To Plan or Not To Plan

It has now been a couple of weeks since we made the potentially life changing decision to take our family away for a year on a round the world trip. During this time it has been incredibly difficult to think about much else. Normal life goes on, but my head is spinning with itinerary options, flight booking possibilities and worldwide climate information.

My tendency would be to plan our year away in minute detail, with routes fixed in advance and accommodation pre-booked. I suspect that I need to steer away from this as much as possible and give space for lingering in places that we like very much and roaming regions that we don’t yet know well enough to plan with any confidence.

We still have plenty of time to mull over options and preferred routes, and I will pre-book certain likely hot-spots (US national parks in summer / Christmas holiday week down under), but otherwise hoping to go with the flow and not drive my family too crazy by trying to fully schedule an entire year.

Of course, as soon as we find ourselves somewhere without a bed for the night, I anticipate the inevitable complaints of “Dad, why haven’t you booked something!?”. But at least I can now look back at this post to justify to my children why I have led them into the wilderness without proper forethought and due diligence.