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uh I'd like to go to Southern California on vacation for a few days. Could I ask for help planning the trip given a set of criteria or will that be closed as too focused?

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Your best bet is to ask rather a lot of crisp, focused questions that you can use to plan your trip, each in their own Q that can accumulate A:

  • can I get between A and B by public transit?
  • how feasible is it to visit A and B in a single day?
  • what's the closest hotel to A?
  • someone told me there are no good restaurants near A, is this true?
  • is there an ideal order to visit A, B, and C on the same trip?

Every time you need a fact in order to make a decision, you can ask a question. And over time you will end up with a plan, and the site will end up with a number of useful questions that other people can use to make their own plans, even though they are going for a different amount of time, have a different budget, and so on.

Here is a way to tell if a question is crisp and focused.

  • Are you asking for a list? Not crisp.
  • Is the answer a fact (length of time, price, distance, number of things) or an opinion (expensive, heavy, worth it, best)? Facts are crisp, opinions are not.
  • Are you asking for an offsite resource like a great website to buy something? Off topic.
  • Are you asking one question? Focused. Several questions, like "please list all the X and how much do they all cost and which is the best value?" Not focused, and 2/3 of it is not crisp either.
  • is the question useful to someone else later? What's the cheapest flight between A and B on such a date is not useful later. I've found flights between A and B but they're a bit too expensive for me, I'm willing to spend more time if I can save money, are there ways to do that? is better. For some A and B there may be nearby airports, connecting flights, or other suggestions to make the trip more cheaply.
  • are you asking someone to suggest a decision (eg drive vs fly, travel north to south or south to north) or give you the information you need to make a decision.
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  • thanks kate chat wasnt an option as you know
    – user11433
    Feb 12, 2014 at 3:45
  • @caseyr547 I've expanded on some guidance for you so that you have a chance to continue to ask Southern California questions and get your trip planned
    – Kate Gregory
    Feb 15, 2014 at 20:48
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One of the close reasons on the site is the WANTA option (we are not travel agents). You can read more about what it consists of and why they're not allowed.

However, if you hop into the chat room, and leave a description of what you're hoping to do, some of us love looking at stuff like that :)

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