How do you Plan your long trips?

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We once planned a trip around the world on our sailboat (just like full-timing in the coach only bigger.... and no roads :p). Spent a year planning the 3 1/2 year trip to the "T"...... 14 years later, we arrived back in the US (so much for 3 1/2 years)...... One time, we were sailing from Panama to San Diego, ended up in Hawaii  :eek:. That was the end of our planning....  8)
 
Whenever we plan a trip, whether it's in an RV or on a touring motorcycle. We rarely plan much more than departure date, destination(s), and return date.

Most of the few times that we did make plans, they changed along the way, so I basically quit making plans.
I will at times, especially when on the motorcycle, make a route with whatever GPS software I'm currently using. This is usually because I want to ride some specific roads. And I will also do this to try to estimate how much distance we may travel in a given day
Fortunately for me, since I work away from home in the summers, most of our traveling is done in the off season so there is little need for reservations.
 
Quidja board, darts, coin.    I use a guitar pick.  Quick flip and it'll put you on a compass point and off we go.

"The road is better than the inn." 

"We were expecting you two weeks ago"

"Next Wednesday.  What year?"

Just some of the comments I have heard over the last few years......

If I have to think about it and plan, I may as well go back to work and make money at it.

Mr. LeMans
 
Russ;

To your original request, the first thing we do when we PLAN a trip, and I think you do need a plan. I go online and google the tour company's such as (TAUK, Good Sam, AAA) and see where they stop to visit. I go to AAA get maps, and tour books for the destination and along the route.  We use Microsoft trip and lay out the route in our GPS. We use the Rand McNally. During the day the GPS will tell us where we will be at a certain time of day and look for a campground in the GS book.  Like you we try to get pull throughs, and 50 amp service.  We call around noon and usually we get our requests. 

The best place for advise I find is where you are now, the rvforum. As you see you will get all types of advise, some good some soso.  advise is like the auto industry, many different makes, models, and colors, and like the advise all those different cars will still get you there.

See you on the road. 

Jim
 
    As others have said, we outline a destination, and roughly look to see what we might want to see on our way, but we never over plan our trip.  I like to say the "short term planning is where are we going today" and "long term is where are we heading tomorrow".  We have stopped at a location for a 2 night stay, loved it and stayed 3 weeks.  There are days we travelled 700 miles, and more often days that we went 100 miles.
    Ed
 
We've hung up our keys.  However, I agree 100% with the non-planners in this thread, some of whom are very special friends.  In almost 17 years full-timing covering about 115,000 miles we rarely made reservations.  The only time we "almost" got aced out was in Valdez, AK.  We got the last campsite available in town that night.  We could have boondocked and been just fine.  I began keeping detailed records, but at some point decided "oh, what the heck!" and threw all of them out except for records of maintenance on the diesel engine.  You're retired!  Time to fly free of schedules and appointments, IMHO.  (Except for RV Forum rallies and other specific events involving friends and family.)

Margi
 
I think that shorter trips and those with more rigid itineraries tend to require more planning. Not everybody has the time freedom to make spontaneous changes in route or timing, and sometimes the trip is more demanding than we might otherwise wish.

And then, some people simply aren't comfortable "winging it". If having a detailed plan makes their trip more enjoyable, isn't that a good thing?
 
We never plan, except to decide if we're going North, South, East, or West, unless we're going to a planned RVForum rally like Moab or Catalina. When we went to Alaska, it was OK let's go and do the state. We decided where to go when we got there.

 
Me, I plan the whole summers (6 mos) trip on S&T, THEN we deviate from the plan routinely! The plan is just an outline to start with, but anytime we see or think of something else to do we change on the fly. Last summer we planned a trip the included Chicago, Detroit, Vermont, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Boston, Connecticut, Washington DC, thee down the east coast. We followed the detail plan about 80% until Connecticut when we decided to head cross country to the Oregon Coast! Plans are fun, but they made to be changed. Actually I'm reviewing the next few weeks of this summer and thinking about some changes - and at this point we're already a week behind "schedule".

ken



 
The beauty of owning and traveling in an RV is that you can do exactly what you want! You can plan plan plan or NOT and still have a wonderful journey!  To each his own!

May we all have wonderful adventures!
 
I don't plan anything. Being retired, it is one of the advantages of traveling. I have a destination in mind, but getting there? I stop when and where I want, and detour, whenever the mood suits me. You can never replicate trips like that. You always have the more fun and adventure, when you free wheel.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
...Not everybody has the time freedom to make spontaneous changes in route or timing...
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Although I am retired my wife still works so that we do not have the luxury of not planning our trips. I make reservations very early on for our major destination points (6-months). Our travel stops (nightly stop-overs) are scheduled in advance as well; usually I make reservations a few days in advance when we are traveling. I use a rough estimate of 250-300 miles per day of driving and I make my reservations accordingly.

In the next couple of years as my wife eases out of the family business we'll be more spontaneous in our travels. Until then I am very comfortable scheduling the entire trip. 

I just completed scheduling our trip to Oregon this year, every stop is reserved where possible and plans for spontaneity where reservations cannot be made (one 3-day period out of 21-days). What I am leaving to chance this year is our day-to-day travel stops, it takes me nearly 3-days to travel the 900 miles to Roseburg, and for the first time I am going to leave the nightly stops to take care of themselves (biting fingernails).
 
ArdraF said:
Very interesting viewpoint - and one I don't agree with at all. 
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Very interesting viewpoint - and one I agree with.  :D

I guess it comes down to what you want to do and see on your trip.  We wanted to hit major National parks this summer.  And we wanted to camp inside them.  I wanted a campsite with a view of the Grand Canyon on the north rim.  I got it when I reserved the day it opened.  But all of the canyon view sites sold out in a matter of a few hours.  In order to get that you make a reservation.  As most everyone knows here, National Park campgrounds sell out fast.  Yellowstone starts accepting reservations 14 months out.  And it may be sold out months in advance.  Were there during the 4th of July so that week sold out the day it opened.  I definitely look forward to the day I can just go. (10 years until retirement) While planning is not a real hindrance to me I can see the benefit and enjoyment of just going.  As they say, the journey is the destination! 
 
We rarely plan anything.  For us, planning just opens the door for disappointment if things don't work out the way you planned.  Even our week-long vacations when the boys were little involved a destination, a leave date and a return date.  We filled in the blanks when we got there.  Most of our vacations were last minute decisions.  For example: On Thursday - "Let's go to Disney World!"  On Friday - head out.  The extent of our planning included finding a place to stay, calling the grandparents (because they usually went with us) and gassing up the van.  We once planned a vacation months in advance.  Seemed like it took forever for the start date to arrive and then it was over so fast.

Hubby promises he will retire the end of October.  We will hook up the fiver and head out.  Go where the wind and weather blows us and enjoy the moment.  When (if) we get tired of it, we will buy another house and settle back down.  We don't even know where that house will be.  That is part of the reason we will be traveling - to find our favorite place in this great country. 
 
Oscar Mike said:
Although I am retired my wife still works so that we do not have the luxury of not planning our trips. I make reservations very early on for our major destination points (6-months). Our travel stops (nightly stop-overs) are scheduled in advance as well; usually I make reservations a few days in advance when we are traveling. I use a rough estimate of 250-300 miles per day of driving and I make my reservations accordingly.

In the next couple of years as my wife eases out of the family business we'll be more spontaneous in our travels. Until then I am very comfortable scheduling the entire trip.
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As a planner, I make lots of reservations - but I only make long range reservations for places that I can cancel or change without cost.  Our primary membership allows me to do that and it lets us get into popular places during busy times.  If a reservation requires a deposit with a portion being non-refundable (like CoE campgrounds) I only make reservations if it's a popular place AND when I do I wait till a month or two before we will be there.

Still there are exemptions to that approach.  I was at one national park in an absolutely gorgeous campsite.  I had looked the campground up online and decided on the campsite months earlier and when I saw the campground starting to fill up I went ahead and reserved it.  To this day we remember how great that spot was.  Had we just flipped a coin that morning and headed out with no planning we would have never gotten that perfect location.

I think there are pluses and minuses to both approaches.  Beyond that, trip planning is fun for some people and work for others.  I make it a point to never put down people who enjoy the adventure of journeying without a specific destination in mind.  It's not for me, but I'm fine if it works for them.
 
Very interesting viewpoint - and one I don't agree with at all. 
Very interesting viewpoint - and one I agree with.  :D
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Isn't it wonderful that there's room in the world for all of us to negotiate traveling in our own way?  The objective, of course, is to enjoy the time we all have on this earth and if planning or not planning is what makes it enjoyable then that's the path we should take.  It's interesting that we got about 1,200 miles into our summer trip and cancelled it because Mother Nature decided to hit where we wanted to go worse than elsewhere so we made a 180-degree turn and came home.

Have a great summer everyone - and travel safely.

ArdraF
 
I always plan my trips.  It may come from my days as a private pilot when I never took off without a set flight plan.  Anyway, my trips almost always involve specific stops such as visiting friends, family, etc. and a well laid out trip plan is a must.  Sometimes it's necessary to plan well ahead.  As an example, this summer we are visiting Yellowstone Park and Mt. Rushmore (as well as friends).  Campgrounds near these sites fill up fast so reservations well in advance are necessary.  Being spontaneous is all well and good but if you are travelling during peak vacation times with specific destinations in mind a little advance planning is time well spent.  I use MapQuest, Google Maps, Google Earth, Good Sam web site and KOA directory to layout my trips.
 
I love planning my trips, right down to the smallest detail, except for reservations.  I very seldom make reservations as most of our travels have no particular destination except for home when we return.  But, plotting where to go and what routes to take and how long to stay at each stop is part of the fun for me...then we get in the RV and take off, lord knows where or for how long. ;D
 
For the most part, I plan few things in my life, particularly my recreation.

That said, I use Delorme Atlas and Gazeteers-- buy one for each state-- plus a few carefully chosen books to find campgrounds. Good Sam's campground guide has just about every one, but I use one book that lists state parks, one for Federal sites and one for Army Corps.

Unless I find something that is a real turn off, I'll give just about any campground one night. You can always move to a different site or campground the next day.

The Delorme Atlas and Gazeteers are good for finding the other stuff important to me. Despite copy right laws, I copied their parks and campground sections to take with me in a folder while motorcycle camping.
 
Thanks, Dan23, for bringing up some of the other aspects of trip planning - it's not only about reservations.

We primarily use the RV Road Trip Navigator (aka Good Sam Campground Guide DVD) to identify potential campgrounds along our route. It's a handy graphical way to see what is in an area, so we can "plan" how far we want to travel and select alternatives for a stay.  We also view potential campgrounds via the Passport America website (we are members) and RVParkreviews.com and use the campground's own website (if any) to get details and photos.

For route selection we use MS Street & Trips digital maps and that also provide info on restaurants and services in an area. We seldom just let S&T (or our Garmin GPS) pick the route - I like to look at alternative highways and scope out towns along the way, then choose my own route. Google Earth is another good tool if you want to take a look at the geography and layout of a place. I've used it to see everything from fuel station accessibility to the spacing of sites at a campground.

Other handy tools include Yelp and Trip Advisor for restaurants and services, Allstays RV and road trip apps on the phone to locate Walmarts, rest areas, etc., and Gasbuddy.com & app to locate fuel stations and check prices.
 
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