We’re last minute people, maybe a week in advance without air travel, a month with. A family friend just invited us to join them on a vacation NOVEMBER 2025. That seems bonkers to me!
How far in advance do you plan a small trip like a road trip or visiting family, and how far in advance for a big trip like international travel, a cruise, or Disney?
I don’t. Sometimes I do an airport dropoff and then I head toward the waiting lot. But as I’m approaching the lot I just go to long term parking instead, buy a ticket, and live in Thailand for a few weeks.
How the Dutch do you just get to take an unplanned week off?
Hey, we’ve all been there.
It’s true. Everybody has been to Thailand.
Last few years we have been booking vacations when we have big race events, to put 1 and 1 together and save money. So 1 year in advance (that’s when ironmans registrations opens up).
Back when we where only traveling, usually from Feb/march for august. Go get best deals and low tickets.
If it’s a camping trip, six months because that’s when campsite reservations open and they book up fast.
Anything else, 2-4 months, usually closer to 4. International trip more like 4-6 months.
Dispersed camping. We plan the day before we decide to go. A lot fewer people, dogs can be off leash, etc.
We avoid that because anywhere nearby, attractive, and easy to bring your gear to tends to fill up. Better to have a reservation and know you will get a spot.
You must camp nicer places than I do!
Washington, so probably. Beautiful place. They implemented the six-month opening a couple of years back because all the campsites would get booked out years in advance for the best times of year.
Road trip? Usually week or night of.
Airline travel within 4 hours, domestic or international is usually 2 days before hand.
Airline travel across the world is usually planned as a time block a month or two ahead of time. The actual destination and activities being planned as the dates get closer.
Exceptions are scheduled events. If I have an event to attend in a location, I’ll make a hotel reservation and book tickets for the thing. Then checkup options for travel there. Sometimes it’s part of a multileg journey.
Often I don’t know where in the world I will even be the week leading up to the thing. So I tend to either not purchase travel tickets, or buy a few different ones from hubs globally that are cheap and easy to get to.
You sound like us. We have a few weeks blocked off but no plans yet.
Months before. By the time it comes around, the only thing we’re doing is calling the cab to the posh airport hotel (because fuck yeah) and bugging out.
So big vacations we typically plan two to three years in advance and book as soon as the booking opens for the parts of that holiday. Usually means flights about 12 months before, accommodation usually a bit before then. Something like Disney or a sailing holiday we can book two years in advance as an entire package, which in the EU means we ATOL protected, far safer that far out than booking separate. I have terrible anxiety when booking lots of individual components like a backpacking holiday in Japan that had us staying in half a dozen hotels/apartments, hiring a couple of cars, getting internal flights, prebooking tickets to Sumo and Ghibli and so on, but its essential to get the best prices.
We are still paying for a family holiday in a cottage or villa as our kids are still starting their careers. This I book a year in advance, but we plan the locations far in advance of that and scope out where we want to stay.
As we work from home we can work from our van a fair bit. Earlier in the year we did a tour of wales over three weeks while working part time, later this year we are doing a three week tour of Cornwall/Devon/Somerset. We also get away a few long weekends around the bank holidays. As we stay at adult only sites that are very popular and will sell out quickly around the dates we want to go, these are booked as soon as booking opens for them, usually October the year before.
Booking early gets us far better pricing and we get to go where we want, stay where we want. Plus the planning and research is a big part of the enjoyment for us, its also essential if you want to make the most of a planning heavy holiday like Japan or Disney and not pay through the nose to use a quality planning service.
I’ve planned international travel a week before and other trips far longer. A lot of what determines planning time is logistics of all going, if there are events during that time, holiday planning, and travel demand.
It sounds like the family friend is planning a big trip, so knowing before the one year hotel window is probably necessary.
I planned my end of July weekend vacation around February. We have a senior dog who needs special attention, so it’s often hard to find someone to watch her.
Dog sitting is challenging, that’s true. We’ve had trouble with that before.
It depends on what I’m doing
If I’m going somewhere out of easy driving distance and hoping maybe some friends will come along, I’ll start floating the idea about a year out, start making more solid plans about 6 months out. Give people time to get passports, save up for plane tickets, etc.
If it’s an overnight to a long weekend with just me and my wife, maybe a couple weeks, we could probably do day-of sometimes but we gotta make sure someone can watch our dog.
The dog is a problem for sure.
Without flights two or three weeks before. For roadtrips we usually only book the first hotel and then decide along the way. For air travel we book 2 or 3 months in advance and then often also do roadtrips using rental cars booking only the first and last hotel in advance.
The only short vacations I really need to plan long time in advance are multiday bike trips where I want to take a bike on a high-speed train (because there are only few places and they are booked out super early). For example for a Bike-Tour from Innsbruck to lake Garda we had to book the train 5 months in advance.
For group things I don’t think it’s bonkers. Mostly because that gives everyone time to make sure that specific time to work. Honestly to me that says they really want you to come, I’d be flattered.
For just my SO and me it’s different though. Usually rough idea forms about a year out, with us formalizing and time off about 6 months out, and booking about 3 months out
That’s a good point, I choose to be flattered.
Rough plans at the beginning of the year, like “1 week to go to this place in July-August timeframe” so I can plan time away from work accordingly.
6+ months out for international travel for best deals on airfare.
Day of for weekend trips sometimes. Or tacking on a day or two to the end of a work trip.
Years out for sporting events. Like the 2031 rugby world cup will be hosted by the US and I plan to go to quite a few games, plans will develop as cities are picked and pool play schedules made.
I’m very last minute in planning most things in my life
Year, year and half, sometimes 2. Just depends on the pieces that are involved and how long it’ll take to get them all to line up. Family/friends are invited on some vacations, sometimes it’s just us and we have to book it out as far as possible due to demand. We rarely do anything spontaneous. Wife is a major planner.
Currently we have: July 4th weekend at a campground with church friends September 2024 in state at a mountain cabin for wife’s bday. March 2025 in planning for an Alaskan vacation to visit family and see the Iditarod September 2025 in planning for a family beach vacation.
Iditarod sounds neat!
If I’m taking time off work and it’s more than 1 or 2 days in a row, then a minimum of 1 month in advance is required. If I’m buying a plane ticket, then at least 2 months so I can actually afford it.
