Ditch the Itinerary: Spontaneous traveling is better than planned traveling

Families spend up to months or even years planning a single trip that will last only a few days. 

Sure, finding an acceptable time in between school schedules and extracurriculars can seem impossible, but somewhere between stressing over flight prices and planning your itinerary down to the minute stands the opportunity to travel somewhere on a whim, leading a traveler into more valuable experiences — the question of “What next?” 

As I sit in a circle of over fifty third graders, playing “Down By the Banks” during the little Lancer Dancer clinic about a week ago, my mom approaches me. 

“The flight to Edinburgh is full,” she said. “The next flight to London leaves in two hours and you need to go immediately.”

While I scramble to gather my stuff, I inform my team and coach about the sudden change of plans and meet my dad at our house to head to the airport. 

A week prior to this conversation, my parents told me about the possibility of going to Europe over fall break. My first immediate thought circled around the fact that I had plans already for that weekend, but then it developed into thinking that I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity like this. 

Once in England, the trip quickly became a vacation of 25,000 steps daily and seeing all the important sights. Each morning, we awoke not knowing what our plans consisted of for that day, which made each day exciting and unexpected. By the end of the trip, we visited the Cotswold countryside, White Cliffs of Dover and the capital city of London — nothing we were planning on doing.

Days later, as I sit in the Chicago airport looking out on the tarmac and gate of the plane that I’m about to board home, I think about how memorable my experience in England was, and how trips my family has planned at the last minute have always been my favorite. 

Don’t get me wrong, lavish trips that take expensive planning and effort can pay off in the end. I’ve been involved in trips that take months of planning, which can be just as great, but it’s the unexpected experiences and the “What now?” that gives the traveler an adventurous perspective. Showing up somewhere new with no plans leaves the possibility for even more random and memorable stories.

Despite the blisters by my Converse that indented into my heels, and the six-hour jet lag I had from my Europe trip, I strongly believe traveling unplanned can result in better learning experiences like meeting new people, cultures and entering into the uncomfortableness of the unknown.