Tourists in Bulgaria, for example, always get caught out by this. They shake their head for yes and nod for no.

Exactly what I wanted to say. All that talk of “perfection” makes me imagine them snapping and going full psycho because a train was cancelled and they need to book a different one.

To OP: just stop trying to plan that much. A general plan is good. Just be aware things will change and that’s ok. As long as you two are having a good time, the rest really doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

If you want a little psychological trick to make the trip more memorable than it otherwise would be, whatever you think is going to be the most impressive, save it for last. Our memories have a very strong recency bias.

How do you ever solve a problem if you don’t acknowledge it exists?

I’m not from the US, but live in a country that is a US ally with a lot of military bases. The US election effects us. The fact the DNC is fielding an old age pensioner who should be sitting comfortably in a retirement home complaining about the birds obstructing his view against an equally old fascist is deeply worrying.

Wait… could Just Stop Oil have done some 5D chess move here? Force Sunak to publicly claim he cares about Stonehenge just before the UNESCO report comes out?

The pithy version of that is that we know more things than our ancestors, but we’re not smarter than them.