Well I am a planner and I also cannot stand to feel as if my time is being wasted. So standing in line for 3 hours to goto an attraction when I know these can be purchased ahead of time online, that really does me in. My husband is pretty laid back, thankfully, and is pretty okay with letting me map things out. But I will say that we have learned after some 17 years of planning vacations together that it's good mix things up. So I'll plan a day then tell him that the next day is his -- so if he preplans activities then great, but if not then at least we've both had the opportunity to get in what we want to do on vacation. This year we also let our boys each pick an activity for vacation and it was very special to see how excited they were to be invovled in the planning.

I think it is definitely a matter of balance.  I'm also a planner which typically works out well but I also like to leave some time to do whatever.  My husband and I usually schedule a "free day" on our trips plus some time on other days for miscellaneous activities.  I also try to be flexible because things don't always go according to plan.  It can be easy to become fixated on sticking to a schedule and what fun is that?  You're on vacation to relax after all.

A fence many of us balance on.  I am generally a planner. But here's a strange spontaneity story.  Once in Oregon we were zooming back from a day on the coast.  We saw a heritage-historic-landmark style sign for the oldest redwood (or maybe another species of those trees-so-massive-you-feel-Lilliputian); in any event, I said, highly uncharacteristically for me, "let's stop."  Usually I get so goal oriented that I hate side tracking.  The tree was extraordinary--massive and ancient, as if inhabited by legends.  A month later we went back to the coast of Oregon for a proper weekend visit.  It was a few days after a freak hurricane had passed through.  As we zoomed past the famous tree site, we saw a sign that the tree had been felled in the storm (after some 500 years).  It struck me as a powerful sign of my own need to maintain spontaneity.  We might never have seen that tree.  What else have I missed in my zest for careful planning?  I try to let a little more spontaneity leak in now.  

When it comes to traveling I am the "must have a plan" type. If there are certain things on the ‘must see’ or ‘must do’ list than it's important to plan around them. You'd hate to get somewhere to find a "closed for the off season" sign! Lucky for me, Ryan is similar and likes to plan ahead to make sure we accomplish the important things. He also does force me to relax once we are there instead of focusing on my itinerary. I think your idea of scheduling spontaneity is the best of both worlds (or coasts, for that matter).

I'm exactly like you Brooke... My thought is we're only on vacation for a short period of time so I really want to make the most of it. I'm kind of an efficiency nut and that really drives my boyfriend crazy when we're on what's supposed to be a relaxing trip! Our solution has been to plan a day or two in each trip to be spontaneous (total compromise right?!) We'll pick a few things we know we want to do/see and then leave room to just explore.  

I think your plan is the best!  I am a lot more like Lewis and Marshall is a lot more like you.  I don't think he realizes that I know....but when we go somewhere he will say, "Oh lets go white water rafting!" and of course I'm excited and happy to go and I also know that you have to plan a white water rafting trip :)  I think it's best to keep his spontaneous soul in the dark, and surprise him with "unplanned" adventures.