Time spent researching a trip/hotel?
Apr 9, 2019, 6:21 am
#16
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 6,433
Alain de Botton the Swiss/Brit philosopher has written a lovely little book called The Art of Travel. (Actually, several of his works touch on travel, including especially A Week at the Airport, and I recommend all of them.) He makes the observation that for some people, maybe many, the anticipation of the journey is a hugely important and rewarding part of the travel experience: the dreaming of what it will be like, the look-and-feel, even the experiences themselves. In that light, time spent researching might not be time spent, let alone time wasted; it might be an integral part of the experience.
Apr 10, 2019, 1:03 am
#18
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: OSL
Posts: 2,145
I spend a lot of time doing research online before a trip; Finding the hotel, choose the room, best flights, about the destination, activities, shopping, restaurants, excursions etc. I look at FT, TA, youtube, Instagram and other sources. I really enjoy this and would enjoy the trip itself much less if I had not taken this time before actually going away. It is hard to say exactly how much time I spend doing this, but definitely days if not weeks. Travelling is a lifestyle and a hobby for me which I truly enjoy and this includes all the pre-trip work.
Apr 10, 2019, 9:35 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 4,217
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with spending a lot of time researching and planning hotel stays. The only thing I’ve noticed with me is that I will sometimes become indecisive and second guess a decision. But my TA is good about giving his advice and providing a second opinion.
As for work trips, those I book in mere minutes and don’t look back
As for work trips, those I book in mere minutes and don’t look back
Apr 11, 2019, 2:55 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: A festering pit; a pustule of a fistula set athwart the miasmic swamps of the armpit of the Gulf of Mexico - a Godforsaken wart upon a dark crevasse of the World. (IAH)
Programs: UA Lifetime Gold, BA Silver, Marriott Lifetime Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Gold
Posts: 31,403
For longer trips, weeks of consideration, which I personally enjoy. I typically have a list in my head of locations that we've wanted to visit, or desperately want to return to. It's usually a process of figuring out flight schedules and open-jaw airfares (with award or other filler flights between) within a region, and stringing together a number of destinations. Usually the search for appropriate accommodations follows that. I'm usually planning/booking close to a year out for most longer vacations. Sometimes the trip will be driven by trying out a new airline/route/product, and fitting the destinations in around that.
Case-in-point, May trip this year was designed around trying out SQ Suites and the A350-900ULR, so I originally pieced together an itinerary by booking SFO-HND in JL F, PEK-SIN in SQ Suites, and SIN-LAX in SQ J. Slowly filled in the flights/destinations around that, and settled on a couple nights in Carmel, California pre-trip. A majority of the trip is at a lakeside hotel in Japan's Aomori Prefecture, which is easy driving distance to Shirakami-Sanchi National Park. Rest of the trip is quick stays at Rosewood Beijing and Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore.
July trip was centered around finding a place to stay under the path of totality for this year's total solar eclipse, which runs directly over Chile's Elqui Valley (where most of the country's Pisco is made). Given the location in the southern Atacama desert, odds of clear skies are high. Managed to find a cabin on Airbnb that's on the edge of a Pisco estate, with a wood-fired hot tub and a large outdoor deck that should be perfect for watching the eclipse. Decided it would be fairly easy to pair that with a trip to a destination I saw in an Avianca in-flight magazine years ago--a birding lodge perched about 8,000 ft. up in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. We aren't really birders, but the location/lodging looked really unique and beautiful (Rondel-style thatched-roof huts perched on the side of the mountain with sweeping views).
November trip was designed around seeing a different part of Colombia's highlands, near Medellin and in Antioquia. Started that trip research with finding the ideal coffee plantation for a relaxing multi-day stay, and added some stuff either side of it (time in Medellin, some puddle-jumpers on no-name regional Colombian carriers, and a hot springs resort in the mountains above Pereira).
December is our fifth anniversary, so I wanted to work in a Safari (our favorite type of vacation). Didn't want to rehash prior trips, and had always wanted to see mountain gorillas, so started with Rwanda/Volcanoes National Park as the primary destination, then spent a ton of time finding the right flights to get down there. Ended up finding an open-jaw itinerary into ADD and out of JNB that allowed for QR QSuites on the longhaul legs (and was reasonably priced through Amex IAP), and then set to work trying to find intra-Africa flights that were well-timed and would allow us to see other interesting things. Was finally able to pair three nights at Virunga Lodge in Rwanda with three nights in Ethiopia's Simien Mountains National Park, and two nights in Swakopmund, Namibia (had been before and really enjoyed it, but wife hasn't).
Looking forward to planning whatever is next.
Case-in-point, May trip this year was designed around trying out SQ Suites and the A350-900ULR, so I originally pieced together an itinerary by booking SFO-HND in JL F, PEK-SIN in SQ Suites, and SIN-LAX in SQ J. Slowly filled in the flights/destinations around that, and settled on a couple nights in Carmel, California pre-trip. A majority of the trip is at a lakeside hotel in Japan's Aomori Prefecture, which is easy driving distance to Shirakami-Sanchi National Park. Rest of the trip is quick stays at Rosewood Beijing and Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore.
July trip was centered around finding a place to stay under the path of totality for this year's total solar eclipse, which runs directly over Chile's Elqui Valley (where most of the country's Pisco is made). Given the location in the southern Atacama desert, odds of clear skies are high. Managed to find a cabin on Airbnb that's on the edge of a Pisco estate, with a wood-fired hot tub and a large outdoor deck that should be perfect for watching the eclipse. Decided it would be fairly easy to pair that with a trip to a destination I saw in an Avianca in-flight magazine years ago--a birding lodge perched about 8,000 ft. up in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. We aren't really birders, but the location/lodging looked really unique and beautiful (Rondel-style thatched-roof huts perched on the side of the mountain with sweeping views).
November trip was designed around seeing a different part of Colombia's highlands, near Medellin and in Antioquia. Started that trip research with finding the ideal coffee plantation for a relaxing multi-day stay, and added some stuff either side of it (time in Medellin, some puddle-jumpers on no-name regional Colombian carriers, and a hot springs resort in the mountains above Pereira).
December is our fifth anniversary, so I wanted to work in a Safari (our favorite type of vacation). Didn't want to rehash prior trips, and had always wanted to see mountain gorillas, so started with Rwanda/Volcanoes National Park as the primary destination, then spent a ton of time finding the right flights to get down there. Ended up finding an open-jaw itinerary into ADD and out of JNB that allowed for QR QSuites on the longhaul legs (and was reasonably priced through Amex IAP), and then set to work trying to find intra-Africa flights that were well-timed and would allow us to see other interesting things. Was finally able to pair three nights at Virunga Lodge in Rwanda with three nights in Ethiopia's Simien Mountains National Park, and two nights in Swakopmund, Namibia (had been before and really enjoyed it, but wife hasn't).
Looking forward to planning whatever is next.