As the OP, I totally understand what
travelmad478 is talking about. We take a very similar approach, and seem to afflicted with the same problem
2 weeks ago,we returned from a trip.
JFK-Abu Dhabi, land in AUH, hire a guide for a brief tour through Abu Dhabi and Dubai (we were not particularly interested in either place but thought they might be worth checking out, since they are easy to return to if we like them. We did not). Spend the night in W by AUH.
AUH-COK, exploring Cochi, the backawaters, 3 nights.
Drive from Cochi to Munnar, hike in tea plantations, 2 nights.
Drive from Munnar to Madurai, explore the city and temples, 2 nights.
IXM-DEL, where we've been before, see things we haven't seen, 2 nights.
10 nights total.
after every trip, I ask my wife if there was any place she wanted to spend more time in. And invariable the answer is no, this was fine, we were ready to leave.
So it doesn't feel like we are shortchanging ourselves, which makes it difficult to change
what would have slowed down the trip?
We did the backwaters day trip, no desire to stay the night.
We had an Ayurvedic massage, no desire to have more.
Another hike in Munnar would have been nice, I guess, but not critical.
We explored all of Madurai, some places twice.
Delhi has a lot more obviously, but we were ready to go home.
So, slow travelers who are familiar with these destinations, whatw would you have changed?