We are taking a couple of trips this fall. One will be a camping trip to Montana, the other an airline trip to South Carolina. Both are destinations and routes we have traveled many times before. Nonetheless there have been some surprises as we make our plans.

It probably isn’t a surprise, but it is a slight disappointment that we find we are no longer able to just take off with our camper and see how far we can get, finding a camp spot wherever we arrive when we are ready to stop the day. There used to always be a spot in a Forest Service campground that could be accessed without a reservation. I’m sure that there are some off-grid campers who can still succeed in that style of traveling, but we have found that making reservations works better for us. It removes some of the spontaneity from our travels. Even though we do not need hookups every night when traveling, we do like the assurance of knowing we have a space to park.

I remember traveling with friends from Chicago to Montana when we didn’t give any thought to how far we would get in a day or where we would stay. We were tent camping and we simply looked at highway signs to find a campground when the day began to wane. That style of travel simply would not work these days.

We have reservations for all of the nights on the road. I had fun discovering some new places to stay and a few new routes. One of the luxuries of being retired is time, so we are taking an extra day both ways on this trip which shortens the number of miles per day significantly. We should have plenty of time to explore and stop wherever we choose.

The surprise is the cost of campgrounds. Commercial campgrounds seem to be re-branding themselves as RV resorts with increased amenities, many of which we do not want or need. Not every campsite is a destination for us. Some are waypoints. We don’t need water slides, clubhouses, cable television, or golf courses. We just want a safe place to park our camper with a bit of privacy. A good view and a place to walk wouldn’t hurt. It is definitely the case that camping is not saving us money on this trip. Campground fees rival motel fees. I’m pretty sure that even if we don’t count the additional cost of fuel associated with pulling our camper, we would have saved money because I seem to be better at finding inexpensive motels than I am at finding inexpensive campgrounds. On this trip we will be staying at commercial campgrounds, at least one city campground, a state park, and a forest service campground. All require reservations to have an assured site. Two of the commercial campgrounds have reservation systems that allow you to pick out your campsite and then charge $35 to “lock in” your site. Even if you pre-pay they don’t guarantee that you will get the site you chose, only that you will have a site. The extra fee is to guarantee the exact site. Our stay in a Montana State Park is less than $35 total charge.

I’m sure that there are bargains, like the Montana State Park, to be found if you shop around enough. I’ve stayed at that particular State Park before and know that among the amenities are abundant mosquitoes, and there are no amenities. It is just a good place to park with a picnic table and a fire ring.

One of the things that reservations do is to spread out the sting of the cost a bit. Because all of the places we are staying require advance payment, we have already spent that money meaning less cash out of pocket as we travel.

Our other surprise with travel this fall is our airline trip to South Carolina. We didn’t purchase our tickets as far in advance as usual because we were coordinating our schedule with our daughter and son-in-law’s schedules. So I expected big sticker shock on that purchase. When we traveled there last winter our tickets were among the most expensive airline travel we have every purchased. What a surprise to find tickets that were the kind of prices we used to pay when our children were in college! I had to do a double check to make sure that I wasn’t reading the website wrong. Apparently there are still some bargains to be found. Granted, we had some flexibility on travel days, and we live near a major airport. We also had some flexibility about departure and destination airports because both we and our daughter live near several options. Still, I know I paid more per ticket for our son to come home for the holidays when he was in college than we paid for our airline tickets for this trip.

We have never placed a high priority on accumulating money. Our vocational choices led us to a life that focused on other values. We sometimes worry a bit about the amount of money we are spending. Adjusting to a retirement lifestyle has a bit of anxiety over unknown medical costs and other expenses that can go through savings quickly. But we have always made travel and adventure a priority and I suspect that we’ve got a few big trips left in us before we settle down.

Part of what makes travel appealing is that it breaks up routines, forces us to think, and offers surprises. I guess I shouldn’t complain about the campsite costs. We live in a changing world and we aren’t the only ones who are seeking the joys of camping. Just last week I was telling our grandchildren that there are two parts to a successful camping trip: 1) plan so that you have the things you need with you; and 2) innovate when you discover something you forgot to bring.

Planning and innovation are still skills required. I hope I can use them wisely.