If you’re anything like me, you might worry when you travel that you’re missing out—not getting enough out of the experiences that you’ve travelled so far to do and see. So many voices tell us what to do and see when we go out—Instagram, TikTok, magazines, blogs like mine—but it’s impossible to see everything in a single trip.

But damn it if I didn’t try!

I spent many years like this; wondering if there was more out there, and if I’d go home to hearing stories from friends about missing the best monuments or restaurants. If you’ve ever come home from a trip feeling exhausted instead of refreshed, you know exactly what I’m talking about!

To compensate, I let my anxiety take over. I’d rush from place to place, push my body as far as it would go without collapsing (sometimes, my body ran out of steam before my willpower), snap some pics, and tick the place off my list. I figured what some people could do in two trips, I could do in one, and I was a little proud of how productive I could be.

I was also coming home exhausted. In some cases, I was coming home sick; I was getting over heat stroke or a panic attack on the journey home; and I was coming back to the office not feeling re-energised, but wiped out.

After a few years of this, I discovered slow travel: under-planning instead of packing my schedule with activities; moving more slowly and intentionally through cities; and no longer seeing a “good trip” as one where I got to see the most things (but rather, the things I saw I loved). It was hard to shift gears, especially when everything in my nature told me to speed up, do more, and rest less—but it was so worth it!

When I talk about slowing down while travelling, I worry that people assume just moving at a slower pace. That’s part of it; but slow travel is about being present and mindful, and those things can be hard to know where to start with.

Here’s exactly how to slow down while travelling—without feeling like you’re missing out. These are the best ways I know to slow down, reflect, and mindfully travel through cities. If you feel rushed, overwhelmed, or like you’re doing travel wrong, I would recommend:

Eliminate distractions when you’re trying to focus

In a new city, it can often feel like competing priorities are vying for your attention. You get off a plane in the evening and need to buy a ticket into town—but someone told you you’ll need cash, you should hit up an ATM. But when’s the last train? Will you be able to make it before dinner? What restaurants are open at this time?

Think of slow, mindful travel as keeping your head clear, and answer one question at a time. Don’t go on your phone and scroll Instagram because you’re overwhelmed; just take it one question at a time.

The first way to do this is to stop multitasking. The idea that you can do two things at once has been largely disproven; your brain is basically toggling from task to task. This can feel energising in some situations, and anxiety-inducing in others. Instead of trying to bounce between tasks on a trip—like buying tickets while walking, or searching for lunch restaurants as you walk through a museum—take the time to be really present where you are, and focus on one thing at a time.

Also, consider taking out your headphones (or at least, silencing them). If you’re walking through the city streets, being present means paying attention to the sounds of the city. The fishmongers yelling at each other, the women gossiping at the next table, the birds chirping in the park—they’re all part of your destination’s tapestry. Stay grounded where you are by listening to them over a podcast or song you’ve heard one hundred times before. (I will say though, that as a solo female traveller, I like the “don’t approach me” signal that headphones sometimes bring; I sometimes wear them without sound, to make it clear I don’t want to be spoken to).

Build your own internal compass

This is honestly the thing that got me to make decisions about what I wanted to do faster and easier. Slow, mindful travel works so much easier when you know your own mind—when you have the sense of what your voice is telling you, versus what you think you “should” do, the anxiety of “what’s next?!” gets a lot quieter. Trusting yourself as a traveller has made life so much easier, because it makes everything else—priority-sorting, eliminating distraction, and lingering—so much easier.

If you’ve over-planned, get clear on priorities ASAP

If you’re already on the trip and realise that you’ve tried to plan way too many activities, your options are: try to do all of them and have the experience last all of five minutes, or curate your trip and lean in to the experiences you’ll get the most out of. This is completely subjective—my fave activities when I’m somewhere new involve charity shopping, hikes in nature, visiting a haberdashery, and taking cool photos. But that might be a nightmare trip to someone else! So ask yourself: what do I want to get out of this trip? Find a sentence that you can repeat to yourself, if it’s helpful. It could look like:

• I want to have fun with my friends
• I want to rest and relax
• I want to see the Mona Lisa and other art
• I want to explore the caves and other nature

…then, look at your itinerary. What are the things that you can eliminate, because they don’t fit into your priorities for your new mantra? Get ready to make some cuts, and remember the old adage—“we get rid of the good things in life to make room for the great things in life”. You’re making space in your trip for experiences that will mean the most to you!

Say “no” to the things that don’t interest you

It’s one thing not to over-plan going into a trip; but when you’re on a trip, you might also find that you feel like you’re not seeing or doing enough. I feel a lot of pressure from social media to experience so many new and exciting things abroad. And social media is great for showing me things that are fun and thrilling! But when everything is a “must-see”, truthfully, nothing is. There’s no shame in turning down an opportunity that’s come up, if you don’t think it’ll add much to your experience.  

Learn how to linger

I feel an implicit pressure to always be on the move when I’m somewhere new; always be moving towards or through experiences. This is something that I need to work on, and honestly, it’s a challenge for me. But something I’ve been actively trying to get better at is the art of lingering: sitting somewhere and letting the pressure to keep moving wash over me. I try to stay off my phone, but I often find I need to keep my hands busy. I write in a notebook, or sketch (badly, I’m a beginner). I make little lists of things I’ve seen or places I’ve been. When I’m feeling really brave I try not doing anything at all (when did this become so terrifying to me—just sitting in a café, hoping no one thinks I’m a weirdo because I’m not on my phone? Anxiety is weird…). I try not to read books—why escape into a story if you’re trying to be present in the moment?—but sometimes if I’ve picked something up I’ll give it a look over. Staying in one place for a decent amount of time, and taking in everything around me without trying to be productive, is a muscle well worth flexing. Other places I like to linger are museums (I try to find a seat and take in a painting for 10 minutes or more), lookouts over the city, cafes, and libraries. I’ve written a piece on quiet places to linger, which might be helpful.

Find new ways to listen to your body

One of the biggest issues that I was having when I was letting anxiety dictate my travel was my body not being able to keep up. I’d go full days walking 20,000+ steps in shoes with no arch support, and I’d be mad at myself that my feet hurt; I’d say “yes” to hikes when I was already exhausted; I over-ate because I was enjoying authentic flavours and not caring when my stomach hurt; I’d go out dancing the night before and still get up for an 8am walking tour. In short: I was running myself ragged, not listening to my own physical needs, and coming home exhausted.

Some of this, I just attribute to being in my 20s. You can’t tell an early-twenty-something anything; their bodies just bounce back. But now in my 30s, I know I can’t continue this way. So I found ways that I could check in with my body—mindfulness tools like body grounding, breathing exercises, body scans, EFT tapping, and mindfulness meditations are all ways you can ground yourself in the current moment, turning inwards and checking in with yourself. It’s so important to check in with your mental health regularly—but especially when you’re somewhere new, these techniques can be really helpful!

Other signals you should be looking for from your body include:

• Fatigue. Have you slept enough? How much exercise have you done today, and can you keep up with what your plans are for the hour/day/week?
• Hunger. Have you nourished your body enough to give it the energy it needs?
• Hydration. Have you been sweating out more than you’ve taken in, liquid-wise? Have you had water, or only sodas/juices/coffees?
• Sun damage/heat stroke. Are you in the sun, or heat? Are you doing something where you’ll be sweating profusely? Can you find shade and UV protection?
• Hot/cold comfort. Are you dressed appropriately for the weather, and are you comfortable to move the way you need to?
• Emotional overwhelm. This has real, physical symptoms, which could include (but aren’t limited to) headaches, light-headedness, numbness in fingers, dizziness, and feeling faint.

There are a lot of ways you can slow down while travelling—but the key is, you have to be all right with having a slower-paced trip. Remember that a slower trip isn’t a smaller trip—it’s a deeper one. Slow, mindful travel gives us a chance to linger in the moments that really matter while travelling. What would happen if your next trip felt calm, instead of rushed?

I hope you’ll let me know in the comments. Happy travels!