How Far Ahead Do YOU Plan?

This week we finally got the husband’s schedule for the 2019-2020 school year and it contains both good news and bad.  The bad news is that, yet again, we do not share the same week off for spring break.  The good news is – huzzah! – we both have a two-week Christmas break in 2020.  We also have one in 2019, but my experience with school district calendars tells me that these may be the last two-week winter breaks for a long time.  (Once the holiday lands on or next to a weekend, all bets are off.)

Naturally, my brain went immediately to that special place: TRAVEL PLANNING.  Where could we go?  Where should we go?  What makes sense with only two weeks?  Should we go somewhere we’ve been dying to return to, or try someplace new?

With breathless excitement, I put all these questions to the husband, and the response was predictable:  “You’re crazy.  It’s two years away.  I refuse to even think about this right now.”  Knowing where all his buttons are, I started to tempt him with the idea of cycling and hiking Death Valley, with its comfortable wintertime climate, and his ears perked up a bit (and his eyes got a dreamy, faraway look and he started drooling).  Then, sensing the trap, he quickly recovered his sensibilities, wiped his chin with his sleeve, repeated that I was a lunatic, and went to work on his bike in the basement.

This fun marital exchange got me wondering if other people plan their travels far into the future, or if I truly am a travel-obsessed wacko. (I can think of worse things to be.)  I’m not talking about talking about doing a vacation at some distant point in the future, with noncommittal we shoulds and we ought tos.  Heck, we all do that, don’t we?  I’m talking about actually starting to research and plan.  Maybe not booking flights and accommodations just yet, but definitely starting the planning process, as well as using phrases like “we are going to (insert destination) in (insert date).”  At one point, I had five years worth of travel planned out into the future.  And guess what – we did all of it.  I don’t have that lengthy a list going right now, but here’s what I do have:

Spring Break, 2019:

The husband is going bike packing for the first time, probably out in Utah.  I will have to live vicariously through him.  (The Utah part, not the cycling part.)  (Chance it will happen: 90%)

Here he is in the basement, prepping for his trip

Summer, 2019:

Quick trip to Leadville, Colorado with the Bobbie.  Climb Huron Peak.  Do some cycling. (Chance it will happen: 60%)

The view of Mounts Elbert (on the left) and Massive from our favorite campground.  Who wouldn’t want to return to that?

Summer, 2019:

England/Wales trip.  (Chance it will happen: 100%)  Everything is booked and ready to go.  Has been for months.  That’s probably why I’ve needed to plan other trips – I’ve been bored.  Makes me a bit nervous actually writing 100%, though.  Feels like I’m tempting fate.

Oh the fun you can have in the motherland

Fall, 2019:

20th wedding anniversary four-day weekend. (Chance it will happen: 95%)  As of this writing, New Orleans is in the lead among people who’ve offered up an opinion.  Lots of people have dissed Miami – not entirely sure why.  In researching San Francisco last night I got all excited about Carmel, California, but it’s violating most of the rules I imposed to make the trip less stressful (car rental, long drive from airport), so I’ve reluctantly let it go.

Christmas, 2019:

Laos/Cambodia Multi-Sport Adventure: Asia, here we come!!  (Chance it will happen: 85%.  The deposit has been paid, the school calendar has cooperated… I just don’t want to jinx our long-awaited first trip to Asia by writing 100%.)

Photo by Suraphat Nuea-on on Pexels.com

Spring Break, 2020:

Nothing, zero, zilch, nada.  Separate spring breaks again.  Actually, the silver lining is that I don’t know how many more trips we can fit in and still afford to feed ourselves.  It’s good to let the pocketbook recover.  I guess. 😦  At least the bunny will be pleased we’re not going anywhere.

 

Summer, 2020:

Spain/France.  (Chance it will happen: 95%.  Again, only superstition is keeping me from writing 100%.)

Practically raw burgers and red wine at 11:30am?  Vive la France!

Christmas, 2020:

??????  That’s the big question.  Should it be a destination that has a favorable December climate, such as Death Valley or Australia?  Should we finally get back to our favorite place in Jamaica given the dearth of joint spring breaks?  If we end up loving the Laos/Cambodia group trip, should we do another one to, say, Thailand or Vietnam?  Ugh.  So much to think about!!!  It’s a wonder I get anything productive done around this house.  (The husband would say I don’t.)

So what about you?  How far out do you tend to make firm travel plans?  What’s your record?  Oh, and am I crazy?  (If you are going to respond to that last question, there’s only one correct answer.  It’s no.  Let’s not give the husband the satisfaction of the alternative response.)