How Travel Changed for Us
We used to travel with very little planning. Then things changed. Somewhere between a giant toy store in Prague, a testing nightmare at Lake Garda and our increasingly detailed itineraries, we found a new way of travelling.
When We Just Showed Up
Dear Readers,
Some of our first trips were like the saying in yoga practices: “Be here, be now” or “Live in the moment.”
And we loved this approach: line up the cities, drive to the centre, take a look around at what is going on. Surprisingly often, some really nice things happened — like city festivals, fireworks, historic fairs or marches. Then we went to eat somewhere and went to the hotel booked (or not booked) for the night.
One of those moments happened in Prague.
We discovered this huge toy store that no longer exists. We didn’t buy anything, but we had so much fun walking around, taking pictures with the huge teddy bears and other animals. It wasn’t planned. We simply found it.
And that was part of the fun.
The Trip That Changed Everything
During and after COVID, things changed dramatically and so did our approach when it came to travel.
We really realised this during a trip to Lake Garda. At the time, we had to get tested every two days to be able to visit places and go to restaurants.
We tried calling several pharmacies that were doing testing. They were all booked.
It was a nightmare to find one.
That was when we realised that everything had changed and it would never be quite the same.
In the years after the pandemic, we also noticed changes in tourism. Restaurants we remembered had closed or made their menus smaller. Sometimes venues felt more dirty or less cared for than before. It was a sad thing for us to notice.
This is one of the reasons why we now do more research and book what we can in advance — to avoid feeling disappointed when we get there.
When the Itinerary Gets Too Ambitious
With the constant rise of social media, many places have become popular and many people want to go to the same place. Therefore, planning and booking in advance is now essential for us.
We both tend to say: “We need to book this now.”
But that doesn’t mean we always agree on the itinerary.
Sometimes Bernhard makes a too crowded itinerary for me. I go through it and tell him:
“This is too much. I cannot do this. There is no way I am doing this.”
I also remind him that we need to set some time aside to return to our hotel room, freshen up and change for dinner. That is important to me.
So today, our travelling style is a mixture of what it was before and during COVID. We plan much more, but we still want some room for the unexpected.
Mountains, Churches & Bars
A good friend of ours once said:
Mountains from the valley side.
Churches from the outside.
Bars from the inside.
That’s what makes a good holiday.
It still makes us smile, but there is a lot of truth in it.
The recipe for an enjoyable holiday depends on personality, your own experiences and even the mood of the day. So, the where and what is always up to you.
So, What Makes a Great Holiday?
We will tell you how we get our plans done, where we get our information, how we think about where we went, what was good there and what was improvable for maybe next time.
We will also share our idea of a comfortable trip and how we find the balance between doing too much and doing too little.
The main thing to remember is that even when you plan something, you still have to stay flexible and open to change — and not be disappointed that you didn’t check everything from your to-do list.
There is no such thing as a perfect holiday, as every individual has their own idea of what that is.
For us, in the end, it is about creating valuable memories. Sometimes those memories come from something we carefully planned months in advance.
And sometimes they come from walking into a giant toy store in Prague that wasn’t on the itinerary at all.
Continue reading: What Travel Taught Us — Usually the Hard Way →
