Style is everything

When you are preparing to travel, a major consideration is your own personal style. This is nearly as important as choosing a destination. Your style will actually color all aspects of your trip.

Do you feel comfortable in a group or do you like to make your own schedule and set your own pace? Are you a big eater or a snacker? Do you love to drive or would you rather ride? Do you get seasick? If you would find out that you are lost in the middle of Ireland, would you be philosophical or frantic?

Our style is to come up with a destination and a list of things we want to see there? We consider if we know the language(s) and whether there are people who speak English at bed and breakfasts. We do our homework and, because I often drive, I take the trip before we go by driving it on Google Earth!

We always get lost. Sometimes we try to lose our way. We rarely use a tight schedule. Our goal is to meet people rather than see monuments. We have taken one loosely planned tour with other people arranging transportation (in Italy) as we do not speak Italian (or did not then) and were staying in cities for four or five days at a time. At the end of that trip, we added ten days of driving on our own figuring we would know local customs by then.

One thing about our style is that we are not afraid to stop and ask for something - suggested café, directions, the nearest drugstore. We almost always have met friendly people.

How do you live day by day and what is your style?