To remember a time when we didn’t book everything

[labamba007]

Did you prefer it when we didn’t have to book everything in advance? I feel like since Covid everything has to be booked - restaurants, cafes, softplay, museums, bowling, any sports, swimming etc. I just remember turning up to stuff and it being fine. Now you can’t go anywhere without booking and nothing is spontaneous. Maybe it’s because there’s more people so you need to book to guarantee but I do miss it!

I love having everything booked in advance, there's no uncertainty and no anxiety.

The worst is when you don’t realize in advance that the normal thing is now a “booking thing” and it’s all booked up for weeks already.

Thankfully, in my area many places are walking it back, eg no booking for outdoor swimming anymore.

I definitely do see how it would benefit a lot of people who like booking in advance and knowing what’s going on. I’m a bit more laid back and scatty so definitely preferred a more relaxed approach 😂

The swimming really irritates me. It’s so bloody difficult to use my local pools booking system!

I agree OP. Although I do like to be organised and know I won't be turned away, there is a difference between booking on the day and booking days or even weeks in advance. You have to plan the whole day in advance and you don't yet know variables like weather or road works or everyone's mood. Then it becomes a case of clock watching and rushing, or being too early for fear of being late. The fun thing becomes a goal and a lot less fun.

I think about this often but the booking everything in advance thing started well before Covid for me.

It feels like you can't just wake up, decide to have a day out and expect to get a table in a good restaurant for lunch now.

We are campers and would love to decide last minute to pack the car and turn up at a campsite like my parents used to. Some campsites are fully book up for summer in January!

l also remember when Travel Lodges and Travel Inns ( did they become Premier Inns?) were all priced the same no matter where they were and you just turned up and asked for a room and they always had space.

We used to do a lot of fly drive holidays in the US and never pre booked hotels - I wonder if that's possible now?

Cinemas are better now though. I have many childhood memories of queuing for an hour in the freezing cold to see a film only to be turned away because it was full!

That is EXACTLY how I feel @Dontlletmedownbruce . Particularly the being too early for fear of being late thing.

We used to do a lot of fly drive holidays in the US and never pre booked hotels - I wonder if that’s possible now?

We were talking about this the other day, we just used to book a hotel for the first night and then go where our fancy took us. Wouldn’t dare try it now.

Theatre trips- now are up to 2 years in advance! What the hell!

Mixed feelings on this.

In summer 2021, so just after the main bit of pandemic but when things were still a bit restricted, we had a holiday in Cornwall. The advice was to book ahead for everything because they were still limiting numbers. So we did and we got to see everything we wanted to see and it was great as it wasn't crowded.

However, I remember a holiday before the pandemic when we had a day in Barcelona and wanted to visit Sagrada Familia. We wandered all around the outside boggling at it and then tried to buy tickets to go in, only to discover that we should have booked in advance and there was no chance for the rest of the day.

I get that having to book removes spontaneity, but I tend more towards the planning mentality so would often prefer.

You are right though that there was a time you didn't have to book ahead so much. Maybe everywhere has just got busier and tourism has expanded. Thirty odd years ago I remember DH and I had a day in Venice. We drove there from the place we were staying South of Florence. When I think how much we packed in to that one day, none of it pre-booked, I am astonished and feel slightly exhausted just thinking about it!

Yes I really despise how there are ‘sessions’ for everything now - no more popping in to soft play on a whim! So annoying! Or you do pop in, but the ‘session’ finishes in half an hour so you pay for a full session but get a third of it. They have to ‘reset’ everything between sessions apparently. I had soft-play aged kids either side of Covid and pre Covid was so much better!

I was saying this today when I watched my DH waste four hours of his life trying to get Oasis tickets. Obviously you always had to book concert tickets and I remember getting the psychical tickets through the post for big gigs at Wembley, but I can’t remember how you booked them? Did you ring a hotline and pay over the phone? I went to a few big concerts in the 90s but haven’t a clue how you booked tickets.

I’ve always had to book if I wanted to do something; in the rare instance I didn’t, I wasn’t able to get in. I’m talking since the very early 2000’s

DH and I used to do this. Not in the US, never been. But we have certainly done it in France, Canada and the UK. Just turn up somewhere and you could always get accommodation

I don't like having to book everything in advance. It spoils the fun. Stressful when you have to get to somewhere for a certain time with an uncooperative child who has changed their mind from yesterday. If they are badly behaved you can't even say "if you don't behave you can't go to soft play" because you have already booked it and you don't want to lose the money you paid.

I'm sure it probably makes people more likely to go out when they are ill to these places too, as if you have paid a lot of money you will go regardless.

You stood outside HMV for hours, or even camped out overnight, to buy tickets. We'd send in someone's brother to wait in the que and buy 6 tickets for us and then chip in to buy him some cheap beer! Or you'd buy tickets from a ticketmaster kiosk in a shopping centre. At least you had a chance if you queued up, i was 18,090 in line for Taylor Swift tickets!!

We went to a physical ticket outlet and waited in line!

Me and a friend went to Barcelona last year for a weekend. We went to Park Güell, but were turned away because all tickets were sold out for the week and you had to pre book “weeks in advance”.

I’m pretty sure it was free to enter and no booking required pre covid.

I find that if we decide to go out for a meal without booking. In our very rural area it was always first come first served for tables but now the few places we go to are half full of empty tables with 'reserved' thingies in them.

DH never bother with starters or desserts so we're usually in and out within an hour but always feel like we've been squeezed in to the crappy table at the back as all the decent tables are reserved in 2 hour blocks.

I have never booked a cafe in my life. Most museums don’t need booking unless you are going to a specific exhibition.

"Walking it back"?

I guess that's a corporate phrase. People should leave that wanky stuff at the office and just talk normally.

I love it. No more lines. No uncertainty. No anxiety.

I hate the day booking for things like classes at the gym.

I want to sign up for a time that I go to every week. That way I only sign up once and I will probably remember and go.

Having to remember to book the night or week before adds a massive amount of mental load for me.

Agree it’s an absolute pain. No spontaneity, no last minute changes of mind. Having to decide how many people are going beforehand is also a nuisance. I booked for an attraction during the holidays and not only did I have to give numbers, I had to give everyone’s names as well. Thought that was really over the top.

All the ‘lines’ on here. They are QUEUES!