Never need a vacation from your vacation again + 5 ways to build slow travel into your next trip
Why travel slow? You are here because you are tired of something: Every time you come back from vacation, you’re more exhausted than when you left.
Over-scheduled days pack in too many experiences and too much rushing around in between. Zipping from city to city leaves you spending more time packing and unpacking than enjoying your time.
Yet you’ve also been hearing about a different way to vacation: slow travel. It sounds alluring and refreshing… but it’s hard to imagine actually doing it. So, why travel slow and cozy, instead of fast and furious?
“Here’s a different way to think about FOMO: What if what you’re missing out on is feeling good about your trip, connecting as a family, and deeply enjoying what you do, where you go, and who you’re with?”
Why travel slow?
Here’s the short, sweet, and simple on why we prioritize cozy, slow travel over any other kind:
Don’t diminish. Replenish.
Often we travel or take a vacation so we can come back feeling recharged, refueled, and replenished. Fast travel can have fun and exciting moments, and we pace ourselves so we can enjoy those times too. However, when your vacation’s only gear is overdrive, you often wind up coming home depleted, done in, and diminished.
Slow travel can take in amazing experiences, yet you finish your trip replenished.
Don’t speed. Savor.
Whether a bowl of ramen at a neighborhood spot in Osaka or sunset at a beachside table in Oaxaca, we take our time. Savoring experiences deepens our enjoyment of our travels and of our time together.
We find that when we take time to appreciate where we are, what we’re doing, and who we’re with, we feel healthier, form deeper memories and stories of our travels, and gain a deeper appreciation for our lives, whether at home or away.
Instead of speeding through our days, we savor our moments.
Don’t crash. Connect.
Moving fast from place to place and attraction to attraction makes us feel irritable, defensive, even suspicious. We shut ourselves off from the people around us. Focusing so intently on nothing but where we’re going next also cuts us off from one another, as we often get more concerned about not messing up the schedule than enjoying the moment and the people who matter most.
When we move too quickly, we crash emotionally, physically, and mentally. Slow travel breaks us out of worrying about what’s next. Instead, we are present in the moment. Not only do we enjoy our trip more, we connect with those around us.
Cozy, slow travel encourages us to slow down, enjoy, and connect.
We learned long ago that fast-paced travel is not for us. Our kids manage the day better. As an above-knee amputee who uses a prosthetic leg, Jodie doesn’t get overwhelmed or exhausted. Instead of thinking about the next thing (or thinking about work), Anthony stays more in the moment with his family.
Whether the broader world, the people and places we are visiting, or each other as a family, we have found that cozy slow travel helps us slow down, enjoy, and connect.
We don’t come back from a trip burned out from our vacation. Often, finishing one trip is when we start planning the next.
“Checking every activity off a list isn’t the point of your trip.”
The vacation time crunch that pressures people to rush and over-schedule
No matter where you live or how many days off you get for vacation each year, your travel time is precious. If you’re a U.S. citizen, like we are, that travel time can feel like it’s crunched and never enough. Time pressure squeezes you to eke out as much as you can from every moment away from home.
However, all that fast-paced dashing about makes you and your family overtired, grumpy, and miserable.
Yet you might wonder if fast and furious is the only way to travel.
It’s not.
FOMO steals joy. Here’s another way to think about it
When you plan a family vacation, there is never a lack of options for things to do, places to go, and experiences to have. Every destination has incredible opportunities on offer. While that’s inspiring, it can also kick a person’s fear of missing out, or FOMO, into high gear.
Here’s a different way to think about FOMO: What if what you’re missing out on is feeling good about your trip, connecting as a family, and deeply enjoying what you do, where you go, and who you’re with?
We stopped traveling fast and started doing something else
When our family of four took trips, our grumpiest moments, worst bouts of exhaustion, and biggest temper flare-ups always came when we moved too fast and did too much. That’s not just us adults either. Moving too fast tired out our kids and dragged down entire days.
So we stopped traveling fast.
Our family has traveled the world full time since 2022. Even before that though, we took smaller trips and typical American vacations of a few days or maybe a week, sometimes two. Throughout, we have focused on slowing down our travels. That’s not all though. We did something else too.
We got smarter about how we prioritize what we do on vacation
For us, slow travel means we don’t worry about trying to do every single thing a destination has to offer.
Instead, we develop, discuss, and decide a list of activities, based on our priorities as a family. Three to five of those items become our must-do experiences. They are the things we care most about accomplishing during our trip.
Anything else we do is a bonus. As long as we do our main priorities, we finish our trip or vacation feeling accomplished and fulfilled.
Slowing down means it’s okay to have downtime
When you’re on vacation, it can be easy to get caught up in the rush of experiences and attractions. Downtime, rest, even a good night’s sleep can all get sacrificed to a FOMO-driven need to do, do, do, and go, go, go.
We deliberately build downtime into our trips. Whether a morning, afternoon, evening, or entire day, we make sure that when our family needs rest, we get it. Building in downtime charges us up so that we come to our next activity rejuvenated, with open minds and open hearts that are ready for the experience.
“We don’t come back from a trip burned out from our vacation. Often, finishing one trip is when we start planning the next.”
Why travel slow? It’s more fulfilling, replenishing, and fun
There can be so much time and FOMO pressure to travel fast, to try to do every activity and visit every attraction.
Your vacation doesn’t have to be that way though. You can come home without that dreaded feeling of needing a vacation from your vacation.
Learning how and why to travel slow has made a huge difference to every trip our family takes and every destination we visit. Now that we travel the world full time, cozy, slow travel has kept us engaged in our travels. Instead of burning out, we get the downtime we need, along with the travel experiences that we want to share as a family and build memories around.
Why travel slow? Slow travel is more fulfilling, replenishing, and fun. You can still do the things that matter to you—without a side of family vacation burnout. Transitioning to slow travel has made all the difference for our family. We think it can for you and your family too.
5 ways to build slow travel into your next vacation
When you plan your next trip, here are 5 ways you can transition from fast and furious travel, to cozy and slow travel.
Choose 3-5 must-do experiences, and prioritize those above other activities.
Instead of trying to “do everything,” make a list of all the attractions or destinations that interest you and your family. Discuss and decide 3-5 experiences that are your top priorities. All other activities become optional, not required.
Accept that it’s okay to leave lower priority activities undone.
Do other stuff, sure, but checking every activity off a list isn’t the point of your trip. It’s okay to leave activities undone.
Cut down how many times you change where you’re staying.
When your trip has fewer location changes, you have less stress. Instead of zipping from hotel to hotel or from town to town, look for places where you can stay the entirety of your trip, or break it down into a couple of larger chunks. You’ll spend less time packing and unpacking, and more time enjoying.
Build in downtime, and don’t be afraid to change the day’s plans.
It’s okay to have time in your vacation days when you are simply relaxing. If you wake up and realize that you and your group need some downtime, it’s okay to change the day’s schedule too. Granted, there are times to power through, or scheduled activities that you may have to make the best of. However, when downtime becomes part of your trip, the rest becomes easier—and more enjoyable.
Remember to savor your time together and be in the moment.
Every trip is precious, especially family vacations with your kids. As best you can, remember to stay focused on why you’re taking this trip. Savor the moment. Enjoy where you are and who you’re with.
Why travel slow? So you can finish your trip knowing you had a meaningful, enjoyable time in a place you wanted to experience, with the people you wanted to share it with.
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