There are a well known gaps in travel – the gap year, the career break, and the ever popular 1 year round-the-world trip. Getting to these gaps is the hard part but once you’re there it’s easy (travel time!) There’s a harder and much more annoying gap that happens more frequently and is tougher to deal with; the ready-to-go gap.
The ready-to-go gap can be called anything really (I just made it up) but it’s the name I give that period of time before you travel and after you’re done planning and preparing. I tend to procrastinate and do things at the last minute so my ready-to-go gap is about 5 minutes before my next flight but most people are organized and have a few days or even longer.
Generally spare time is a great thing to have but good planners tend to try and fill this gap with even more plans which lead to stress. The key to handling the ready-to-go gap is to shift your focus temporarily and do less, not more.
Are You There Yet?
No matter how well you plan or prepare, there are some things that can’t be done too far in advance. Packing your bags or securing your house weeks in advance doesn’t make sense and there is such a thing as too much research about a tourist destination. You’re there now, in the gap. Fight the urge to plan more things in addition to all of the other plans you’ve already made. All you’ll accomplish is to stress yourself out by adding more things to do in the same amount of time.
Shift Your Focus
There are a few ways to go about this but the important constant is to forget about your upcoming trip temporarily.
- Start traveling. There is an entire countryside, town, city, etc. right around you. Take your travel planning skills and arrange a few small trips around town. Not enough time for that? Go out for a drink at a place you’ve never been to or change your focus and give your surroundings a new angle with your camera.
- Plan for your next, next trip. If you can’t get enough planning, set your sights on future travels. Don’t get bogged down in details and have some fun with it. You’ll be overcoming one of the obstacles to traveling the world too by figuring out where else you’d like to go.
- Take a mental break. Don’t drive yourself nuts by thinking about your next trip constantly, squeezing in “one last thing”, or get depressed because “this sucks, I’m ready to be gone.” We all get like that at times but the thing that takes the least amount of work can be the hardest. Let go and appreciate the moments you’ve got so you’ll enjoy here as much as there.
- Delegate. Instead of tracking your plans like a hawk ask someone else you trust to help you out. Put your fears that you’ve forgotten something aside by running your plans by a friend. If you’re traveling with someone share the responsibilities so you can both have an enjoyable ready-to-go gap.
- Write about it. It’s always fun to write down your expectations of a particular place before you go and see the differences once you return. If you have a travel blog use the ready-to-go gap to prepare and imaginary trip post.
Don’t Fight It, Enjoy It
Traveling takes work for most people. You’ve got to save money and make sacrifices (financial and otherwise) to do it. Don’t mope too much before your next trip and enjoy the fact that you were diligent and planned ahead. Reward yourself for being a good planner and take the time to relax, catch up on some other things you’ve been putting off, or go out to that local museum you never knew about. You may even find yourself enjoying and planning for the ready-to-go gap one day.
[photos by: Marcin Wichary, erix!]
We try to plan a day or so for our ready-to-go gap so that we have a little bit of breathing room before we travel. We try to use that day just relaxing, hanging out with our dogs, and cooking our favorite foods. If we didn’t have our dogs, I would take that time to go out with friends for a drink and see everyone before I leave. I think the ready-to-go gap is actually kind of fun because it creates anticipation for the trip.
When you plan for it the ready-to-go gap can be a nice thing. Hanging out with the dogs is a great way to unwind. They know how to enjoy every moment, something it’s easy for people to lose track of from time to time.
I’ve got no problem with the gap – it’s getting to the gap that’s the hitch. I need to get back out there and the sooner the better!
I always end up putting the gap *before* the planning and preparing :/
I know the feeling and I agree. The time between finalizing the trip and going on it can be the most excruciating period of them all!
I like to alleviate the tension by watching movies and reading books that are set in the places I’m going. I find that because they’re naturally relaxing passtimes they will calm your anticipation while satisfying the urge to plan more.
Good advice Nico. That ready-to-go gap often feels like time has slowed down to a crawl. Perhaps why I do everything last minute so those gaps get very hectic and time just flies by!
I am a planner but I do it slowly. Foremost thing is to book tickets & find out places to visit. After that it’s a slow process till last day, I don’t let it go on my head.
Seems like you have a system, which makes the planning, gap, and trip a smooth process where you can be efficient with your time.
I have the read-to-go gap really bad. I’m pretty much ready to go before I even book the tickets. I’m ready to go before I decide where I want to go. I plan all the time. Even if I don’t have a trip coming up.
haha, I know that feeling. I enjoy the process of being on the go but not particularly the planning part :/
My ready to go gap was 1 1/2 years when I decided to quit my job and take a career break to travel around the world. It all seemed rather surreal until I made it to the 4 month mark – then things started getting stressful. Being a type A person – I think I overplanned – and I certainly over-worried! Ah…but travel has taught me how to be more spontaneous and enjoy the moment that you are in. The good news is that the ready-to-go gap stress is curable!
Not worrying is sometimes the hardest thing to do but what really eases the pain 🙂
I wish we had read this before our trip began last year! It tends to feel like you just can’t be prepared enough for a big trip and that made us want to plan, plan, plan. In the end, we just give it up and decided to wing it. That was the best decision we could’ve made. Thanks for an awesome article!
Thanks Lin. It seems the more travel plans there are the more opportunities there is for something to break or change those plans. Planners can be too hard on themselves and the gap is a good time to take it easy 🙂
Im another of the last minuter
I keep cutting it closer and closer. I need to create a *little* more of a gap before I start missing flights and not just buses and trains 😛
We try to avoid the temptation of overplanning. However, in the interim before our departures, we usually start by reading guidebooks and novels set in the destination of our choosing!
That’s a good way to ease into things. I’d like to add a bit more pre-trip planning into my last minute style. I’ll chalk it up as a 2010 New Year’s resolution.
Those are good ideas!
Expanding a bit on your suggestion to travel locally and take some pictures, I’d suggest that travelers really put some effort during the “gap” period to improve their photography skills. There are some very simple basics to photography that can make a huge difference on whether a photo opportunity on the road results in something you’ll always treasure, or a throw-away, so if you don’t know the basics of light and composition, this is the time to learn!
Good call. The #1 thing I need to learn about my camera is to use it more!
I think the ready-to-go gap is actually kind of fun because it creates anticipation for the trip. Am I right?
Time during travel can be precious, so when you have extra it’s best to make the most of it.