Now, travel planning on the Net is less of a novelty and more of a necessity. A good guidebook might be useful during the trip but a lot of pre-trip exploration occurs right in one's living room. The actual reservations and purchases can be done from the same chair. While in most every way this is a blessing, it can lead to less spontaneity on the road. I used to be happier letting the wind take me as it might. Now, I can learn almost too much.
For example, we spent the better part of the morning at the schedule for Euroline Bus passes. The timings don't easily fit exactly what we want to do in the fall. We ended up playing what-if scenario after scenario. In the good old days, I was happy enough to set the initial segment and then let fate take care of the rest.