“I don’t have to do anything, do I?” Tonje wrote. We were going to Brussels for a week, and one couldn’t miss the note of trepidation in her e-mail.
“Nope,” I replied, inserting a little wink, “I’ll take care of it.” The consequent relief on her end was unmistakable.
Traveling to a new destination is exciting and all, but the thought of having to actually plan what to do and when is enough to dissuade most people from forming an itinerary. “We’re just there to have fun,” they protest with an airy wave of the hand. “We don’t want to have schedules.“
True, it doesn’t do to have constricting deadlines — you don’t want to feel you’re on an organized tour bus, after all. However, having even a skeleton-frame outline will save you headache on your trip, be that headache a small twinge (endless back-and-forths on “so what do you want to do?” “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”) or a whopper (winding up on the other side of the city after the last train has left).
You don’t have to make a huge “divide and conquer” battle plan. One quick, easy way that I use to rough out my itinerary is to divide a small piece of paper into two columns: Must See on the left and Good to See on the right. The left column is for places and things that get you excited and you simply can’t miss out on (ergo the title, “Must See”). The right column is for things that sound interesting or places that strike your fancy, but not so high on the priority list.
When you’re reading guidebooks or websites on your intended destination, and happen to come across a description of a sight or location that sparks your interest, note it down in either of the two columns. Obviously, you leave out anything you don’t care about or ranks too low on your priority list.
How do you tell the difference between a Must See and a Good to See? A Must See gets you excited and telling people, “I can’t miss out on that!” A Good to See sets off the mental thought, “That’ll be good to see,” i.e., “Wouldn’t mind missing it if we don’t have time, but still, would be lovely to go.”
I’d mentioned before to list these on a small piece of paper. The reason is so that you can be quite discerning in your choices, and won’t be tempted to overburden your travel with excessive things-to-do.
Once you have your lists done, you can start grouping them by location. That way, it can be a simple walk to get from place to place, and your trips by bus, subway, or the metro are vastly reduced. The main focus of each group should be the Must See’s, so don’t have three Good to See’s to one Must See in any group. When I went to Paris, I arranged my places of interest according to arrondissement, and it was a great deal more relaxing and organized knowing that even if one of those places turned out not to be interesting at all, I can just stroll over to the next item on my list and the afternoon wouldn’t be a total bust.
Happy planning!
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