New to slow travel? Avoid these common mistakes
- Committing to a long stay in a place you have never visited before. I am very much a fan of slow travel, but there is some risk involved when you book nonrefundable accomodations for a month or longer and you don’t even know if you will like the place. I was moving very slowly when I started my journey in Mexico, because I wanted to save money and not travel as much. Unfortunately there were a couple cities where a couple weeks would have been sufficient, and I had booked stays for 3 months. After Mexico, I changed my strategy a little bit and booked slightly shorter stays in the next few countries, but I came to realize that even 6 weeks or two months can feel like an eternity if you don’t really click with a city. So now my rule of thumb is not to commit to more than a month in one place – unless you already know it’s a place you like, and which has a decent amount of amenities and things to do.
- Assuming that a city which is hyped up and popular with other digital nomads is going to be a great fit for you. Sometimes your tastes will align, sure. But not necessarily. I relied very heavily on YouTube videos, blogs, and Reddit comments to guide me in choosing destinations when I started traveling. I won’t say that those things don’t play a factor any more, but I definitely don’t take them as gospel and I try to find as many perspectives as possible. Some YouTubers and bloggers have a habit of focusing only on the positives – I prefer to hear the good, bad, and ugly, because frankly, there is nowhere in the world that is perfect for everyone. The fact is that we all have different lifestyles and values, and our personal experiences in a city or country will be vastly different based on multiple factors. The longer I travel, the more I understand what I want in a longer-term stay location, and become better at intuitively finding those places.
- Trying to do everything as cheaply as possible. I am very much a budget traveler, and a frugal person in general. However, that doesn’t mean I want to live like a young backpacker in middle age. Comfort matters and location matters, especially when you are booking accommodation for a month or longer. I booked my first few Airbnbs in Mexico with a very small budget – under $500 – and they all had problems that were not mentioned in the reviews and were in, shall we say, very untouristy areas. Huge mistake. Mexico – and all of Latin America, really – is an area where quality of life differs vastly from neighborhood to neighborhood. Never sacrifice location for the sake of saving a few dollars! It’s not just about safety, but things like access to decent supermarkets, noise levels, public transportation, and general walkability (sidewalks in good repair, crossing signals on busy streets – things I took for granted in the US).
- This goes hand in hand with #3: not choosing your accommodation wisely. I know it’s impossible to know exactly what you will walk into based on curated Airbnb photos, and the reviews don’t always reflect the current reality. But I do look for trends in the reviews and carefully scrutinize the photos and listed amenities, as well as pulling up the approximate location on Google Maps to see how close it is to supermarkets, parks, the metro, etc. If you plan on working from the Airbnb, you will definitely want to be sure there is an adequate and comfortable workspace. The process of finding just the right apartment can be time consuming, but to be honest, I actually enjoy it (although Airbnb’s search function could still be greatly improved). It’s genuinely fun for me to find the place that best suits my vibe, and I know from bitter experience that this is an area where investing a bit more time and money can make or break your entire stay.
- Overpacking. I know, easier said than done, certainly at the beginning of your travels. You are probably transitioning from having a fixed home base to life on the road for some indeterminate length of time, and it’s really hard to let go of all your stuff. But I can honestly say that the longer you travel, the more freeing it feels to travel with less. That isn’t to say you have to give everything up and live like a monk, either. Just know that you will be able to find almost anything you need in most parts of the world, you will be able to do laundry, and don’t bring more than you can comfortably maneuver around train stations, cobblestone streets, up several staircases…you get the idea.
- Not understanding that you are not going to be in constant “vacation mode.” You are going to be living your life in different locations. This comes with excellent perks (why else would you do it?). You get to explore all these amazing places at a manageable pace instead of rushing to pack in all the sites on a short vacation. You will most likely have a more affordable cost of living than you would at home. But it does take a lot of adjustment and a mindset that this is now home, even if only temporary. You have to be willing to re-establish your routines with every new move and find places where you feel comfortable. It takes awhile to find a good rhythm, but it really does get easier the longer you travel. The first several months are the hardest, at least in my experience.
- Worrying too much about everything that can possibly go wrong. I am an anxious person by nature, and traveling solo can really set my anxieties into overdrive. Travel days are the worst for this. I will worry about whether I can get money from the ATM, how I will get from the airport to the Airbnb,will I be able to get phone data, whether there will be problems checking in to the Airbnb. You name it. And I won’t lie…in the course of three years, there have been a few hiccups, as there will surely be in the future. But what I have realized is that ultimately, things pretty much always work out. Yes there have been a few delays and communication issues, and a couple of scary taxi rides. (I don’t advise ever taking taxis unless they are the registered ones at the airport. There are always better alternatives.) It can be frustrating. But it’s best to look forward, not dwell on it, but think about what can be done to prepare for such situations in the future and have a plan B. An example – I had a roaming data plan on my phone that worked fine in mainland Italy, but when I arrived at the train station in Palermo, Sicily, it no longer worked. Google Maps didn’t work. And there was no wifi available anywhere nearby (a common theme in Italy, in my experience), and nowhere at the train station to buy another SIM card. I would have had no clue how to get to my accomodation, but for the fact that I had saved a screenshot of the address and map location on my phone. I make a habit of doing this every time now, because you just never know. (Also make sure you have a power bank on hand in case your phone battery is low).
