16 Days to Coral Bay: Planning
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:20 am
16 days until Coral Bay
Planning to have no plan.
Easier said than done. There are on island friends I only get to see once a year, travel friends that are on island at the same time, beaches and restaurants I must visit, music I want to hear, boat trips to take, etc.
How do you plan a trip with no plans? The answer from someone that is a planner for living? You don’t.
You make plans and hope that you will make them but set a realistic expectation that you may not make all of it happen.
The best part of the planning process is this time. The few weeks leading up to the trip where you check the forum and the Spicecam a dozen or more times a day. One of my favorite parts of this time is the Making of the Lists. It is a process that I have perfected. Mind you, these lists are made and promptly ignored. There are speadsheets on different computers, notes on the iphone that are never looked at, and chicken scratch on the back of a receipt when the thought of something I MUST have on vacation came to me as I was driving, or doing dishes, or getting my hair done.
The lists serve as a way for me to think I am in control of my vacation. I will be prepared for whatever comes my way; be it swarms of mosquitos, a sudden downpour, or the need for an extra watch battery.
On Day 1 to Coral Bay, I will not have a list because I will not have any idea where any of my lists are. I will throw stuff in a bag and hope for the best and I will not have an extra watch battery…as if I would need it?
Planning to have no plan.
Easier said than done. There are on island friends I only get to see once a year, travel friends that are on island at the same time, beaches and restaurants I must visit, music I want to hear, boat trips to take, etc.
How do you plan a trip with no plans? The answer from someone that is a planner for living? You don’t.
You make plans and hope that you will make them but set a realistic expectation that you may not make all of it happen.
The best part of the planning process is this time. The few weeks leading up to the trip where you check the forum and the Spicecam a dozen or more times a day. One of my favorite parts of this time is the Making of the Lists. It is a process that I have perfected. Mind you, these lists are made and promptly ignored. There are speadsheets on different computers, notes on the iphone that are never looked at, and chicken scratch on the back of a receipt when the thought of something I MUST have on vacation came to me as I was driving, or doing dishes, or getting my hair done.
The lists serve as a way for me to think I am in control of my vacation. I will be prepared for whatever comes my way; be it swarms of mosquitos, a sudden downpour, or the need for an extra watch battery.
On Day 1 to Coral Bay, I will not have a list because I will not have any idea where any of my lists are. I will throw stuff in a bag and hope for the best and I will not have an extra watch battery…as if I would need it?
