That was a good post Gene, as your thoughts really rang true to me.

The first time we tried a vacation cruise on our own boat I was very destination-oriented. We had every stop planned with advance reservations at each marina. We motored a lot, sometimes into a headwind. After thinking about it and discussing our experience, my wife and I decided for our next trip "the vacation is where we are" and we were much more flexible about our plans, with no advance reservations.

The second one was a much better experience.