To think all this forward planning has taken the fun out of life?

[tootiredtobeinspired]

Abu to think that the pressure to research and book everything (restaurants/ theatre/ cinema/ holidays) months in advance takes all of the fun and spontaneity out of life?
I'm sick of it. You have to book a trip to see father Christmas in July because if you wait until December then you have no chance as everything is fully booked! I don't want to think about bloody Christmas in July.
You can't just decide to go to the cinema or theatre at the weekend because it will be fully booked unless you book it a week in advance.
Don't get me started on holidays, you can't just turn up and see where it takes you. You have to spend months researching online and booking every minute of your break or you get left with shit restaurants and no good experiences.
It's driving me insane!
We're currently planning a trip to USA and it's making me want to weep how much planning and research I should have done (lots is already fully booked and we're not even going for a few weeks)
I work full time I don't want to spend every spare minute thinking about what I might want to do next week/ month/ year. Whatever happened to spontaneity? [cry]

I wholeheartedly agree! I tried to book some theatre tickets in October, for this month. I thought I was being pretty organised, booking 4 months in advance, but couldn't work out why their booking calendar didn't match mine.

Turns out they were taking bookings for 2019!!

Yep I hear you!

I book ahead for stuff i absolutely want to see/ do

The rest i make up as i go along

Totaly agree.

Want to go out dancing tonight? Oh, well all decent club nights sell tickets in advance and they are all sold out.

Never mind, let’s have a cocktail. Oh, no we don’t have a reservation....

It’s ok we can get some food at one of the no-reservation places

I don’t recognise this. I don’t have small children so I don’t know about the Santa thing, but certainly where I live you wouldn’t need to book much in advance as I know my nieces didn’t for their babies. Last minute holidays are really easy to book using the internet. Research about the place you are going is optional. I tend to know a couple of things I definitely want to do because they’re well known then wander a bit or go on the internet when I’m there.

Yes I agree.I'm planning a long haul trip and hate that we've got to plan everyday there because of places filling up . I much prefer to see how we feel on the day, look at the weather .... Spontaneous used to be much more fun.

London seemed a lot like this to me.

Some people like to do loads of paid for, booked in advance stuff: santa, theatre, sports events. I don’t!

I love researching holidays, but I never had to make a reservation for dinner in advance. What kind of places do you mean? Places like the revolving restaurant in Seattle? I would imagine having to make a reservation there.

This x 1000

Anything in London requires ~7 months planning and you cannot sit and have a drink on a Friday/Saturday anywhere without booking.

Ditto eating anywhere decent - fine dining restaurants need 3-4 months nowadays and even then if you don’t want to go on a Tuesday they seem to offer ridiculous times like a 6pm or 9.30pm sitting

Post Brexit those on a low income will be poorer, especially if the Tories gradually take away employment rights, so maybe some of these things will be unaffordable for more people and so less demand. So last minute options may become available more often for some things.

Depends how fussy you are. Spontaneity means you might not get dinner at a top restaurant on the other hand you might luck out cos they've had a few cancel.

I’ve not had a problem with cinema but we recently tried to eat out spontaneously and could t get in anywhere.

Holidays are a nightmare now.

What happened to teletext holidays books 48 hours before departure?

Yep. We didn’t get to see Father Christmas this year because house moves and other big life events meant that we didn’t have the cash to book before early December and everything within 50 miles was gone.
Previously we’ve been able to turn up and get in no probs.

Absolutely.

And then being pestered afterwards to leave "feedback" on every single fucking part of it.

We had 2 different family trips to London last year. The first, we had nothing booked (except accommodation) and it was grand, got 'turn up at the door' tickets for the theatre, everything ran smoothly. But on the second trip we weren't so lucky.

In an ideal world I do like planning things and so quite like the before part of organisation. But I'm so busy it's harder and harder to find the time and mental inclinination to do so.

Forget London on a Friday or Saturday
That's why I never go out at that time now. Just no point.
It's totally crazy.
spontaneity seems to be bloody hard to do.

I live in London and you can even get last min theatre tickets if so desired! Returns, etc. Obv you have to be flexible. Cinema - book on the day, not usually an issue. Restaurants - I don’t do high end, but would book a specific one a few days ahead. If wasn’t fussed would book a few hours ahead, or turn up if there were a few good ones in an area.

I agree. I am a planner by nature but even I get annoyed by the fact that everything has to be pre-booked these days - there is little room for spontaneity. But it's a feature of a higher population with more money, the latter of which I guess isn't a bad thing.

Agree! What about that ridiculous advert on TV saving now to save up for next Christmas!! Oh what a wonderful fulfilling life to spend relentlessly saving up the next Christmas so you don't get 'caught short'. Lunacy.

Completely agree. Everything is always sold out or fully booked. I’m sure it didn’t used to be like this.

But the good point about spontaneity is you end up doing things you don't think of. So you have dinner in a little cafe that no one knows about because that's what you stumble across.
I

Its not just London, I live near a northern city that's not particularly well known for its wealth or anything. It's just making me more grumpy and resentful. We wanted to go to the cinema on Friday night and I checked on Thursday morning for tickets - sold out at our closest cinema and shit seats at the cinema slightly further away. That was more than 36 hours in advance!

I hate trying to find somewhere to eat with my DH. Say we’re wondering around somewhere and are looking for something to eat he’ll be on bloody trip advisor gormlessley staring it to his phone trying to find the absolute best reviews! It make me want to throw his phone under the wheels of a passing bus!

I live in the NE and it’s not like that here. We would maybe book the cinema on the day we wanted to go but would have no problem turning up to almost any restaurant or bar and just walking in (we don’t eat in Michelin star type places).
We managed to do plenty of Christmas things with the kids by booking in October too and even then it wasn’t always necessary.

It's not always necessary to plan things in minute detail! Yesterday we went to the cinema in soho in the afternoon (didn't book) had a look at a bit of the lumiere exhibits, went for dinner in soho ( no reservation, 2 minute wait max). But if I was going to something likely to be popular like a film premiere followed by the Ivy I'd expect to have to book. Luckily I don't go to many opening nights. Or the ivy.