Ms. Planner, meet Mr. Unplanned

Mohit and I are a great travel team.  We're a classic case of opposites attract.  

One of my most favorite things in the world is planning.  Dreaming and planning.  I'd gleefully plan down to the very last detail.  This way, I can stretch a two-week vacation into months of imagined sunny days on the beach and exploring ruins.

Mohit hates planning and loves winging it.  Once, after hearing from good friends who'd just returned from their own RTW trip that Thailand was their favorite place, he flew to Thailand for a solo trip without having read a single guidebook or considering where he'd sleep when he landed in Bangkok. 

We've come to appreciate each other's style.  When we traveled to Turkey & Greece together, Mohit warned me that he would only let me sketch out a portion of our trip in advance- he wanted the flexibility to follow our whims- sounds great in theory, right?  While in Oia, Santorini, Mohit spent an entire afternoon on a slow internet connection in the dark cave-like common room of our hotel researching travel connections and affordable Athens hotels; I spent that blue-sky afternoon strolling through art shops and reading a book in the shade of an umbrella, enjoying the Mediterranean breeze.  Mohit later admitted he could see the benefit of having done some research in advance.

On the other hand, while researching our trip to Vietnam, I got excited after reading an article in the New York Times about a four-day bike trip through the Mekong Delta.  Mohit humored me and let me book a bike tour over the internet before leaving for our trip.  However, once in Vietnam we realized we'd probably paid triple the price we would have if we'd booked while in Ho Chi Minh City.  We also realized that 90 degree days with 80% humidity and regular afternoon downpours weren't exactly ideal  for hours of biking in the sun.  And rain.  And mud...and so I learned that Mohit is right too. 

We're trying to strike the right balance in planning our RTW trip.  I wanted to research enough to know some of the things we might enjoy doing in each of the countries we're exploring, and how much to budget for each leg of our journey.  I now appreciate the benefits of winging it Mohit-style, and we've only pre-booked a few critical things (like our hotel room in Antigua, Guatemala when we land on New Year's Eve!).

We'll let you all know how it goes!