The View of Mount Doom from Mount Tongariro

How Our Travel Style Has Changed

My name is Amy, I’m from the UK and I just arrived in New Zealand yesterday to start my round-the-world trip,” I told the boat-load of strangers as we took it in turns to introduce ourselves. “Ah, you’re fresh then!” replied the Rock Boat guide as we sailed the paper-flat waters of the Bay of Islands. I nodded, assuming he meant that I was a fresh new traveller, because I certainly didn’t look fresh after stepping off a 24-hour flight just the day before. I looked around at the international collection of tourists gathered on the boat deck; all were at different points in their travel adventures while mine was just beginning, and in ‘fresh traveller’ style I was cramming every second with action.

The View of Mount Doom from Mount Tongariro

Hiking the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand, 2013

The Magic of First-Time Travel

I vividly remember those first few magical weeks of travel after Andrew and I touched down in Auckland three and a half years ago. We were like baby explorers in our brand-new backpacks with our maps and carefully-planned itinerary. Everything was new and exciting: picking up a rental car, checking into our trendy hostel in Ponsonby, slipping on our flip-flops for the first time and picking up (ludicrously expensive) groceries from the supermarket.

The Bay of Islands, New Zealand

The Bay of Islands

We walked around with stupefied grins on our faces, marvelling at everything: “Did you hear that Kiwi accent!”, “Check out that weird tree!”, “There’s a volcano!”, “Look at all those sheep!” We were like my two-year-old nephew Alfie who screams with delight at such mundane, everyday sights as buses, ducks and lawn mowers and looks up at you while pointing his tiny finger, expecting you to be equally mesmerised.

Auckland, New Zealand

Our first night in Auckland

On our first evening I remember walking around the harbour in Auckland; boats bobbed on the sea, music and laughter filled the air from bars, lights shone off the water and the Skytower blinked like a beacon in the darkness. Everything was deliciously different, our thoughts were all punctuated with exclamation marks and just being there was an adventure.

Amy target shooting

Paintballing (!) on the Rock Boat in New Zealand

The next day on our drive up to the Bay of Islands we stopped at a beach and I scrawled: “We’ve arrived!” in the sand. Our stunned brains, which had just escaped a snowy UK winter, struggled to process the fact that we were now standing barefoot on a beach in bright sunshine quite literally on the other side of the world. After years of saving and dreaming we had finally become travellers.

"We've Arrived" written in the sand in New Zealand

My message in the New Zealand sand

Travelling at 100 Miles Per Hour

As incredible as that first month was, I’m also surprised that we didn’t collapse from exhaustion by the end of it. Here’s what our first week in New Zealand looked like:

  • Day one:  touched-down in Auckland after a 24-hour flight
  • Day two: drove to Paihia for an overnight cruise of the Bay of Islands
  • Day three: arrived in Kerikeri, explored waterfalls
  • Day four: visited Rewa’s village, a reconstruction of a Maori settlement, and drove back to Auckland
  • Day five: explored Auckland: Mount Eden, Pasifika festival and the national museum
  • Day six: took the ferry to Rangitoto island and hiked to the summit
  • Day seven: drove to Tairua to discover hot-water beaches and hike to Cathedral Cove

That’s five different beds and about 15 hours of driving in just one week while battling jet-lag, blogging, completing freelance writing projects and sightseeing practically every single minute of every day. The rest of our month in New Zealand pretty much followed the same hectic vein and was filled with high-octane experiences; skydiving and glacier hiking, kayaking and snorkelling, hiking and exploring, taking boat trips and scenic flights. I’m exhausted just thinking about it, but we had one hell of an adventure that I wouldn’t change for anything.

I have a theory that new travellers all have to go through this initial, gluttonous phase of travel. When you’ve been travel-starved for so long you want nothing more than to cram as much into every moment as possible when you finally hit the road; stuffing in new sights and experiences, rushing out to every museum and tourist hotspot, diligently following every suggestion in the guidebook and recording every second of the trip with pictures, videos and words. This type of travel can be gloriously satisfying in the way that devouring an entire chocolate cake in one sitting can be, but do that every day for weeks and you’ll end up sick and exhausted.

How our Travel Style has Changed

I’m not going to pretend that we’ve completely mastered the art of slow travel because as I type this we’re currently in the midst of a crazy summer of travel, visiting seven countries in seven weeks and our feet already ache from sightseeing every day. I’m not quite sure how that happened but we are having a great time, despite the delirious exhaustion. This type of fast-paced travel has become a lot less common for us though in the last couple of years and our travel style has changed radically since those first frantic months of our adventure in 2013 – here’s how:

Andrew and I in Split, Croatia

Relaxed during our month-long stay in Split

We (try to) spend more time in each country we visit – we used to schedule no more than a month in one country. After suffering from travel burn-out and getting sick and rundown more times than we can count, we now try to spend longer stretches of time in one place so that we can break up sightseeing with periods of work and relaxation. This year, for example, we’ve spent three months in Spain, a month and a half in the UK and just over five weeks in Croatia. Last year we spent three months travelling in the USA and before that, ten months living in Vietnam.

Us in Toledo, Spain

Our temporary home in Toldeo, Spain

We cover less ground – we’re happier seeing fewer areas in more detail than just skimming the entire surface of a country.  In the USA we spent two months leisurely road-tripping around New England and our time in Croatia was spent almost entirely in Split. In Vietnam we lived in Hanoi and took short trips to other places in the north. Even in these current hectic few weeks of exploration in Europe we’re sticking to one destination in each country: a week in Budapest, another in Bratislava, a few days in Prague then holidays with family in Italy and Spain.

Beer with friends in Hanoi, Vietnam

Beer with friends when we lived in Hanoi

We establish home bases – we love the freedom of our lifestyle and being able to move around at will, but this does get extremely tiring after a while. So these days we search for temporary home bases, typically in cities we love, for a few weeks or months at a time. This gives us the chance to experience what it’s like to actually live in a place rather than just visit; we can get to know local areas, establish little routines and enjoy a more in-depth experience. We’re super-excited about our next home base in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which we’ll be arriving in next month.

We rent apartments where possible – at the start of our travels we often stayed in hostels, hotels and rooms in shared houses, in Asia we’d normally just rock up in a new place and pound the pavements searching for a nice guesthouse. Nowadays, we prefer the privacy and amenities that apartments offer and we use Airbnb to try and book month-long stays where possible; we recently enjoyed great apartments in Toledo and Split. In Hanoi a local estate agent found us an incredible apartment which we loved and we’re looking forward to finding something similar in Chiang Mai. We revel in small luxuries like having a kitchen to cook in, a sofa, our own bathroom and washing machine, reliable wifi and cupboards to put away our belongings. We also love to house sit when we get the chance.

Our Spanish house sit - pool and home

Our Spanish house sit

We like to travel by car – although we do still use buses and trains to get around, we much prefer travelling by car these days. While we used to happily endure long bus journeys in Asia we now relish the comfort and convenience of renting a car to explore a country. In particular, we loved our USA road-trip and felt bereft when we finally had to hand the car keys back to the rental company. Although we won’t have a car when we move to Thailand we’ll probably get a scooter as we enjoyed the freedom of having our own Little Cub when we lived in Hanoi (minus the crash we had in Tam Coc).

Our cabin in the woods in Maine, USA

Our rental car and forest cabin in Maine, USA

We pace our sightseeing – it used to be that we’d arrive in a new destination with lists of things we needed to do and see; each day would be filled with sightseeing and we’d feel bad if we didn’t check everything off our list. Nowadays, we’re much more relaxed, we still make an effort to visit sights that we’re really interested in, but we skip things that we’re not bothered about. One of our favourite things to do when we visit new places these days is find cafes to sit and drink tea in or parks to chill out in; we stagger day trips with rest days to try and keep ourselves sane.

Us overlooking Squam Lake, New Hmpshire

Leisurely exploring in New Hampshire, USA

We plan less – ok, so I’m still a serious planner and there’s nothing I can do about that. I love to research places we visit and find out what there is to do in advance but I have learned not to make long-term plans anymore. After we crashed and burned in Madrid earlier this year I’ve finally realised that it’s impossible to plan out every detail of the future – now, I try not to think more than a month or two ahead or pin my hopes on something.

How Our travel style has changed, Pinterest

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No doubt our travel style will continue to evolve as our journey progresses. In particular, we’re looking forward to getting to Chiang Mai next month which will hopefully become our home base for the next year while we attempt to establish a healthy work-life-travel balance. Looking to the distant future, we hope to radically change our travel style by incorporating a much longed-for dog to our family – that will certainly shake things up!

How has your travel style changed over time?

16 Comments
  • James@TheWholeWorldOrNothing
    Posted at 03:04h, 22 July Reply

    This is spot on, at first we didn’t appreciate that there’s a difference between seeing a place and really getting to know it. Allowing ourselves some flexibility to change our plans has been a revelation, and similarly means that when you don’t connect with a place you can move on quickly.

    • Amy
      Posted at 16:54h, 22 July Reply

      Hi James, thanks for reading and commenting. I totally agree, it’s great to have the flexibility to stay in a place you love or move on somewhere else if you don’t; we thought we would spend this entire year in Spain but things have turned out so differently!

  • Alyson
    Posted at 07:45h, 22 July Reply

    You know what Amy, I’m the opposite. I’ve discovered over the last 3 years that slow travel bores me, I want to be moving around with my backpack. Slow travel is a necessity of our lifestyle, we couldn’t afford to travel at full pace as Chef and I did in our first gap year back in 1999, but it was far more fun! Maybe we’ve just run out of new places ( that interest us) to explore. But this year we’re going to have to settle somewhere, I have to work, we need to watch the money, the kids need to breathe. It’s a hard balance to get right.

    • Amy
      Posted at 16:57h, 22 July Reply

      Hi Alyson, that’s really interesting, I guess it depends on the person/people and what the circumstances are. After 10 months in Vietnam I was eager to get out travelling again but these last few weeks of extremely fast travel in Europe have really worn us out (we have had a great time though). You’re right, it’s hard to get a perfect balance, but we’re trying 🙂

  • Alvaro Brown
    Posted at 15:41h, 23 July Reply

    Right now, my wife and I are also aiming for slow travel as we’re just starting to ease into the backpacking life. So far, though, we’re loving it.

    • Amy
      Posted at 08:09h, 24 July Reply

      Hi, thanks for reading and commenting I hope your travels have gotten off to a great start. Yes, it can be hard t get the balance between exploring and resting, we’re still learning after three and a half years 🙂 Have fun!

  • Patti
    Posted at 20:12h, 24 July Reply

    I well remember how fast you traveled that first year, I could barely keep up! But then again, I’m old! 🙂 The two of you are amazing and you are definitely defining your path and I think you should pat yourselves on the back because you’re doing great!

    When we traveled to Australia, we also spent 4 days in Auckland and it rained every. single. day. of our visit, but we kept going. It’s a fantastic place to visit and your photo from the Tongariro crossing really brought back some great memories. We took a 2-day road trip out to the area and it was amazing.

    Continued safe travels!

    • Amy
      Posted at 09:35h, 25 July Reply

      Thanks Patti! I can barely believe how fast we used to travel, we’ve found travelling in Europe these past few weeks exhausting! We loved Auckland, sorry you had a rainy time there; lately we’ve been really dreaming of going back to New Zealand and Australia, we just need to sort out our work situation and make it sustainable.

  • Louisa Klimentos
    Posted at 23:57h, 24 July Reply

    Well said Amy and best of uck with your future travels,love Louisa

    • Amy
      Posted at 09:35h, 25 July Reply

      Thanks Louisa!

  • Victoria@ The British Berliner
    Posted at 20:34h, 25 July Reply

    Yep!

    You’ve both done fantastically well, and I can soooo relate!

    As a cheap I’ve-just-graduated-and-I’m-so-excited-so-money-isn’t-a-problem babe, was how I started my Gap year in Asia. I soon realised that letting people know that I was a solo British traveller (at the time) was a recipe for disaster and for random local guys to feel that they had a chance! So I told people that I was German, and hung out with any Western traveller that I could find lol! Oh yes, I’ve stayed in hostels for $2.00 per night, slept in a casino, partied in Hong Kong, and bumped into the same people that I met in Bangkok, in Singapore too!

    Now I’m respectably married and with a tween child, so the budget is higher, the hotels are boutique, and the travel is slower so far example, last summer we spent 5 days in Budapest and 4 days in Prague! Having said that, the travel bug is still with me, so this summer, I’m taking son in tow, and spending every weekend in a different European country over the summer lol!

    • Amy
      Posted at 11:09h, 26 July Reply

      Hi Victoria, it’s so interesting to hear how your travel style has changed, thanks for sharing. I’m glad we don’t have to stay in those ultra-cheap hostels anymore but we’re still not quite at the nicer hotel phase yet! Wow, your summer sounds hectic but exciting! Hope you’re having a brilliant time 🙂

  • Kristen
    Posted at 22:17h, 25 July Reply

    A dog! I’m so excited to see how you guys handle this, because I have a cat that I’m bringing to Spain with me, and I know Gareth wants a dog more than anything. I doubt we can have our pets with us during the first (as you’ve pointed out above) more fast paced year on the road, but maybe after?

    The idea of being away from my cat for a year is already filling me with dread, and that portion of the trip is over a year away!

    • Amy
      Posted at 11:12h, 26 July Reply

      Hi Kristen, yes, we have always wanted our own dog and we’ve just recently started seriously considering how we can accommodate one into our travelling lifestyle. I think it’ll still be a few years before we get one but we plan to have a base somewhere in Europe and continue travelling around by car or camper with our furry companion! Yes, I’m sure you can find a way to incorporate your cat into your later travels, the time apart will be hard I expect but it’ll also fly by as you’ll be having so much fun 🙂

  • Rhonda
    Posted at 22:37h, 05 August Reply

    Right on! We look back on our 2007-2008 trip and think WHAT were we thinking??? Although I know we’ll return to some of those places, we were THERE and could have easily spent longer in the places we loved, and discovered new ones. I must say this tortuga pace of travel is fitting us perfectly now. I agree having your own wheels is the way to go, and while I continue to research places, I am finding I now spend more time just “going with the flow’ of how we’re feeling rather than checking off sights on the list. We know we’ll miss some things, even in our extended time here in Mexico, and thats ok. We’re focusing on appreciating what we are seeing, rather than worrying about what we might be missing. Don’t worry, Chiang Mai will be here soon and you can settle in and create another home base for yourselves!

    • Amy
      Posted at 10:10h, 06 August Reply

      Going with the flow sounds great Rhonda 🙂 I can’t wait to arrive in Chiang Mai and get settled in! I think you guys have the perfect set up with your own wheels, hopefully we can do the same one day with a dog in tow!

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