How We Slow Travel One Month at a Time

The rhythm, the structure, and the quiet freedom behind a life designed by seasons

A street we walked often enough to stop noticing — which is usually when belonging begins.

We didn’t set out to become slow travelers.
We just wanted our days back.
One month abroad showed us a different way to live — slower, steadier, and more rooted in place.

In my early 50s, I stepped out of full-time work, kept a tiny home base in Houston, and decided to try a one-month stay abroad — just to see what it felt like.

Here’s what it felt like:

We stopped rushing.
We started noticing.
And somewhere between the grocery aisles and the long walks with no destination, we realized we were slowly building a life we didn’t need a vacation from.

The exact moment it clicked for me was in Dubrovnik — standing in a narrow grocery aisle, debating olive oil, suddenly feeling… calm.

Not rushed, not performing, not squeezing a life into the leftover space around obligations.

Just living.

That was the first time I understood something that changed everything:

Slow travel isn’t about seeing more of the world.

It’s about finally seeing yourself again.

And for us, that happened one ordinary moment at a time.

If you’re craving more rhythm, more belonging, more lightness in your days — here’s how one month at a time can gently remake a life.

The moment it clicked: standing in a market, debating produce, realizing I wasn’t rushing anywhere.

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1. What Slow Travel Actually Feels Like

The rhythm that shifts your whole body.

Slow travel isn’t about distance.
It’s about pace.

One place.
One month.
One season.

It feels like:

• walking the same street until someone finally nods
• learning the checkout flow at the market
• finding “your” café without trying
• realizing boredom is a feature, not a failure
• building a tiny life wherever you land — faster than you expected

But here’s the other truth:

This rhythm is exactly why being home feels strange right now.

We live on a 5–2 cycle — five months abroad, two months in Houston. After a year away, we came home for our “home base season,” and I’ve felt an energy dip I can’t quite explain. Not here, not there. Just… between.

Slow travel teaches belonging, but it also teaches how deeply place shapes how you feel — and how disorienting it can be when you step out of your rhythm.

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2. How We Choose Where to Go

The question we always start with.

Every new season begins at our kitchen table with a map and one quiet question:

Where does it feel good to be right now?

We look for:

• shoulder seasons
• mild weather
• natural light
• walkability
• cost-of-living shifts
• local rhythm
• energy fit (quiet? lively? grounding? inspiring?)

People assume it’s luck.

Mostly, it’s paying attention — to timing, to place, and to the person you’re becoming.

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3. Our One-Month Decision Compass

The filter that keeps everything grounded.

Before we book anything, we run the same gentle test:

Is it walkable?
Is it safe?
Is it friendly?
Is it affordable for a month?
Is the season right?
Is there enough to do… but not too much?
Does it give us energy?

If looking at it on a map makes us exhale — that’s the sign.

Slow travel isn’t a hunt for the “best place.”

It’s a conversation with your life about what fits right now.

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When you stay long enough to buy a plant, you’re not visiting anymore.

4. What a Month Really Looks Like

How belonging sneaks up on you.

A month gives you time to:

• unpack
• learn the neighbor’s dog’s name
• find your grocery shortcuts
• sit on the same bench long enough to watch the light shift
• stop rushing through your own life

In Lecce, we woke to the sound of shops opening beneath our apartment — metal shutters rolling up, deliveries arriving, the hum of a neighborhood beginning its day.

In Dorset, we walked the same winding lane every afternoon.

In Lecce, Nigel unintentionally charmed half the cafés with his Big Duke Energy.

A month is the sweet spot: long enough for a life to form, short enough to stay curious.

And quietly, it stretches you.

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5. The Systems Behind the Ease

Because magic needs a backbone.

What makes this lifestyle feel calm instead of chaotic:

• a seasonal calendar
• a simple monthly budget
• carry-on packing
• visa awareness
• intentional downtime
• designing days around what matters, not what impresses

But here’s the real shift:

We stopped designing around “someday.”

We started designing around “right now — and the next season.”

Slow travel gave us structure, but it also gave us permission to reinvent — one tiny decision at a time.

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6. If You’re Considering Your First Month Abroad

You don’t need a sabbatical.
You don’t need a trust fund.
You don’t need to blow anything up.

You need a rhythm that matches your season of life — especially if you’re 40+, craving reinvention, or simply wanting a different way to feel human inside your days.

A month is an honest, gentle beginning.

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Here’s where I explain how we design our year around seasons instead of destinations.

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If you want the tools that support this rhythm

The Slow Travel Toolkit holds the exact frameworks we use to design our year — from choosing the right season to picking a first base to budgeting one month at a time.

I’m rolling it out for paid subscribers, piece by piece, alongside a new weekly paid post and a private chat where we talk through the questions that don’t always make it into the essays.

If you’re in a season of rethinking how you want your life to feel — slower, softer, more rooted in what matters — these tools are here whenever you want to explore.

No rush. No pressure. Just possibilities.

💛 Kelly