Planning

I'm a planner. I plan and organize things to death. Doing this satisfies my control-freak tendencies in a way that has minimal impact on others, and can be done discreetly.

I plan trips. Spending countless hours researching locations - everything about them - from temperature and climate info to cultural information and curreny, and everything in between. Once I decide on a location I like, I then switch my focus to accomodations - where should we stay? Independent hotel? Bed and Breakfast? Resort? Chain Hotel? Then there's the room itself... basic room with two smaller beds? Balcony? Mini-suite? Two-bedroom suite? On and on this goes, as I check out the attractions in the area and then determine the best way to get there. All this, and I haven't even considered when we might have the opportunity to go, or if we would even have the money to go. At the end of the day, though, I feel like I'm armed with information - and if/when the planets were to align, and I suddenly found myself with 10 days available and $2200 bucks, I would be able to jump into a car with a solid plan in place to have a fabulous trip at the drop of a hat.

Right - I know - like that's ever gonna happen. But still, I enjoy doing it. For awhile back in high school/college, I actually did co-ops in a couple of travel agencies. I had given some serious consideration to being a travel agent. I truly loved digging into things, pursuing resources to find the best possible deals to meet the criteria outlined for a given trip. The main reason I didn't go down that road was because I determined that the job didn't pay very well unless you owned your own travel agency, and as travel websites were popping up everywhere, the writing on the wall said that the demand for such businesses was decreasing by the day.

I think that trip planning serves a couple of purposes for me. I mentioned keeping my control-freak tendencies at bay, and that's likely a very real thing... but it also satisfies the dreamer in me. I can imagine a trip into existence... thinking about where I would go, and what I would do... by the time the last detail has been decided on, I feel like I've gone on the trip in my fantasy-land, and there's satisfaction in that. The plain and simple fact is that I'm a realist, most of the time.

I'm not going to get to go on all (or even most) of the trips I've planned. I don't get that much time off work, and I don't have that kind of money. In the meantime, though, I plan. I plan getaways and it makes me happy. If I'm really lucky, I get to actually go on one of those trips every once in awhile. And knowing that the people I love would love to go on the trips with me makes me happy, too.

Gotta go now - more planning to do :)