“Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.” This quote has been attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower though, at times, he may have said it differently – “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” I have seen various renditions but all are essentially the same. (For anyone who does not know who Dwight Eisenhower was, he was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II and later two-term President of the United States. I like history and quotes. You may see both throughout.)
Another similar quote line that I came across is “No battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy.” This has been credited to a German military strategist named Helmuth von Moltke who fought in several wars in the mid-to-late 1800s. This, too, has various versions all meaning the same. Regardless of what was said these quotes are worth remembering when getting ready for a trip.
So, what does all this mean? If planning is worthless, why bother? Battle plans? Enemy? Are we going to war whenever we travel? Are there soldiers or partisans waiting around the corner to thwart our advance, and our goals? No. We are not actually going to war but there are similarities. Events beyond your control can force an alteration in plans. Maybe it rains the day you planned to hike Ben Nevis in Scotland or work on your tan on the beaches of North Carolina. Any number of things can get in the way. Planning allows for a backup and can help alleviate some of the stress.
You’ll see that many of my examples are based on my experiences traveling with family members. You may like to travel with others or you may like to travel alone. The point is each vacation, trip, or holiday, is and should be different – whether in a group or alone. You may enjoy the spontaneity of a few plans or the assurance of a well-thought-out itinerary. Whichever you prefer, or a combination of these, the important part is to enjoy your time and the company of others. It’s a beautiful world no matter what you enjoy!
You probably have someone in your family or know someone, who can plan things down to the last detail and tends to be stressed if those plans are not made well in advance. You may be that person. That is great and very helpful. Having things laid out with a day-by-day, or hour-by-hour, itinerary can ease a lot of the tension that will, inevitably, go along with travel. I am more of a “let’s start and see what happens. We’ll adjust as we go along.” I may be exaggerating a little but not a lot. In my mind, I will have an idea of what I want to accomplish on the trip – places I would like to see and things I would like to do. The minutia of how this will happen is another matter. My recommendation? Plan, plan, plan, and then leave room to adjust.
Do you need to plan for every second of the day? No. You may want a trip with few to no plans. We rent a house on the beach in North Carolina each year. Our plans are to eat breakfast and go to the beach. Day two – repeat. (More on these trips later.) But you can see we have no set plans other than to enjoy the beach and each other’s company.
How should you start planning for a memorable trip? Where do you even begin? First and foremost, the one thing that you need to know and need to put deep in your heart, is that no matter what you do, no matter how well things are planned, there will be something that goes wrong. You can expect it but most importantly you must embrace it and not let it ruin the enjoyment of travel. Turn that rainy day hike into an excursion to a local museum or back street market seldom seen by tourists. Or maybe just sit back recharge your batteries and get ready for another day. The point is, things will happen so don’t get stressed because your plans have changed.
So let’s get started on our trip. As I stated earlier, I have traveled most of my life. Growing up, my family would leave town for a month and travel to various places in the United States and Canada. Back in the stone age, my mother did most of the planning. This would start by deciding what area of the country we would like to see. Long before computers or the internet, snail mail (USPS), and the local library were the main sources of information on different locations. Mom would write to the local Chamber of Commerce or Tourism Committee for information on what was available in the area. I remember getting brochures and pamphlets on area attractions and accommodations. From there a Rand McNally map would be poured over to see the best routes and since we camped a camping atlas would be consulted. Dad drove while Mom navigated. If you have ever tried doing that with your spouse it can be tricky but they made it work. For the most part, we had general plans but were seldom tied down to an exact itinerary. We would drive and if we saw something interesting, we would stop. Usually about 4:00 in the afternoon Mom would pull out the camping guide to see what was available and how far. We generally stopped anytime after 5:00 but usually closer to 6:00, depending on what campsites were in the area. If there were things to do close by, we would stay more than a day. Other times we broke camp after a day and hit the road. There was no set itinerary.
Why bring up how we did it 60 years ago? Well, though the methods have changed, the basic process is the same. We now have data at our fingertips. What might have taken weeks to research can now be done in an evening. We can search for more out-of-the-way places and find information that once may have taken months. This is a great thing – this is a bad thing. The amount of information available can become overwhelming. We’ll talk more about that later.
My daughter is the planner in the family. Several years ago she started thinking of a trip to celebrate the high school graduation of my grandson. They decided on a trip to Europe and began to plan and save. She talked with my grandson to see where he might like to go. The initial plans were to spend two weeks traveling to Great Britain, Italy, and Greece. He likes Roman and Greek history and thought this would be great. At the time it was going to be just her, her husband, and her two children. Along the way, two things happened. The rest of the family got involved and a realization that two weeks was not enough time. See how plans can change?
Now, instead of the four of them, plans were made for the entire family – 11 in all, ranging from a 6-year-old to a 72-year-old, and some with health issues. Also, the two weeks stretched into three weeks but eventually, Greece had to drop off the itinerary. How can you plan a trip for 11 people in four families and make everyone happy? Well, it helps that we all get along on a regular basis and, other than my son and his family, live in the same neighborhood. It also helps that we like many of the same things and we also knew that this trip was for the grandson.
“The best place to start is at the beginning.” Or as the Good Witch of the North said, “It is always to start at the beginning.” We talked about when would be the best time for everyone with their work schedule. We planned a week each in England, Scotland, and Italy and started by having everyone make a list of the places they wanted to see or the things they wanted to do for each of the countries. After a page for my list, I then turned to Scotland – ouch. This is not going to work. Too many things to see and places to go. All had the same issue – too many places to go. But this is a good way to start planning a journey. Stay tuned to see how we dealt with this conundrum.
