Immigrants on the Move

Spoiler alert! I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to holiday planning. I like to make a spreadsheet and get my ideas organised, to list the places I’ve found that are recommended for food and work out a day by day idea of how I can fit in the five hundred activities I want to squeeze into four hours. I like to go in organised. Do you prefer spontaneity or planning?

I wasn’t always like this, I remember holidaying when I was younger, before smart phones, and the internet at our fingertips, I would book the place and then on day one go exploring. There would be no searching for restaurant recommendations, or reading blog posts about what some guy from North Carolina did on his holiday. You went, you saw, you enjoyed, you had no concept of what you were missing. Although if I’m being honest, I do recall buying the Berlitz Travel Guides for the places we were visiting, or borrowing them from friends and researching on the plane where we could go and what we could so, so I guess I was always a slight geek.

Maybe it was working in sales and marketing that changed everything? Spreadsheets became the norm for me, it became the only way I could keep track of the busy client lists, the to do sheets, and see clearly the who why and when. I went from enjoying learning about new things, to actively searching, researching and bingeing on information. I can sit and find out the most obtuse, inane facts about a place. I can be the one who learns about the tour behind the tour, or the restaurant run by a husband and wife that’s fully booked months in advance. Maybe I’ve finally become an adult and I’m just organised for once.

I start with a long list of the possible places to visit, there often aren’t enough meals on the duration of a trip to be able to try them all. I write down the tidbits of why the write up on that particular place attracted me, and the location, opening hours. This is my list from San Sebastian, Spain:

Restaurant	Location	Write Up
Zazpi CLOSED SUNDAY & MONDAY	Plaza Zuloaga, 1, 20003, Centro	Owned by one of the chefs of the best restaurant in the Basque County.
La Espiga 10am – 12am	San Martzial Kalea, 48 Centro	Family owned since 1928
Ganbarra CLOSED MONDAY & TUES SUNDAY OPEN UNTIL 3.30pm	Calle de San Jeronimo, Old Town	Wine cellar feel, family run, spider crab tart, innovative twists on traditional pintxos.
La Cuchara de San Telmo CLOSED MONDAY 12.30-3pm & 7.30-11pm	Santa Korda, Kalea Old Town	Arrive as it opens as it’s the most popular. Try Carrillera (Beef Cheek) and Suckling pig
Gandarias 11am-12.am	Calle 31 agosto Old Town	Popular, restaurant and Pintxos bar, option to sit down for Txuleta Steak
Bartolo 10.30am -11.30pm	Fermin Calbeton Kalea, Old Town	Lots of specialties, Sardines, Beef Cheeks, large restaurant with tables at the back
Paco Bueno 11.00-3.00 & 6-10	Calle Mayor 6 Old Town	Go for the battered prawns, not fancy, small menu
Borda Berri CLOSED SUN-TUES	Fermin Calbeton Kalea, Old Town	Kebab with Beef rib rubbed with middle east spices
Bar Sport 9.30am-midnight	Fermin Calbeton	Best foie, good fried calamari, and cheesecake
Goiz Argi 11.30-4.30 & 6.30-11.00	Fermin Calbeton	Known for brocheta a la gamba, also good for chipiron
Bar Nestor Closed Mondays 1.30-3.30 & 8-10.30pm	Arrandegi Kalea	All about the tomatoes and steak. No one does txuleton like Bar Nestor. Only 8 seats, also known for tortillas which are made at 1 and 8pm
CASA UROLA 12.30-3.30 & 7-11.30pm	Fermin Calbetin Kalea	Scallops amazing, quick turnover of tables so worth waiting

Then I plot the days I will be in a place, the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Plan the meals (neither my husband nor I are breakfast people so that’s down to two meals a day), plan the sightseeing, and add in any helpful notes. This is the example from our trip to Tuscany, a little bit more sparse than the San Sebastian version as we were covering a larger area:

I often wish I’d done similar lists for the places we have lived, as I have a shocking memory and some of the really amazing restaurants we’ve visited have been lost somewhere in the grey matter of my brain. There are occasional ones I’ve found, and the meals themselves are never far from my memory.

Write me a comment and let me know how you like to holiday and what ways you research/prep, or if you think spontaneity is a more rewarding way to experience overseas travel?