Which of the following type of trip is toughest to plan?
• A week-long Caribbean vacation where you must decide between dozens of sun-drenched islands
• A two-month, multi-country tour of northern South America or Southern Europe where you have to manage your time and money well so that you don’t run out of either, or
• A move to another continent (South America or Asia) to live long term as an expat.

How about all three at once? My trip planning skills are being pushed to the limit as I research and plan a week at a resort for my 50th birthday, a tour of either northern South America or southern Europe (depending on where we’re moving to), and a year-long stay in Ecuador/Colombia/Venezuela or China (depending on which opportunity we accept). All of which will happen in the next three months.

I can hear you thinking: “You poor thing. Sooooo much work. How will you ever get through it all?” I sincerely thank you for your sympathy.

During the past year of writing my book, a planning guide for Baby Boomers traveling, I’ve been sorting through what I’ve learned in my travels through 49 countries. But, because I haven’t been out there as much during this same period – just Mexico and Central America, it was beginning to feel too much like theory and less like practice.

Some days, it’s hard to infuse my writing with the enthusiasm and passion I have for travel when I would much rather be doing it than talking about it. It can be a struggle to think linearly to give readers the how-to steps in chronological order without missing any. And to recall the amusing stories of our own misadventures as well as those of people we’ve met on the road to keep it entertaining for the reader.

Well, my problems are over – with a vengeance. Now that I’m once again going through the process of researching and planning our travels, I find it a lot easier to test my methods as I go. What’s really strange for me is the realization that much of these decisions used to be done in a somewhat subconscious way and in a much less organized manner. But the exercise of writing down all the facets of what goes into researching and planning travel for the book has made me constantly aware of the steps and decisions that must be taken. And I feel a certain obligation to take my own advice.

By the end of January, when we are settled somewhere and I end my writing hiatus, it will be easy to say that every research, planning and implementation step has been tested in real-life travel situations over the years as well as most recently. More than once. At a Caribbean resort, on a two-month multi-country tour and living in a foreign country.

Oh, the lengths I will go to for my readers!

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