Getting Started

Planning Saves Time, $ and Headaches Some trips just happen: a friend makes a suggestion when they hear you have so many miles on the verge of expiering, someone else mentions the great time they had in Italian hilltowns, your travel agent tells you Portugal and Spain are cheap, and your kids say they guess they can stand to be away from their friends, if you promise they can go to the beach (are they all nude in Europe?) and the airlines tell you their cheapest fares (for the rest of the family) are RT London. Before you know it your trip has a shape and substance of its own and the airline, rail and chunnel tickets are in your hand and you are muttering--"Going to Europe is Expensive". Too many people take someone elses trip, then wonder why they come home disappointed, disillusioned, exhausted and in debt. Do you really want to do this? To avoid taking the wrong expensive trip, sit down and think about your own personal reasons for "why Europe"? Here are a few questions to get you started. Are you going because you were talked into it by your spouse or friend? Is this trip "just a spure of the moment vacation idea" or "a long-anticipated dream adventure?" What do you see yourself (and traveling companions) doing in Europe? Visiting museums, cathedrals, & Roman ruins? Enjoying the peace & quiet of an isolated Bavarian Castle Hotel? Dancing all night in a posh Paris club? Backpacking through the Alps? Running with the Bulls in Spain?      OR is it all a little foggy? Are your dream goals your traveling companions' nightmares? Do they have some expectations you haven't shared? (Watch out for companions who say "Any thing is fine with me." They usually drop latent goals at the last minute or even waite till you get to Europe before letting you know.) Do you plan to look up ancestors, relatives, or friends? Or mix in some business with pleasure? Or gotto study? How much time or interst do you have for planning befoe you leave? Does the question: "How much is this all going to cost?"keep poping into your head? Once you become aware of some of your personal "whys & hows" of your dream trip-- talk to your traveling companions about theirs. What images do they see when they visualize THEIR upcoming adventure? What do they want to do? How do they want to spend their time? How much money are they willing to spend? It is guranteed that two or more people traveling together will have different expectations about your trip. These often show up after you have your passports and expensive, non-refundable airline tickets . Suddenly you discover that someone will be miserable using cheap accommodations with toilet & shower down the hall, or sleeping with strangers in a 6 person night train couchette, or even moving every 2-3 nights. Home-baseing is more their style and they would be happy just strolling Paris and people watching from sidewalk cafes. "To heck with castles & cathedrals!"  Hiking the Alps & Art museums aren't important to them. (Oh, is the person just described you?!) These time and energy depleating differences are much easier to reconcile if they are discovered BEFORE you leave and have time to research alternatives. I have a couple of Focusing Tools that will bring up differences in expectations real quick. These can be particularly helpful for traveling companions who keep saying, "What ever you want to do is fine with me".  Have each person in your traveling party fill out the VACATION STYLE, and SIGHT-SEEING/ACTIVITY CHECK LIST.  Then compare lists. Once you have this out of the way, you are ready to start your itinerary planning which will help every one "experience their dream trip" in a style they enjoy and on budget they can afford. It will give you the framework for figuring out how many rail days you need for passes or point to point tickets, where you can only get around by car, how much time it takes to see sights--and get to them as well as how much they cost. An Itinerary will also help you save time by locating accommodations close to your sight-seeing and that fit your budget .

Mele Fujiwara