Travel without a plan

[Im-ashamed-of-Brexit]

Many years ago (1980s) we had a number of touring holidays

in France where we only had a rough idea of where we would go, did a lot of

meandering (hardly any N roads, let alone As), and never booked hotels in

advance.  Pre-Tripadvisor days, in fact

pre-anything WWW, and pre-mobile phones. 

The drill was that around 16:00-ish we'd stop and peruse the Hachette

guide, with Michelin as back-up, find somewhere within a 30-ish minute radius

with a choice of hotels, and just rock up to one and ask for a room for the night.  Never, ever, did we fail to find somewhere to

stay, even if it wasn't our 1st choice.

 

Since then whenever we've been to France by car we've always had

planned, pre-booked itineraries, driving to a destination as quickly as

possible and staying in one place, with meandering confined to day trips.

 

However, we've been thinking about going back to the old

ways, one more time, maybe taking a week to get from Calais to Tarn-et-Garonne.

 

So the €64,000 question is is it still feasible, or are

those days gone for ever, the small hotels closed, and pre-booking the only way

to do it?

[nomoss]

The only comment I can make is that the "walk-in" prices for most places may be somewhat, even much, higher than those on line.

As most hotels, and many B&B's, have Wifi, we carry a laptop, and book the next place(s) a day or two ahead. I usually book ahead on line for the first day two or three days, so that our movements are flexible after that.

An alternative to this is to 'phone likely places in the afternoon to book a room for that night, which also gives the opportunity to check if the price is acceptable, rather than drive around into the night without finding one.

We have had no trouble finding a room on spec on rare occasions when we made an unplanned stop, in the off season, but once tried unsuccessfully until the small hours to find a hotel, with 2 small children, in mid summer, and ended up sleeping in the car.

[Lehaut]

We regularly go away on our motorbike for upto 4 weeks at a time. We book the first two nights usually on airbnb or booking.com to get a start on the trip (upto 800 km on the first day). After that we just wing it. Inexpensive european telephone contracts give internet nearly everywhere, as well as free wifi in cafes etc. Couple of years ago up to the arctic circle, then across to the Russian border before going south through Estonia etc. All ferries booked a few days ahead for the long crossings, couple of days stop to explore here and there. The only real planning was last year, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy - some ferries only run once a week so need booking in advance. It turns a holiday into an adventure,!

[BritinBretagne]

I’ve often used booking.com to get local accommodation for the night by searching late in the afternoon.

One word of warning about telephone contracts, my contract that states it has European coverage actually means EU, using the phone and internet in Switzerland is not included.

[Lehaut]

Indeed, phone contracts need careful scrutiny. For our recent trip to Morocco we bought a sim card and 5gb from a street vender. My wifes "Free" contract covered us for 40 gb for a recent trip to Israel. Unfortunately, a local bus ride to Palestine, was not covered. A minute amount of data using Google maps to walk around resulted in a not insignificant bill. My fault for not turning data roaming off.

[Im-ashamed-of-Brexit]

Thanks for the replies - looks like that with a bit of forethought we should be OK.

 

In the 80s we were child-free, so always travelled in the "off" season, and as for prices - there was no booking.com, trivago etc - the price was the price.

 

We did just once start to worry that we might have to sleep in the car - having fallen in love with Segovia we'd stayed too long in Spain and, basically, had left ourselves one day short to get back to the ferry, even blatting up the autoroutes, and ended up getting to Chinon at about 8pm, and then beginning the search for a room, but it turned out OK.  We even scraped into the hotel restaurant 5 minutes before it closed to new diners. [B]

 

Shame that the Hachettes guide is no more.

 

SWMBO has just come up with another Q, though - do we really want to live out of a suitcase for that long.

 

Hmmm. [8-)]

[idun]

We regularly travel without proper plans, unless we are going on a proper planned one place holiday.

I am not silly though, (although we have taken the risk sometimes of finding somewhere, even with a baby in the car[Www]!  But we would feel the need to book if it were a bank holiday or some specific time of the year, ie french school holidays, or change over times.

We have never slept in the car. We have never had to rough camp as we usually stick a small tent and sleeping bags in the car too, just in case, but if it came to that, we would have hoped for a camp site for the night.

Truth is that there has always been somewhere to lay our heads, whether it be a bit rough and ready or a bit on the expensive side. If you are worried, then book, if not, then just go for it, because often, if you see somewhere and they are full, they usually know of somewhere locally that may take you.

And in spite of the internet etc, I would still do it without a thought.

[Loiseau]

I have had problems one September, looking for accommodation in coastal areas of the Somme. I thought: “School hols over; should be easy,”, but had failed to realise that canny pensioners would be flocking to the seaside in the après saison.

[Judith-aka-Judith]

In the 70's and up to the 90's we travelled much the same way, though arrived earlier in the afternoon to find a hotel.  Whilst many small hotels still remain, their comfort and quality (though probably not true of their food which is usually still good), may not be what you have become used to.  Nothing wrong with the IBIS / campanile chains and they are widely spread, but yes, cheaper to book in advance ... didn't use any guidebooks way back then. Logis always good too, they can be searched online too.

Be prepared for more traffic on all roads than before, and holiday seasons, plus special events (yes, we had to sleep once in the car - hit the tour de France without realising, and without pre-booking), but if you avoid the very popular spots out of season it is usually possible.  I wouldn't these days, however, now stay in some of the places we found these days ... I like my comfort too much, and cost is less of an issue these days too.

Don't ignore B&B's, they can often be found in more out of the way places and probably not full out of season unless in very popular spots.

Looking out for signs on the roadside can be a pointer to a good place too (if they still exist - some signs never get taken down!).

Yes, take roaming off when not using it, and only put it on to look for your overnight accommodation and then off again.  Booking.com can be a life saver if you struggle, but your own 'nounce' can be just as good sometimes.

Good luck.

[Lehaut]

How quickly things can change. What little did we know when planning our trips for 2020!

[Judith-aka-Judith]

Indeed Lehaut, had to cancel our 2 trips planned for April and May ... still we are currently safely at home, and as I type, OK healthwise so we should be grateful.  It might however stop the wanderlust that some people seem to feel, fly to all and sundry places never heard of before, at least for the moment ... all is calm, and we  have time to breeeaaathe ...

[AnnaDavid]

Spontaneous traveling is the best!

[franceandbeyond]

Meandering road trips with spontaneous accommodation searches can still provide a unique and adventurous travel experience.

[clark_sam]

Spontaenous plan is fun but if you don't want any hustle you can try booking a travel guide or private tours.