written about many of those things elsewhere (e.g. in our flying series). Nevertheless I think it’d be good to have one article with links to those others, an article where “travel newbies” could learn the basics from A to Z. What do you think? ϒpsilon (talk) 14:59, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

"To Reduce Travel Stress, Plan Less"

Interesting New York Times article:

It may seem counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to reduce stress while traveling is to just plan less and let spontaneity take over.

I'm positive this wouldn't work for some people, but it sure is interesting. I have often reserved a hotel in my next stop while in the previous city, 1 to 2 days before our arrival in the next one. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:45, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

People are different, and I am sure some have the least stress if everything is planned and others if none is, but there might be a bias between what is recommended and what is the best for "an average" traveller. I suppose most people should avoid having hard dead lines where they are not necessary (but keep track of those that are), and leave enough time for spontaneous activities. That is in line with the article, but what nights and transportations to book before the voyage and what to leave to later depends very much on the destination – if everybody else books well in advance you have to do so too, unless you have some way out when there happens not to be any last minute offers. Don't take chances if you cannot (or don't want to) handle tough luck – which goes both ways, as noted in the article. --LPfi (talk) 08:07, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

If "plan less" means to plan fewer activities, that is usually good advice. Time management touches on this. /Yvwv (talk) 13:04, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

LPfi, your points are well taken and were also addressed in the article - island-hopping usually has to be reserved well in advance during high season, and if you want to go to a high-end restaurant like Noma in Copenhagen, you may have to book your meal a year in advance. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:14, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Reorganisation

Yvwv wrote in an edit summary: "Should we merge some of these generalized topics?" I don't see which of them could be merged, but I think this is a mess. Anything can of course be planned in advance, but e.g. Budget travel is as much about what you do on the road as about preparation. I think the page is a confusing mess. Would there be some way to get a logical structure on the "planning" topics? –LPfi (talk) 15:01, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

We have different issues; categorization, and content in the most general travel topic articles. As a case study, there is very little to write in general about Reasons to travel. We could scrap the article, and categorize sub-topics as concerns and cultural attractions. /Yvwv (talk) 01:07, 16 August 2021 (UTC)