Last summer, I stood in a 45-minute line for an overpriced pastel de nata in Lisbon's most touristy square, surrounded by people taking the exact same photo of the tiled facade, while my phone buzzed with unread work emails I'd promised myself I wouldn't check on vacation. I'd crammed 4 European cities into 10 days, crossed 7 "must-see" landmarks off my pre-made Google Doc itinerary, and came home more exhausted than I was when I left.
That trip was the wake-up call I needed to rethink how I travel, and how it fits into the simple, intentional life I've been building for the last few years. I'd spent so much time decluttering my closet, cutting back on unnecessary expenses, and ditching the hustle culture that ate up my weekdays that I'd forgotten to apply those same rules to my time off. Travel didn't have to be another performance: another set of checkboxes to tick off, another batch of photos to post, another way to prove I was "making the most of it."
Slow travel, it turns out, is the natural companion to a simple life. Both are rooted in intentionality, in rejecting the pressure to do more, own more, or see more, in favor of focusing on what actually brings you joy. And the best part? You don't need a sabbatical, a luxury RV, or a $5,000 Europe trip to practice it. All it takes is a small shift in mindset, and a willingness to leave the rigid plans at home.
First, start by ditching the pre-made checklist, and redefine what a "successful" trip looks like for you , not for Instagram or friends who post their 12-country European tours. For years, I measured a good trip by how many landmarks I'd checked off, how many local dishes I'd tried, how many photos I'd posted. Now, a successful trip is one where I didn't check my work email once, where I had a 20-minute conversation with a local barista who told me about their favorite hidden hiking trail, where I sat in a park for an hour watching dogs play without feeling like I was "wasting time." Simple living is all about rejecting other people's metrics of success, and travel is no exception. If your idea of a perfect trip is spending 3 days at a beach town reading books and eating ice cream, that's just as valid as a 2-week backpacking trip through Southeast Asia.
Next, pack light, but skip the performative "one-bag" extremes if they don't work for you. Simple living is about only bringing what you actually need, not what you think you might need "just in case." I used to pack a full suitcase for a 3-day weekend trip, with 5 pairs of shoes, a hair straightener, and a full skincare routine I never used. I'd spend hours before every trip stressing about what to bring, worried I'd forget something essential. Now, I fit everything I need for a week-long trip into a single carry-on backpack: 2 pairs of shoes, 4 tops, 1 dress, my toothbrush, my Kindle, and a portable charger. No checked bag fees, no waiting 45 minutes at baggage claim, no stress if my bag gets lost, and no heavy luggage to drag up stairs to my Airbnb. Packing light isn't about proving you can fit all your stuff in a 20L bag---it's about freeing up mental space so you can focus on the trip, not your stuff, and cutting down on the decision fatigue that comes with overpacking.
Then, stay in one place longer, instead of hopping between cities every 2 days. I know the pressure to "see as much as possible" is real, especially if you only have a limited amount of vacation time. But even a 3-day trip to a nearby small town, where you stay in the same neighborhood the whole time, feels so much more restful than a 2-day whirlwind trip to a big city where you're rushing from museum to museum. When you stay in one spot, you get to know the local coffee shop owner by name, you find the best spot to watch the sunset that no travel blog has written about, you stop feeling like a tourist and start feeling like a temporary local. Last month, I spent 10 days in a tiny Cotswolds village, rented a cottage with a small kitchen, bought produce from the weekly farmers market, and went to the same pub every night for fish and chips. I saw less of the UK than I would have on a 2-week fast-paced tour, but I remember that trip more vividly than any of the 10+ city hops I took in my 20s.
Build small, low-fuss routines into your trip, just like you do at home. Simple living isn't about throwing your entire routine out the window every time you travel---it's about bringing the parts of your routine that make you feel grounded, with you. If you love your morning coffee at home, find a local cafe to go to every morning instead of grabbing a hotel breakfast. If you love evening walks, take 30 minutes after dinner to wander the neighborhood streets instead of scrolling your phone in your hotel room. If you work remotely, carve out 2 hours a day to do your regular work, so you don't come home to a mountain of emails, and you can spend the rest of your time exploring without that nagging feeling of "I should be working." I used to feel guilty if I spent a morning reading in my Airbnb instead of sightseeing, but now I realize rest isn't a waste of time---it's the whole point of taking a trip in the first place. Ditching the pressure to be "on" and productive every minute of your vacation is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself, and it aligns perfectly with the simple life's rejection of hustle culture.
Skip the overhyped tourist traps, and eat like a local. You don't need to pay $30 for a "traditional" meal in a restaurant right next to a major landmark, where the food is pre-frozen and the staff barely speaks English. Head to the local market, buy fresh bread, cheese, fruit, and wine, and have a picnic in a park. Eat at the tiny family-run spot where the menu is only in the local language, and the owner brings you a free sample of their homemade jam. Not only is this way cheaper, it's more authentic, and you're supporting small local businesses instead of big international tourist chains. It also cuts down on the carbon footprint of your trip, since you're eating food that's sourced locally instead of shipped across the world, and reduces the single-use waste that comes with pre-packaged tourist meals. If you're staying in a place with a kitchen, cook a few meals with local ingredients instead of eating out every single meal---you'll save money, cut down on waste, and get to experience what local life is actually like.
Leave 80% of your schedule open for spontaneity. I still make a loose list of 2-3 things I'd like to do each day, but I don't book reservations or set strict timelines for anything. The best parts of almost any trip I've taken have been the unplanned parts: the random folk music show I stumbled on in a tiny pub in Dublin, the 3-hour detour to a coastal town I saw on a road sign, the afternoon I spent talking to a local clam digger in Maine who showed me hidden tide pools. If you stick to a minute-by-minute itinerary, you'll miss all of that. If it rains and you have to cancel your beach day? Stay in and bake bread with the local flour you bought at the market, or go to a small museum you'd never heard of. Simple living is about being present, and rigid plans keep you from being able to go with the flow.
And if you're thinking "slow travel is expensive, I can't take 2 weeks off work to stay in one place": slow travel doesn't have to mean a month-long sabbatical in a foreign country. It can be a staycation in your own city, where you spend a weekend exploring a neighborhood you've never been to, no plans, no agenda. It can be a day trip to a nearby small town, where you leave your phone at home, eat at a local diner, and walk around the main street without rushing. It can even be a week where you work from home, but take your lunch breaks walking around your own neighborhood, trying a new coffee shop every day. Slow travel is a mindset, not a budget or a length of time. It's about bringing the same intentionality you use to live a simple life at home, to how you spend your time when you're away.
You don't have to be perfect at this, either. Sometimes you will go to a tourist trap, sometimes you'll stick to a tight itinerary because you only have a weekend, sometimes you'll post a photo of that famous landmark. That's okay. Slow travel and simple life aren't about following a rigid set of rules---they're about rejecting the idea that more is better: more places seen, more photos taken, more stuff bought, more checkboxes ticked. They're about focusing on what actually matters: connection, rest, joy, and the small, unplanned moments that you'll remember for years. You don't need a fancy camera, a huge budget, or a month off work to do it. All you need is to leave the checklist at home, and be open to what's right in front of you.