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[wakingdream]

What's the best spur-of-the-moment decision you made on your travels that ended up leading to a ridiculously awesome experience?

Or, on the flip side, a spur-of-the-moment decision that lead you to an awful experience you regret to this day?

Maybe you changed your well thought out plans to head off in a totally random direction. Or you had no plans and decided on a whim that you might catch a super cheap boat ride you happened upon that lead you to some far off paradise.......Maybe you overheard someone talking about an incredible place down the coast, by the sounds of it, you just had to check out so you ditched your plans and went. Or, maybe you changed your plans on a whim only to regret that horrible hostel, unfriendly folks and filthy environment you encountered.

Spill it all here!

[starlagurl]

Hmmm, I can't actually think of a GOOD time this happened to me. Once I missed my ferry to Harbour Island because of delayed baggage. On thinking back on it, I wish we just went without all our stuff. But we decided to wait, ending up spending only a day on the beautiful island.

Oh! Yes, wait...I just thought of one...

In Yellowknife, Keith saw a poster for a free play happening on the waterfront outside of the museum. I wanted to go, but he wasn't really into it. So anyway, I guess I convinced him to go with food. It was REALLY hot so I bought some sorbet and went down to the play, which turned out to be hilarious. I think Keith was glad we went in the end, I totally was.

Oh! here's another one!

The protests in Bangkok. Everyone was telling me not to go and blahblahblah... I was getting a little worried about it at this point, then I met a reporter from the Toronto Sun, and we went together. I wasn't really frightened to go by myself anyway, but it was cool to go with a veteran travel reporter just randomly at the last second.

[travelmonster]

Hmmm, thats a difficult one, there have been many.

The thing is my 'plans' are mostly plans in the very loosest sense of the word. If I've arranged to meet someone, then I'd stick to that cause I don't like letting people down - but other than that I generally have some ideas of what to do, because we can both be fairly indecisive, so it stops the "what shall we do", "I don't mind", "neither do I" conversations that we sometimes have or used to have. So we often start out with a plan that then changes direction many times and is ALWAYS open to change if we see something else we'd rather do.

I don't remember ever regretting changing plans though and sometimes the old plan becomes the new plan for the next day.

[sianeth]

Mine is definately deciding to drive for multiple days across Australia to get to Alice Springs from Sydney... slight detour on the way to Melbourne.

And within that, it was absolutely the best decision to take the campervan off road onto the 4x4 road that we were advised not to take... especially when we got stuck in the sand and faced up to a wild horse. Quality... although at this time admittedly I hadn't seen Wolf Creek!

[kitkatgo]

The only one I can think of right now (I know there are more!) is from when we were in Prague. It was our last night and we had just gotten back to our room, relaxing, looking at tourist brochures and watching tv etc. (taking a break from a long day). We came across this Ghost Tour brochure, and it started in 10 minutes. DH said, Let's go! So we ran down the street to the Old Town Square and did the cheesy Ghost Tour. But it was a lot of fun.

[wakingdream]

The thing is my 'plans' are mostly plans in the very loosest sense of the word.

We usually make it up as we go, a kind of choose-your-own-adventure on a whim. I'd admit there's normally a general plan but that's about it and, well, plans are meant to be broken. I've had os many of these moments, alot of them happened because I'd met someone who influenced me or just had a thought to go here instead of there.

The best for us together was when we got to Koh Lanta and were just about to hop a ride with a dude who was going to take us to his guesthouse. Before the bus left we ran into another guy who we chatted to and he asked us 'hey come see where we are and if you don't like it I'll bring you right back'. Despite already agreeing to go with the other guy, we ditched the plan and headed off. This guy just gave off the best vibe. That lead to six months of not being able to leave the wonderful place and fabulous friends we made commencing that moment and then several years of going back.

[starlagurl]

so it stops the "what shall we do", "I don't mind", "neither do I" conversations that we sometimes have or used to have.

I haaaaaaate that discussion SO much.

I like to have vague plans at LEAST too.

and Sian: hilarious van stuck in the sand story!

[darrenstravels]

Tried to drive to Poland one day with a mate, just to see if we could. We hadn't even got through France before giving up when we realised that, no, we couldn't do it in a day - not without losing our licenses.

[starlagurl]

Hahaha! How fast were you driving?

[darrenstravels]

About 90mph ish, limit in France is 80mph, and we didn't want to lose our licenses. It wasn't the Gumball Rally!

[starlagurl]

Oh, I thought you were implying you had a close call with the coppers.

[rbisset]

Hmm best spur of the moment experience must be flying to Tibet. Bumped into a Danish guy we had met in Xian whilst in Chengdu and he mentioned he had a couple of spare seats available in a Landcruiser tour. 2 days later we landed in Lhasa

Driving through the centre of Australia is also a highlight. Absolutely canning it at 180km/hr for 1000km's in a day (in less than 7 hours) on a completely straight road was crazy. As was deciding to drive on a dirt track road from Kings Canyon for 200k's (in a fully saloon car!) rather than having to double back on ourselves for 200km's!

[wakingdream]

Hmm best spur of the moment experience must be flying to Tibet. Bumped into a Danish guy we had met in Xian whilst in Chengdu and he mentioned he had a couple of spare seats available in a Landcruiser tour. 2 days later we landed in Lhasa

Ha! Cool. And I know you've said you really loved Tibet, didn't you?

[rbisset]

Tibet was incredible. Looking back I was a really tight bastard and hated the fact the entry prices were so inflated compared to the rest of China. What seemed like a rip off at the time (100 Yuan, £7) meant I missed some great buildings that I really should have paid to see.

Just means I'll have to go back when I'm not on such a tight budget!

[skylab]

so it stops the "what shall we do", "I don't mind", "neither do I" conversations that we sometimes have or used to have.

I haaaaaaate that discussion SO much.

I like to have vague plans at LEAST too.

lol this story sounds familiar.

[starlagurl]

Yes, doesn't it? And did I have a vague plan in Montreal? Yes, I did! So, it was OK.

[sirrocko711]

Was only slightly seriously pondering a summer long south asian volunteering adventure this past spring, but didn't think I could come up with the money. Most flights ran $2000-ish or worse.

Then one day, whilst bored in class, I stumbled across a ticket that was only 1400!!!! An insanely good deal that I, at the time, thought I might miss if I waited a week to think about it...

Twiddled my thumbs for a few minutes, took a very long deep breath, and hit the "confirm purchase" button. A huge OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE feeling swept over me but the trip wound up being one of the most important experiences of my life!

As far as mid-trip decisions go, it wasn't completely spur of the moment but after my first day in Singapore, I had a choice between three weeks of Vietnam & a rushed Laos or three weeks of Indonesia. Waited till the very last minute to decide on Indonesia. I'm sure Vietnam would've been incredible as well, but Indonesia wound up the highlight of the whole three months.

[wakingdream]

Was only slightly seriously pondering a summer long south asian volunteering adventure this past spring, but didn't think I could come up with the money. Most flights ran $2000-ish or worse.

Then one day, whilst bored in class, I stumbled across a ticket that was only 1400!!!! An insanely good deal that I, at the time, thought I might miss if I waited a week to think about it...

Twiddled my thumbs for a few minutes, took a very long deep breath, and hit the "confirm purchase" button. A huge OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE feeling swept over me but the trip wound up being one of the most important experiences of my life!

As far as mid-trip decisions go, it wasn't completely spur of the moment but after my first day in Singapore, I had a choice between three weeks of Vietnam & a rushed Laos or three weeks of Indonesia. Waited till the very last minute to decide on Indonesia. I'm sure Vietnam would've been incredible as well, but Indonesia wound up the highlight of the whole three months.

Sounds like you made a great decision! Just goes to show that planning everything to the last T isn't always the way to go

[sianeth]

Was only slightly seriously pondering a summer long south asian volunteering adventure this past spring, but didn't think I could come up with the money. Most flights ran $2000-ish or worse.

Then one day, whilst bored in class, I stumbled across a ticket that was only 1400!!!! An insanely good deal that I, at the time, thought I might miss if I waited a week to think about it...

Twiddled my thumbs for a few minutes, took a very long deep breath, and hit the "confirm purchase" button. A huge OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE feeling swept over me but the trip wound up being one of the most important experiences of my life!

As far as mid-trip decisions go, it wasn't completely spur of the moment but after my first day in Singapore, I had a choice between three weeks of Vietnam & a rushed Laos or three weeks of Indonesia. Waited till the very last minute to decide on Indonesia. I'm sure Vietnam would've been incredible as well, but Indonesia wound up the highlight of the whole three months.

Was having a little browse through your blog earlier - it sounds awesome, good shout, I say! Whats next on the cards then??!

[darrenstravels]

I hate this thread. Everytime someone posts, I have to go and read their blog.

I now have 4 more Travelblogs to read. I don't have time for this!