Planning Your Dream Slow Travel Lifestyle

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You can design a dream life around slow travel, even without quitting your job or becoming a digital nomad. This post walks you through the mindset shifts, lifestyle tweaks, and baby steps to build a life that feels rich, unhurried, and deeply fulfilling. Here’s how to live the slow travel lifestyle. Remember to grab your free printable!

Why Build Your Life Around Slow Travel?

If you are thinking about planning a life of travel, you are not alone. So many women are turning to travel to enrich their lives in untold ways. Intentionally crafting a slow travel lifestyle that supports you and supports slower travel is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. It offers freedom, beauty, depth, and lifetime friendships you wouldn’t have made any other way.

A lot of travelers are experiencing burnout from rushed tourism or simply just from overbooked lives. It’s no wonder “escaping” sounds like a dream. But I’m here to tell you, it can be your reality. An intentional travel lifestyle could just be the very thing that saves your sanity. It sure did that for me!

What Is a Slow Travel Lifestyle?

A slow travel lifestyle can mean a lot of different things to different people. But at the heart of it, it’s an immersive, unrushed, and “people-first” approach to travel. You don’t need to be rich or retired to do it either. But the slow travel lifestyle does require that you have a few personal traits, such as:

• Curiosity
• The ability to be present in the moment
• Flexibility – Not necessarily in your schedule, but in your mindset. Nothing will test your mental flexibility like travel will! But that can be a good thing for a lot of people.
• A respectful nature – There is no point to practicing slow travel if you’re going to be a jerk wherever you go. It defeats the entire purpose. (Looking directly at people who demand that everyone speaks English to accommodate them!)

Step One: Define What “Dream Life” Actually Means To You: Life Design For Travelers

I’ll give you a few journal prompts here to see if you might be a good fit for the slow travel lifestyle. Because the lifestyle definitely comes with a slow travel mindset you will need to adopt. Not everyone can do you. Can you? Answer these:

1. What does a fulfilling day look like to me?
2. How do I want to feel? Who’s with me? Where am I waking up?
3. When do I feel most free and alive? What am I doing? Who am I with?
4. What pace of life feels natural to me. Rushed, structured, or spacious?
5. Do I crave deeper connections with places, cultures, and people, or quick adventures?
6. What kind of discomforts am I willing to tolerate in exchange for beauty or freedom?
7. How often do I fantasize about getting away, and what do I imagine when I do?
8. What kind of life do I want to look back on in 10 years? One of comfort, curiosity, or courage?
9. Where in the world do I feel most at peace? Why?
10. How would I define ‘home’ if it didn’t mean one fixed location?
11. What small changes could I make today to feel more like a traveler in my own life?
12. Am I drawn to control and predictability, or possibility and flow?

Step Two: Map Out Your Ideal Travel Rhythm

To create a travel and life design that flows, you really have to nails down what your intentional travel lifestyle will look like for you. This is literally about dream life travel planning, which might sound like a fantasy for some, but it’s absolute reality for those who do it.

1. How often do you want to travel and for how long? What is the ideal length of a trip for you?
2. Do you prefer a certain season for travel? Or can you see yourself traveling any time of year?
3. What climate do you prefer and where can you get that?

For the average slow traveler, a slow travel lifestyle trip is going to happen on about 3-month bases. Even if you have a “home base” you always come back to, 3 months is about what most slow travelers like to experience.

For others, it’s a 5-day mini escape, and that’s okay! The important thing is that you identify a length of time that feels slow to you. That allows you to immerse yourself in the culture and the local surroundings. You can even take slow road trips to accomplish this. The point is, figure out the specifics of what it looks like for you.

And if you don’t feel like you can take the huge leap of doing this abroad, start practicing. Especially if you plan to travel alone. Use local travel to grow your skills while building towards bigger shifts. It’s find to start small. Again, this about YOUR definition of slow travel and what works for you. Don’t let other slow travelers tell you the “right” way to do it. The only right way is the way you want to do it for you. That’s part of the amazing freedom that comes with this slow travel lifestyle. You get develop your own slow travel mindset.

Step Three: Adjust Your Life to Support the Vision

There are certain things you’ll want to do to help set yourself up for whatever your plans are.

1. Downsize as needed. If you plan to go from a house you’ve lived in for 40 years to living out of a suitcase, then I highly recommend you read a book on Swedish Death Cleaning. It will help a lot.
2. Decide if you will sell, sublet, or find a flexible lease you can manage from abroad if you can’t or don’t want to give up your home.
3. Find a remote job, get into freelancing, make digital income, or whatever else will allow you to earn an income while you are traveling. I can tell you from personal experience, there is no better feeling of freedom than knowing you have a job wherever you decide to land and no matter how often you choose to move around.
4. Shift your spending priorities to support a more mobile lifestyle. Cancel subscriptions that aren’t internet based, re-prioritize things like a new car or going to the movies every week. I hate to be the one to say it, but reevaluate that Starbucks habit. While it won’t change much if you are living in the States, it can make a big difference in how you survive abroad. Get used to buying off-brand products, because you probably won’t find the products you normally use abroad anyway.
5. Choose who you share your vision with carefully. While there are some people you absolutely will have to tell no matter what their reaction may be, there are others who may not need to know until you’ve already left. Choose your support system carefully in this regard.

Step Four: Start Living It Now (No Matter Your Budget)

Give this new lifestyle a shot before you ever leave home.

• Do little things that fit the slow travel lifestyle such as taking your laptop to a new cafe. Or maybe explore your town as if you are a traveler in it.
• Plan one dreamy trip using the slow travel mindset. Take note of how you feel about the planning process (you’ll do a lot of it living this way). Also note the types of things you want to experience. Can you do anything similar in your area?
• Most importantly, celebrate the small steps and small accomplishments because that is a very real part of the slow travel lifestyle. Get used to noticing and appreciating the small things now!

How To Plan A Slow Travel Life (Ahead Of Time)

There are a few tools you have at your disposal to help you get started on all that lies ahead.

Best Podcasts for Digital Nomads (and Slow Travel Dreamers)

Location Independence & Remote Work

1. The Tropical MBA
   For entrepreneurs building location-independent businesses.
   Hosts: Dan Andrews & Ian Schoen
2. Digital Nomad Cafe Podcast
   Interviews with freelancers, remote workers, and online business owners.
   Host: Adam Finan
3. The Remote Life
   Inspiring nomad stories + remote work strategies.
   Host: Hanli Hoefer
4. Nomad Capitalist
   Focused on global finance, second residencies, and citizenships.
   Host: Andrew Henderson

Slow Travel & Intentional Living

5. The World Wanderers
   A couple who share their slow travel journey, lessons, and interviews.
   Hosts: Amanda Kingsmith & Ryan Ferguson
6. Zero To Travel
   One of the longest-running travel podcasts, mixing nomad life and mindset.
   Host: Jason Moore
7. The Thoughtful Travel Podcast
   Deep reflections on meaningful travel experiences.
   Host: Amanda Kendle

Online Business & Freedom Lifestyle

8. Screw the Nine to Five
   For women building freedom-based businesses (not just for travel!).
   Hosts: Jill & Josh Stanton
9. The Laptop Lifestyle Podcast
   Tactics for digital entrepreneurs building from anywhere.
   Host: Amanda Kolbye
10. Location Indie Podcast
    Candid convos about leaving the 9–5, travel, and freedom.
    Hosts: Jason Moore & Travis Sherry

Vision Boards

Do not underestimate the power of vision boards. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve created on, only to come back a year later and realize that I accomplished every single thing on my board. They are powerful tools. Don’t skip them!

Journal

It’s so important to learn to rely on yourself before you ever leave. We all think we are grown adults who are fully capable, but the moment we get off a plane, we feel like a 2-year old almost instantly. So start practicing now by journaling everything. You’d be surprised how far that goes to helping you support yourself emotionally through this process.

Pinterest & Printables

Pinterest is fantastic for helping you dream, plan trips, and remember all the places you want to see once you arrive.

Printables are another fantastic way to track your trips. Download as many as you can get your hands on and print master copies to take with you. (Hint: This website is full of them!)

Final Reflection

“Designing a dream life around slow travel isn’t about escaping reality, it’s about choosing a reality that makes you feel more alive.”

Free Printable: Dream Life + Slow Travel Planner

Includes:

• Journal prompts to define your dream life
• Space to sketch your travel rhythm
• Monthly slow travel lifestyle alignment checklist
• Quotes + mantras for travel-inspired living

⭐ Get your free printable here ⭐

Further Reading

• How To Overcome Language Barriers
• How to Make A Travel Bucket List And Turn It Into A Real Life Plan
• Overcoming Loneliness As A Solo Traveler