Travel Tip #10 - When planning a trip, check for special events.

     When you are planning an itinerary for a trip, it is always a good idea to take a look at what special events are taking place in the area. There are several reasons for this: 1) If an event interests you, you can fit it into your schedule; 2) If an event doesn't interest you, you might want to avoid the area during that time frame because of the extra crowds; 3) Regardless of whether you want to attend the event or not, it will affect the availability of hotel rooms.
     A few years ago we were in Baltimore, and wanted to see Fort McHenry - where an important battle took place during the the war of 1812. Francis Scott Key was present during the British attack on the fort and was so inspired by the bravery of the defenders that he wrote The Star-spangled Banner to immortalize the event. It just so happened that the day we were in Baltimore was June 14, 2012 - Flag Day. Although the battle took place in September, the city decided to hold a big bicentennial celebration that day, but since we didn't bother to research special events for that day, we had no clue until we were stopped at a roadblock approaching the fort. We were told that only VIPs could continue on to the fort, and for some reason we weren't on their VIP list. We were told where we could park to take a shuttle to the fort for the program, and considered doing it, but it would have taken much longer than we had slotted for the tour of the fort. If we had done our homework, we could have worked it in, or come another day. As it turned out, we had to scrap it and move on to Plan B.
     Although somewhere like Baltimore is well suited to handle extra guests for special events, small towns like Palmyra or Cooperstown are not. Yet they each host annual special events that bring in thousands of extra tourists during the time frame of the event. If you are going to be in the area during those special events, you better book your hotel room months ahead of time. If you don't, all the decent rooms will be reserved. If you do manage to find one, it will probably cost double the normal rate, or be miles out of the way. In any case, it pays to check ahead of time.
     Good luck in all your travels!