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How a Type-A Planner Plans a Last-Minute Trip

I learned something new about myself this week–I can go from zero to totally-trip-planned in under eight days.

Last Friday I found a really (REALLY) low fare on a cruise (yes, a cruise) out of New York City–sailing to Bermuda.  It was so very low that I only hesitated for a few seconds over the ‘book now’ button before clicking it.  And then suddenly I was going to Bermuda–in eight days.  The ship sails tomorrow afternoon, and I am going to be on it.

Does the spur-of-the-moment nature of this trip mean that I’m just going to sort of ‘wing it’?  Of course not!  In the last eight days I’ve managed to read an entire Bermuda guide book (and highlight it), order and receive a tourism guide (with pocket map) from the Bermuda Tourism board, seriously weigh my transportation options, and research pointers for solo cruisers.  I returned to a popular online cruise forum, posted questions, participated in discussions, and joined a group for a meet-and-greet the morning of my first day at sea.  I even found someone who offered to join me for dinner on Sunday night (dear, if you’re reading this–it is a woman and her sister!)  I took all of the information from the guide books, from the forums, and from the internet as a whole and condensed it into three different itinerary options for myself.  I combined that information with summaries of the ferry and bus schedules and then printed it out and added it to the folder you see pictured above.  I packed my suitcase (yes, I’m taking a whole suitcase) and now I’m just kind of sitting here waiting for it to be tomorrow!

What I did not do was finish writing the last two overview posts from my summer road trip (nevermind the many detail posts I have planned) or even begin writing about my 15 days in Walt Disney World (even though I have an actual list of ‘things to post about in relation to my 15 days in Walt Disney World!)  And now I’m leaving again–to spend seven days on a ship without internet access (dum dum DUM!)  Well, I suppose internet access is available–I’m just not paying a dollar per minute for what I’ve been told is really slow service.  So I’m accruing a fairly serious travel blog backlog.  But oh well!  I’m sailing to Bermuda–tomorrow!!!