The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: March thirtieth, with a reminder that timing is everything.

Yesterday, we visited Venice. The memories one takes away from a sunny Spring afternoon in Venice will be vastly different than a mid-August visit, when the city is hot, humid and filled with the buzz of too many tourists. Truth is, as magnificent as any place can be on a good day, it can also be a nightmare on a bad one.

Whether you're trying to avoid a monsoon or a flood of tourists, the timing of your travel is half the battle. The desirability of almost anyplace worth visiting diminishes dramatically and in direct proportion to the number of people who happen to descend on it on any given day. Know that if you're one who appreciates those roads less traveled, there are occasions when even the most popular highways carry less traffic. That's often the time to make your visit.

Off-season expeditions have numerous advantages. In addition to avoiding both the crowds and the strain they put on a location's residents and services, the price of everything, including getting there, will likely be lower. Seasonal weather factors are obviously important for sojourns such as ski-trips, but savvy travelers also know the value of shoulder and off seasons. They may actually avoid places during those months the brochures and guidebooks define as high season.

In fact, high season is often more a measure of how many other visitors you're likely to encounter when you get there rather than how enjoyable the place or climate will be. So plan your itineraries accordingly and try to time visits to popular places when they're, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife."