This is official the first international post at BIT. You may or may not know, but traveling is a HUGE part of my life. I’ve written for some other sites about it, but I love traveling and am working on structuring my life to include a lot more of it.
Since I’m out of the country, I figured I’d do another video post since you guys didn’t seem to mind the last one so I gave it another shot. Also, I have a little something for those of you that comment early [Be sure to watch all the way through the video].
[If you’re reading this in email, click here to watch the video.]
Here are some of the highlights:
- 0:08 – Twitter shoutouts
- 0:37 – How I plan my trips
- 1:02 – My London Schedule
- 1:54 – Why I avoid planning specifics
- 2:10 – I forget how to talk
- 2: 19 – What’s your strategy for planning trips?
- 2:35 – A video offer for those of you that read this & comment ASAP*
People Mentioned
- @lachlancotter [Actual suggester of Trafalgar Square]
- @samedelstein [I went to London Bridge, Tower Bridge, & walked by the London Eye before the video, sorry].
People I Should Have Been Mentioned
- @codymckibb [Got your tweet after the video was made, but I’m definitely heading down to East End Brick Lane tonight].
- @mattkoenigphoto aka @1yearsabbatical [For telling me to do another video post]
Question #1: How do you plan out your travels?
Question #2: London Experts: Any other places in London I should hit up before I come on back?
**If you’d like to take me up on the video offer, please comment before 10am BST [5pm EST] tonight. I’m heading out around noon on Wednesday, so I do have time restrictions.
Nice update! Happy you made it to Tower of London Bridge!
I’m in the midst of planning a 6-week, 5 country trip coming up in about a month with my girlfriend.
Planning has been interesting because we have slightly different approaches to planning. I’m a little bit more like you in I’d be happy just going with the flow, she likes to plan a tiny bit more. Her argument is that since we are on a budget, knowing our costs up front lets us enjoy the trip more later. We also aren’t forced to buy a last minute room or ticket which could cost more. So in that sort of case, if you know that you have multiple places to visit, it is a good point.
I enjoy getting lost in a city and just looking around, hopefully bumping into all the tourist sites on the way. That’s what I did when I was in London last year (I’ll be back on this trip, too!) Also asking friends for recommendations is an easy way to go about it.
It’s definitely a balance, but being laid back about the whole journey I think is key.
I’ve found that while there are a few things its good to be extreme in, a balance is usually more useful for most activities.
Shout out first! – I’d love to have some type of a shout-out from a London-based tea company or tea shop. I know Twinings is located in London, but not sure where. That’d be cool.
Now on to the strategy:
I’m a lot like you Joel. I used to be a raging melancholy-choleric when it came to vacations (plan it all out, then beat my family to death to make sure we arrived at every planned location at exactly the right time or the s### would hit the fan!). After the 3rd day on my honeymoon, my wife set me straight. Traveling that way causes nothing but frustration and headache, and you don’t really end up enjoying the moment, because you’re always worrying about getting to the next location as quickly as possible.
So now…We’ll plan 1 or 2 major “stops” that we’d like to see, and then let the rest fill in the blanks. Here’s an example: We’re flying to NYC tomorrow to meet with Tim Morris (@rustytim) and David Crandall and their wives. My wife and I have been to NYC a dozen times, Tim and his wife have been there dozens more. The Crandalls have never been. One place I would like to see that I haven’t yet, is the 5th avenue Apple store. I think the design is cool, and it’s relatively close to a lot of the action (Times Square, Central Park, places like that). That would be my 1 place I’d want to go. Anybody that’s been to New York before knows that you’re BOUND to discover a world of adventure along the way going from say…the 42nd street subway stop to the 5th avenue Apple store. So I’m really looking forward to the “randomness” of this trip.
As a matter of fact, I’m going to bring my video camera and give some BIT-inspired video posts.
Holler!
Thanks Joel 🙂
– JC
I can’t wait to see them! I’m gonna comment right now.
Btw. searching everywhere for Twinnings…its proving quite elusive 🙂
Jeeze, if I had remembered that fountain was there I would have suggested Victoria Station so we could hear you better 🙂 Thanks for the shout out!
I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it was that loud until I uploaded it. It’s one of those white noises that you don’t really notice while shooting and shows up massively loud when you hear the recording.
Nice Joel! I like the way you roll. Glad you did a video post like this so we can catch a glimpse of London (and you of course). I used to be the kind of person that scheduled all my trips out. I created a plan with a lot of detail and specifics. But then I had kids and all of that went into the diaper. Now we are much like you in that we have some general ideas on the things we want to see and places we want to go but we don’t over think it to death. With kids you have to take things as they come and adapt to the situation. Nothing ruins an experience quicker than hungry, tired, cranky, upset kids (I guess that goes for adults as well). I’m sure we will learn a lot of valuable travel lessons when we embark on our 1 year sabbatical in June. Thanks for the shout! Look forward to catching up when you get back.
Maybe that’s part of it for me. I get upset when I have a plan and it’s not followed, so when I Don’t have a plan, I’m much much happier 🙂
Joel! You should buy me something and then feature it in your next video!
🙂
I hope London is treating you well! It’s way better then where I am [home on crutches/getting surgery].
My trip planning goes along these lines: If I know I am going somewhere then I like to research some cool places to stop. I’ll make a list of the places that I definitely want to stop at. Then just go. If I make them all then I make them, if I don’t, then I don’t.
you are all about the $$$ haha
Yeah, I want one of those. Also i would be happy to look through the thousands of pictures i am sure you will have upon your return.
I’m back already 🙁 sorry. How bout one from Indy?
Joel, I love this man. You are awesome. I love the idea and am glad Josh Crocker saw this before our trip to NYC with Crandall. We did some shout-outs too.
You are awesome.
can’t wait to see them!
Congrats on the awesome trip to London. I’m super jealous. I basically try to do the same thing as you said, just leave it opened to the day. Like Danielle said above, I usually have a list of places I’d like to hit up and maybe break it down to what I would like to see each day and just go. That way I can spend hours in one place and maybe 30 mins at something else that didn’t keep my attention.
I did that on an Washington DC trip. My friend wanted it a little more structured, but convinced him to just have a list of places and let’s relax and take it all it. It was a great trip!
Welcome back to the states and I can’t wait to see who got the personalized video and from where.
Later.
Very cool Todd. I like leaving things open to the possibility of whatever and getting “surprised” by a city. Sometimes the best adventures come from that :).
Video postcards are coming soon 🙂