r/slowtravel

I love to travel, especially solo travel so much. But every time I tell myself to be more present, take it slow and just enjoy. Every time, I end up being stressed, pushing myself to see everything as much as possible.

I am at the start of my solo trip in Asia, I have 10 days behind me and 1 more month to go. I really want to slow down and just be present. But I am not sure how to do that. Sometimes I can achieve that by sitting in a cafe and sketching.

Do you guys have any advice on how to presently enjoy travel more?

I know that it's normal that not everyday is going to be amazing, and that there are times when things go wrong. But I feel that I could do better at enjoying the trip more. Any advice?

ok. Moroccan guide. 40ish trips a year. gonna say the thing

the 5 day morocco trip report is always the same one and I'm tired. you know the one. Marrakech was overwhelmming the Sahara drive was long, Chefchaouen was .. pretty but touristy, .. you came home tired, you gave it a 6.

I'm not mad at you I m mad at whoever sold you that itinerary. because what you actually did was sit in a van. that's the trip. the trip was the van.

think about it. day one you land at 3, by 6 you're in jemaa el-fna which is genuinely one of the most chaotic public spaces on the planet, someone tries to hand you a monkey, welcome to Morocco. then it's 9 hours in a seat the next morning to merzouga (and yeah it's 9, not the 6 google told you, there's roadworks between tinghir and rissani that nobody updates). camel for an hour, tent, camel back, seven more hours the next day to fes. you get to fes and you're done. you're just done. you walk around the medina for an afternoon in a fog and fly home from casa.

that's not Morocco that's a bus tour of a map of Morocco.

give the country 10 days and it becomes a completely different place. two nights in marrakech instead of one, you can actually sit in a café and watch the square instead of being attacked by it. aït benhaddou with a stop in ouarzazate. two nights in the desert not one (the second night is the one, the first you're just recovering from the drive). a village in the atlas nobody's posted about. THEN fes, with energy, which fes requires or it eats you.

look I know nobody has PTO. I know. honestly if you've got 5 days go to andalusia, it's built for 5 days, morocco isn't. or do just marrakech and essaouira and skip the desert entirely, that's a real 5-day trip. the rushed loop is the one that ruins it.

anyone who did 10+ days here tell me I'm right. anyone who did 5 and loved it, genuinely what was the itinerary, I want to know.

Looking for weekly/monthly stays. What have you had success with?

Hello! Wife and I are coming up on retirement in a few years and would like to slow travel.

We imagine this is going to consist of ending our lease (not looking to own a home right now), putting most of our stuff in a storage locker, and changing our mailing address to a close friend or family member. Is this pretty much how it went for you guys?

Also a few questions:
- How do you manage your money? Withdraw from your US investment accounts once a year and transfer to an international bank?
- How do you handle healthcare?
- How have you planned your trips bouncing from one location to another? Did you start with a bucket list? Do you do one place at a time and worry about the next one while you’re there or plan out upwards of a year ahead of time?

I have this question because I had an argument with a friend: she believes that when she goes to any new place she has to be everywhere, visit any corner written on the guide or on internet. but I’m not like this . I’m sure that maybe I lose some ‘experiences’ but I still believe the best way to understand a place is just walk around, try to really SEE what surrounds you and not just take pictures.. so my reason is this: I think this is the best way to understand the place you visit. What is yours? And also, how do you find ‘slow travel’ experiences?

Hi everyone,

I’m a solo founder from Paris and, over the past year, I’ve been building a self-guided food tour for travelers who, like myself, enjoy slower and more local ways of exploring cities.

The whole idea behind it was to create an alternative to classic group food tours: something more personal, to do at your own pace, to discover French cuisine and meet small independent artisans. It's more about quality and taking your time, rather than rushing from one bite to the next, eating as much as possible in 3 hours.

And, I’ve honestly poured my whole heart into this project, but I’m realizing that reaching the right people is harder than I expected. So instead of guessing, I thought I’d simply ask people who actually enjoy slow travel :)

When you plan a city trip, how do you usually discover:

• local restaurants?
• meaningful experiences?
• hidden gems? things that feel less touristy and more authentic?

Do you mostly use:

• blogs? which ones?
• Reddit?
• Instagram/TikTok/Facebook?
• guidebooks? which ones?
• newsletters?
• word of mouth?
• Get Your Guide/Viator?
• specific creators or websites you trust?

I’d genuinely love to hear as much as possible about your habits, references, frustrations, favorite platforms, or even accounts/websites you trust when traveling.

Thank you so much!

My husband and I are starting our slow travel in retirement experience and have a logistics question.

It’s a little convoluted so bear with me … we have an extra car that I am very attached to. It’s not “worth” a lot but would be expensive to replace nowadays (older convertible Miata 💙).

We are trying to figure out where/if we want to settle down. We currently rent in the east, own in the middle (it’s for sale), and are driving across country to rent for a year in the west.

Option 1 - store here, we love it and might be back

Option 2 - store 3 hours away near family who we might visit

Option 3 - store near our land where we will definitely visit during the year even if it sells

For those of you who are seasoned at this, what do you recommend?

I have traveled internationally a lot and some routes are just painfully inefficient. Especially with the on going geopolitical complexities in the middle east.

Has anyone used private travel for routes with terrible connections or long overnight layover?

We are planning on retiring, selling everything and slow traveling the world for several years. We are looking for advice on health insurance. Over 70. 5K deductable or higher