One would think if one were planning a trip that some sort of itinerary would be involved. One would think. But, thinking usually gets me into trouble.
That’s not to say that I didn’t try to pull together an itinerary. I had BIG plans a couple of years ago. I would develop a database to span two years of travel that included 49 states(Hawaii would have to wait for another time). For each State there would be columns labeled National Park, Historic Site, Natural Wonder, Local Cuisine, Roadside Americana, Museums, Factory Tours, Friends and Family, Festivals, Special Activities, Camping and Travel Routes. I would research each State until I could fill in each of these columns with all of the possibilities available. Pertinent dates would be included such as “Fall in New England” September-October, “Burning Man Festival” end of August etc. I could then cross reference all of these activities and dates to figure out the best routes to take to see and do as much as we could in the most efficient way. I was a woman with a mission and I was determined to get it all figured so we wouldn’t miss anything.
I admit it was a bit ambitious but, you have to start somewhere. Unfortunately, I’m technically challenged, my free time to do research is limited and my laptop has issues so my database didn’t develop very far. Then, it was too late to even try to finish it. So much for plan “A”.
On to plan “B”. Plan “B” involved printing out blank monthly calendars that I would mount on both sides of a 3’ x 4’ poster board encompassing approximately 18 months. I would then laminate it and use dry erase markers(color coded of course)to map out a plan. The poster would be more “visual” and the dry erase markers would enable us to arrange and rearrange as we saw fit as well as to color code the entries: National Parks- blue, Museums-green, Friends and Family-yellow etc. It was a beautiful plan and only took 5 phone calls and 3 trips to find somewhere that would laminate a poster of that size. The “Dudes” and I actually filled in quite a few entries. But, it soon became apparent that we really didn’t know how long we would want to spend in any of these places. And, any time we added another entry, it would shift the whole plan.
I thought back to a 14 month backpacking trip I took across Asia. Other than a trek in the Himalayas of Pakistan and a couple of rafting trips in Nepal, the whole trip was unplanned. My traveling companion and I just went wherever whenever. We learned of new and interesting places along the way from other travelers and made up our route as we went. If we liked a place, we stayed until we were ready to leave. If we ended up somewhere we didn’t like, we left. Most importantly, we made the most of every place we visited.
Which brings me to plan “C”. All of that thinking and working through plan “A” and “B” has caused plan “C” to be reduced to “winging it” for serendipity can find no home within schedules and expectations. At this point, we are heading West, mostly because heading East would dump us into the sea in about ten minutes. We are down to a year of travel due to financial constraints and I don’t care which or how many States and sites we manage to see as long as we take our time as a mindful sniff of the rose is lasting whereas a passing whiff is fleeting.
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.” Buddha