I don't do as much in depth research as you Shirley, because I don't want to get there and feel I've been there before. I like the newness of places and the walking around and stumbling across things. I do however do loads of research on the area/hotel e.t.c before I book, so I'm not disappointed with those aspects.After booking I'll ask about restauarant recommendations/trips/check out a webcam ocasionally e.t.c but that's about it.

On another chat site that I belong to I list researching holidays as one of my hobbies/interests. I spend ages reading/researching, asking questions about various destinations.. Then when I've decided and booked I spend the next months/weeks reading about which restaurants are good, how to get about .etc. It's something I really enjoy. Most of my holidays are spent touring so I obviously can't learn everything about the country I'm about to visit and I still take pleasure in finding a little restaurant in a hidden away square but the time I have taken reading about my upcoming holiday has always helped build up the excitement to the trip.

I do as much research as possible. We like to use public transport and get out and about. We like to see as much of a country as we can.It might sound like a contradiction as we tend to favour AI these days but it's never stopped us getting out and about for the day.I also ask for recommendations for restaurants,bars, boat trips etc; I even take a look at places family and friends are going to.I should have been a travel agent.

I should have been a travel agent.

me too- i actually applied to be one at one point

Lots of research hotel, google street maps my husband says we don't need to know whats round every corner. Was looking at Italy maybe next one, Sorrento or Garda, anyone been either.

Been to both though Sorrento was many years ago.

Are you interested in the town of Garda located on the lake of the same name or one of the many resorts around the lake?

I've been down to Lake Garda many times, stayed in Garda and some other resorts. Garda itself is an interesting place, lots of small alleyways with shops and cafés, the ferry boats can take you to lots of different places on the lake. Many of the restaurants are open air and in the summer months some will have live music. It's great to sit having a drink or a meal at the side of the lake listing to the lapping of the water. There is a lakeside walk between Garda and Bardolino, another lovely small town, but if walking isn't your thing the ferries and busses are quite cheap. You can also take day trips to both Verona and Venice from many of the resorts dotted around the lake. Malcesine on the lake further north is a good excursion by ferry as is Riva at the very top of the lake and Limone on the other side is just a ferry ride away. From Malcesine you can take a cable car ride up to the top of the mountain.
Lots of things to do, I live just a few hours drive from the lake and often pop down for a short break and never get tired of the area.

I dont do anywhere near as much as I used to for a few reasons I think . Maybe I've become a bit bored with so much research , I seem to know all the pitfalls now , have a nose for the right holiday & I started to feel that I had already lived my holiday and moved on to the next before Id even taken it . In short Whilst I still have my "to do" holiday destination list based on all those years of reseach and HTing I think I've become much more confident and somewhat impulsive in making the right choice based on my own experiences and gut instinct .

As an example we are off to Gozo in 3/4 weeks and whilst it's a place that had always been on my list I booked the hotel pretty much on a whim and checking out a few reviews . I've done little research since and still need to decide and do work and research on getting to from airport /ferry / car hire/diving /places we want to visit/restaurants etc .. I've done nowt even though I said I would start over the weekend .
I would love to have been a travel agent but I think I would try to tell all my customers what to do and get really frustrated when they ignored me

I also try not to over reasearch these days as I also dont want to feel like I have been to a place before when I get there & I dont want to take the kind of adventure out of going somewhere new. I do research hotels quite a bit still as I need certain things to be there for it to be a successful holiday as we seem to have got fussier as we have got older. Alos we have started to revisit some of the places we have been to and enjoyed, so no need to research those at all.

Doe

Yes Id agree there chris, I still have that list of important requirements but over the years I've learnt to sniff them out much quicker & trust my own instincts more . Too much choice and Im still capable of becoming a stress head though .

I tend to only research the area, the hotels, things to do locally etc for the place we are going before I actually decide where we are going.
I also ask alot of questions in here. eg: Cuba is our latest destination next year.

Once booked, I usually buy a tourist book or something to have a read.

I like the excitement of actually exploring and not knowing what I might find.

I would research the practical stuff like hiring a car, dive schools etc..the important things to me.

If it is anywhere I have been before, I tend not to bother these days although I may check out the hotel reviews or something to see if anything has changed.

I think it depends a lot on where I'm going. I go to a lot of off the beaten track faraway places, for instance many years ago I travelled through Mexico on my own and with only a smattering of Spanish. Without doing extensive research at my local library (pre-internet days) I probably wouldn't have attempted the holiday. On my recent trip to South Africa with it's high rates of criminality I did loads of research about where I wanted to travel to and whether these places were safe.
I rarely take beach resort holidays or return to the same place for anything other than a short break but unlike touring holidays where I can move on after a couple of days if I was to book a weeks holiday to a resort I would definitely need to do some research before travelling to make sure it suited my needs. I hear people mention the names of resorts and think that sounds nice, but realise when reading reviews that I wouldn't like the place so in my case research is important.

I'm the worlds worse when it comes to researching holidays. I scrutinise every detail on the resort, trips and surrounding area. By the time we go away my husband tell me he feels that he has already been there even before arriving LOL!!

My soon to be 18 year old son and his girlfriend are travelling to Mexico 3 weeks after our return. Although, I helped them pick the hotel, other than that they have done no research whatsoever, and when I try to help them out with some pointers, they don't want to know .... they say that it will spoil the holiday for them!!

Being his parent, it's not very reassuring for me!!

Pat

just before I joined here, we went on holiday to Turkey. I took the brochure's word for it being a quiet place with a few restaurants. I didn't recognise Gumbet from the description at all. Although the hotel was nice the place wasn't for us. In fact we have never gotten around to visiting Turkey again yet.
Now, I research holiday places to death before we go. Not so much restaurants etc but what type of place it is and what we would go to see. However, if its somewhere like Bangkok,I do research restaurants as its such a vast place that the best places are not often ones you stumble across. No matter how much research you do though- you never think you know the place once you've arrived
Over all, the most research is in picking the destination and then going through all the various avenues to find the best prices for flights and accomodation. During the research time I often find that I've been all over the world

I always have a good research before I book as I can never understand holidays and/or accommodation being booked then coming on sites asking for information on the resort or hotel . I just like to book then enjoy the count down not begin to worry have I made the correct decision if a bad choice has been made you just have to live with it.

Definitely need to research BEFORE booking five arches no point whatsoever in looking for vital info after booking

I dont do as much now as when we had the children , and deciding on country and resort that had plenty for them to do , now its just hubby and myself we dont really mind where we go , i have a price that i'm prepared to pay , and thats about it really , i do have to research departure times and airports as we dont drive and have to rely on others or local transport to get us back and forth, we are a lot more flop and drop these days , do like a walk , but not really interested on water parks . I dont go by the look of hotel/apartment as they can be airbrushed in brochures , and i do take with a pinch of salt other peoples reviews on hotel/apts , i might like what somebody else disliked . I made a mistake of booking an AOonce and hated it from the minute we were dropped off until we got back on the coach , 2 weeks in a place that your not happy with is a very long time

I have a good look but do try to not over analyse it, This year is a good example as I already expect the place to not be quite as good as last years hotel but there are many more bars and restaurants localy.

We are again going AI but have worked to find a resort/accommodation with plenty of places to eat out too.

I do like to think that I do enough reserch so as not to get any nasty surprises on arrival tho .

I do loads so I can plan what I am going to do when.

Me too. So much that sometimes I think I've already been to a place before I get there