Itinerary vs. Plan

Be sure to allow room for flexibility in your day out with the kids

It's challenging to find the balance between an itinerary and a plan when you are heading out for a family adventure. Depending on your destination, you might need to allow room for both, and it's up to us to find a balance between the two. 

Let's start with a couple of quick definitions:

  • A plan is a relaxed list of trip highlights in the general order that you want to do them in.

  • An itinerary is a detailed list, containing firm arrival and departure times, allowing specific amounts of time for each activity. 

Sometimes we feel the need to be ultra-detailed in our plans if we want to have a good day out. We might feel nervous with the nebulous idea to simply visit a museum without planning out exactly what we should see. Or maybe we visit a spot we have been to several times, and you have your schedule honed into a well-running machine. 

But if we focus our planning attention on too many details for our day out, we set our own expectations too high, which leads us down the road of failure. When we don't leave room for new discoveries or allow our visits to enjoy the moment because we have a schedule to keep, no one goes home happy. 

Let's come up with a plan!

First, pick your primary destination. Maybe list a couple of sub-destinations, the idea here is to keep the idea of where you are going as general as possible. 

Now, list time-dependent activities.

  • Opening/closing times

  • Are you taking public transportation?

  • What is the schedule? Is there an event you want to see?

  • Is there a tour you might want to go on?

Next, below your list of destinations, list supporting activities for your day. Anything you know about that might interest your audience, something you can quickly refer to if you are looking to fill some time. 

  • Eating lunch

  • Visiting a play area

  • Taking a hike

  • Visiting a favorite exhibit

An example plan to visit San Francisco's Academy of Science.

If you live in (or have visited) San Francisco with kids, it is more than likely that you have visited the Academy of Science, and this makes for a great example as so many are already familiar with it.

Academy of Science

  • The museum opens at 10 AM

  • Lunch no later than 12:30 PM

  • Snack around 3 PM

  • The trip home, a 45-minute drive

  • Dinner by 6 PM

Possibilities

  • Planetarium show, pick up tickets early

  • Visit the rooftop Aquarium time, possibly after touring the rainforest

  • Penguin feeding (check times) 

  • Earthquake exhibit (if the lines don't look too long)

This plan allows me to be mindful of certain important times during the day but also gives the flexibility to let the day unroll naturally without imposing too much on my kids. 

Cody Tolmasoff is an author and publisher for Adventuring.in. He is a recovering programmer and a San Francisco native, raising two daughters, and regularly finding new adventures around the SF Bay Area. Find him on Twitter @codyo, and read his most recent title Adventures in Getting Out on Amazon, filled with advice on successfully getting your family out for day trip adventures.

Adventures in Getting Out, MediumCody TolmasoffComment