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!

It like it, it's easier to book than having to arriver super early to make sure you have space

At least it's more chilled now.

I agree, but my post relates mostly to locations, rather than restaurants. I can completely understand a restaurant which has requirements for ordering in food to know exactly how many covers it is likely to deal with on one day.

But a big and mainly outdoor attraction is not going to have that pressure. And they managed perfectly well before booking became mandatory.

Not just book but now pre-pay.. I had to pay £50 deposit per head to book a London restaurant.

I’ve been saying this so much lately. It’s so annoying when you’re on holiday or visiting a new city and everything has to be booked in advance. You can’t just go where you feel like at the time. There’s no spontaneity in life anymore!

I think a lot of businesses went the booking route when COVID was about. The number of venues that lost business just because large groups didn't turn up was ridiculous - so I can understand paying a deposit. But I do miss the spontaneity sometimes of just getting up and going somewhere - we used to find some real gems of cafes and restaurants that way and it was much more relaxed.
If you're booking for a larger group the logistics of planning and booking become a lot more complicated. We are part of a group that booked a Christmas Train months ago during Spring. Now we are trying to book a meal which is an issue in itself. A couple of years ago we were booked for a meal which took so long to serve a pre-booked/selected meal slot that we nearly missed our slot for the afternoon activity!! The restaurant couldn't give rat's backside for our issue with them.
Another issue is that marketing can make a venue or activity appear much better than the reality - there's a thread somewhere on MN highlighting this problem. We actually did a CentreParcs weekend in the new year and still had the enjoyment of late night walks enjoying the Christmas lights without all the added expense of additional activities that this season generates.

I wish you could book soft play round here so that you know if it's going to be heaving - or worse, full - before you turn up with DC in tow!

I have ND DC - it's actually a lot easier to book things as they struggle with last minute changes of schedule and with queueing, so it's good to know we're guaranteed a space.

At my local pool... some sessions are pre-booking only, and some aren't.

You would have thought if that was the case, they would indicate on their website... but no, you just seem to have to know via osmoasis.

Pre-ordering food for group meals in a restaurant is the one that really winds me up. How am I supposed to know what I’m going to feel like eating 3 weeks on Tuesday!

Try booking a driving test 😳. I think my kid was something like over 30000 in the queue quite recently 😳

I hate booking everything in advance! How am I supposed to know if I'll be free to go to the theatre this time next year? And if I do book, I then have to organise my calendar around it at the time . As for camping trips! I have had a camper van for 40 years (not the same one!) because it gave you the freedom to get up and go whenever you want. not any more - everywhere has a booking system. It has taken all the fun out of travelling. It all feels so oppressive.

My daughter swims at her local pool three times a week - she books and pays in advance. She would like me to join her sometimes, but as she swims early in the morning and I'm unwilling to commit to a very early morning when I don't know what I would be doing the night before and I'd have to drive for half an hour to get to DD and the pool - I haven't gone yet. I'd much prefer to just wake up one morning, think 'I'm full of energy today!', message my DD and drive over. Instead I have to know several weeks in advance if I'm going to feel like early rising, driving over and then swimming.

Nope.

Exactly this.

People saying having things booked in advance takes away anxiety etc but actually for me the rigidity of all these advance bookings is equally anxiety inducing for me.

In almost all cases, I’d say my life is better for being able to book in advance. I think this is because queuing brings out such a feeling of anxiety in me that I avoid it like the plague. I’m pretty sure this is because I grew up with a very autistic sister and a dad who I now realise likely also has high functioning neurodiversity and absolutely zero filter. Every queue involved a rising feeling of panic as my sister was at risk of total melt down at any moment, while my dad made unhelpful comments like ‘I don’t think we’re going to get in here, there are FAR too many people ahead of us’.

Why anyone would actively choose to go to some trendy place and queue for an hour just for an Instagram picture with a big donut or something is beyond me!

I think growing up like this has made me a natural planner. I don’t actively pressure others to get organised but it does drive me nuts when people can’t be nailed down to a plan in a timely way.

I do agree about the local swimming pool and soft play though. I don’t believe the levels of crowds justify a booking system.

Yep. I really miss not having to book a desk at work!

We don’t book for the recycling or swimming.
I liked booking for swimming because you didn’t have to queue, just swipe your card on the way past.

It doesn’t quite work when you go away in hols, you dint know what you will do/what there is to do etc….

Plus a lot of things are weather dependent anyway.

Personally, it’s a nightmare. I’m chronically ill. I can’t say how I’m going to feel the day before let alone 2 weeks before….

I don’t mind it personally but it does remove an element of spontaneity from life. One thing I do detest is the fact tickets for Christmas events go on sale in August. Everyone is surely broke from the summer holidays and school uniform. These events are often astronomical as well, I have no idea how families afford some of them. We’re both in the high tax band fwiw and can’t afford some of them e.g the polar express train which would have been £400.

Some things I prefer, such as booking for blood tests. That’s a lot better than the hour wait I used to have.

I find it interesting most people say booking helps their anxiety. For me it does exactly the opposite! Myself and my children all have different medical needs. We could be fine one day but not the next. Having to book in advance is very difficult as I don’t know what days we will all be well. We book tickets but then I get so anxious that one of us will be too unwell to go. I appreciate the places that let you book on the day, but having to book 24 hours or more in advance makes life more stressful for me.

That works when they have enough clients to be ‘lucky’ and insist on them booking ahead.
If they didn’t, I’m sure they’d be delighted have people just turn up.

Where I am, no one books for table at a cafe. You turn up. If it’s full, you go somewhere else

Yeah I don't love it

I was up for work in an area where I have some friends living, night 1 I pre booked for a group and it was DEAD, like 3 tables taken in a whole restaurant dead

Night two we didn't prebook and everywhere was full. We drove round 3 gastropub places and none could fit us in, this was on a weekday. We ended up going to a street food market in the end

Strange. What area are u in? London?

I booked Spice Girls tickets in c 1997 because when I bought the CD it came with a little inlay that you could fill in and post off to order merch or concert tickets. We sent it off and they came through in the post. When I look back I can’t even believe that was a workable method when you think about how it all happens nowadays!

As a planner it suits me on the whole, although I agree that having to book certain things so far in advance is a bit of a kill joy.

The main benefit for me is having to book a blood test. Pre-covid it was was a walk-in / take a ticket situation and you just never knew how busy it would be but there was always a wait. Now you have to book a slot and I've never, ever had to wait (I have blood tests every 12 weeks due to a medication I take and they have to be at my hospital). Only annoyance is if you get there early they tend not to see you until your designated timeslot.

Yes we’ve done it walking in Spain, in fact got to the airport and used a payphone to ring the first place. Hostale derby. We spoke limited Spanish , they spoke even more limited English.

having said that though the basic places we were staying I bet you could still do that now. Upside is I know how to ask for a room with bathroom and a double bed for x nights in Spanish.

Our local venue has some great gigs and artists. It's only small though so can sell out fairly quickly. So you can end up booking a year in advance - by the time it comes round you can easily have lost enthusiasm or something else entirely has cropped up.