No, I am not a spontaneous traveler. All of these itineraries I have created before the trip. I know where I'm going to be, generally, for every hour of my travels. Surprises can be built-in to the schedule, but are otherwise unwelcome. This is my own personal quirk, and not a comment on those travelers who can get in the car in the morning and have no idea where they'll get out when they stop. In many ways, I envy those folks. But we must live within our own skins, so I plan.

At least a third of the joy I get from traveling comes from developing an itinerary (the actual going and the memories being the other two-thirds). Beginning with a vague desire to go someplace I know nothing practical about, I research all the cool things there are to do and see -- ending up with a couple of months worth of activities. Then comes the negotiation between the results of research and the money & time I have to spend. Strange as it may sound, I enjoy the prioritization and the hard choices one has to make.

I've been burned by trying to do too much in a day because that's what my schedule said we had to accomplish, so I've learned to be realistic enough to account for delays and diversions that can arise. But a well-executed itinerary makes for happy traveling.