Plans to Plan
Fellow bloggers and Round-The-World Travellers Corina and Jay from in2travel had the following question:
How do you orient yourself to a new place? Do you take a morning to prepare yourself or do you just throw yourself out there?
Corina and Jay that is a good question. We never thought of this before we left for our trip. As you will notice preparing the itinerary for a whole year is almost impossible and not worth the time.
I am reminded of a joke: if you want to make G-d laugh, tell him your plans. This is to say that nothing is ever carved in stone. What you will learn on your trip is that plans change, and they change fast.
There are so many sources of information along the way so advance planning should be kept to a minimum.
Before arriving at a destination we like to read articles on Wikitravel or read threads on Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum. This way we can get a basic idea as to the main attractions. Also, if you have friends that have been to your destination, ask them what they did and how long they recommend to stay there for.
Most destinations have Tourist Information Centers found in the airports, bus or train station or in town. Find them! Pick up all maps, pamphlets and brochures. Ask the agents for advice, afterall, this is what they are there for.
When staying at hostels, fellow travellers will give you plenty of advice on the way on hot, cool and/or exotic destinations. Also, most hostels have guide books left behind which we glance over. We actually never bought a guide book (maybe we're too cheap) but sometimes we do trade it for one of our books. When staying with a couchsurfer, there is no better source for information than your host, so pick their brain!
Now, given the wealth of information we've collected, it's time to start planning! We take some time, spread out the maps, books or whatever reading material acquired and make some rough itineraries. We try to plan for several days at a time and try to do planning in the evening so that we can jump right into the day.
With that said, it is important to be flexible. When staying with couchsurfers we find ourselves just hanging out with our hosts and not doing too many "touristy" things. And like I said before, plans change fast. One of our most memorable days was in Morocco. We had planned to go to a palace and other attractions. We stopped for lunch at a street side cafe when a couple we met the day before came by. They purchased a grill and provisions and planned to make a BBQ by the river and we were invited. We spent the whole day hanging out, chatting, eating and it was amazing. Although we never made it to the palace, the day was worth it!
What about booking accommodations in advance? Well, that depends. When couchsurfing, try to request in advance. Even if you don't know exact dates provide approximate ones...you can always write back later to confirm dates. When couchsurfers are not available, we check Hostelworld.com to check availability of hostels but these are not always reliable as hostels often leave some extra room for walk-ins. We find a few hostels that are close to one another and then check them out when we arrive at location.
Another part of our preparation when moving to different countries is to learn some basic words in the language spoken there. Although we found that in a lot of places people do understand basic English, people do appreciate when you try to speak their language. I know it is not much but learning the following will produce some smiles coming from you; Hello, Please, Thank you, Yes, No and Goodbye. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I recommend that you download some free language guides from WorldNomads or other available applications, they are fun and very useful.
One last piece of advice: take it easy! We know there are always lots of things to do and see but it is impossible to do everything. Plus, you have a year. Take a break sometimes. Sleep in, vegetate in front of a TV/computer, go to a park or beach or just hang out. Just go with the flow and you might find yourselves enjoying some of the most memorable experience of your lives.