Top tips for a low stress holiday

The Travelling Turtle is a site dedicated to the art of travelling well, and travelling slow. For me, this means doing what I can to minimise stress and maximise relaxation!

Here are my top 5 travel tips for a stress free holiday:

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1. Only pack carry on
2. Get an unlimited data prepaid eSim
3. Avoid flying where possible
4. Don’t move location too much
5. Plan just the right amount and expect things to go wrong!

1. Only pack carry on

Once you experience the freedom of carry on only, I promise you’ll never go back. On a recent month long trip around Europe, my total baggage weighed around 9 kilos and not having to arrive early to check in for flights, wait around for luggage or have the anxiety of an airline losing my things was a huge weight off my mind. Yes you’ll need to do a bit of handwashing in hotel sinks but not a big deal if you tack it onto your daily shower routine! For liquids and gels, buy some small containers as those bigger bottles even if under 100ml take up precious room (I use these for liquids, and these for gels / creams – super hardy, leak proof and you can easily differentiate your products by colour).

Shoes are always one that take up heaps of space so you’ll need to compromise here. A fancy pair of sneakers can double as both daytime walking shoes and evening smart casual, for example.

One thing I’d do differently next time – get a roller bag that can also be carried like a backpack. I went with the duffel bag / backpack combo on my recent trip and carrying the duffel long distances got old quickly…

2. Get an unlimited data prepaid eSim

Do you remember the days when phone plans came with like 2GB of data a month and you were constantly stressed about using it all up early and incurring excess data charges? Maybe I’m just showing my age. But how far we have come! You can now get unlimited data only eSims for use in most countries, just select a package, download it to your phone, and you’re off. This is such a godsend if you’re like me and rely on Google Maps to get around and figure out public transport or walking / driving route options. Sure you can download an offline version of Maps ahead of time, but this doesn’t help you when you’re standing in the middle of a random street in Florence craving cacio pepe and need to Google Maps that STAT.

It’ll also help you let go of the minutiae of planning and allow you to go with the flow a bit more if you know you can look up a restaurant / museum operating hours / train route / “why was I served a shot of water with my espresso” daft tourist type questions whenever you need to.

Don’t skimp on the data and just get the unlimited option – you don’t want to be stressed about running out of data and flipping on roaming on and off every time you finish looking something up…

3. Avoid flying where possible

Planes these days are a bit of a pain! Unless you’re flying in the pointy end and flying is the experience, explore what other transit options you might have. Europe in particular has great train options, and while the actual travelling time may be a few hours and dollarbucks more, getting to avoid (increasingly common) flight delays, cancellations and airport security screenings is well worth the trade off. Excellent scenery through the windows a bonus. I love The Man in Seat 61 for all things train related, and Rome2Rio to see what all the options to get from A to B might be.

4. Don’t move location too much

I have a rule of thumb that I never stay in one place for less than three nights. When you factor in transit time, that three nights gets eaten up very quickly if you’re having to pack up and move either end of your stay. You might think three nights is a long time to stay in one place, but there’s always much more to discover in a town or area than you might first think. Take a day trip to a nearby town, or even a different country (did you know you can train from Amstersdam to Brussels in less than two hours?). Ask a local for their favourite things to see and do, and build a day around their suggestions. Go for a long lunch somewhere, get the wine tasting and see where that takes you!

Any less than three nights and you’ll find yourself already thinking about the next destination and the logistics of getting there before you’ve even gotten to enjoy the one you’re currently in.

5. Plan just the right amount and expect things to go wrong!

If you’re anything like me, you’ll spend months dreaming about your upcoming travel and swimming in wanderlust like Scrooge McDuck in his cave of coins. You’ll also have read every blog article ever written about the best things to see, do and eat in X towns and have saved them all to a maps tool like Google Maps or Wanderlog (how good is Wanderlog, by the way). My planning approach from then is simple – I have a good idea about geographical “clusters” of things I want to visit and am able to roughly plan my days around those clusters – e.g. spend a day in Soho and here are my 2-3 must do’s there with a longer list of “if I get to them and feel like it”.

But I don’t have an hour by hour itinerary – you’ll find yourself rushing around trying to tick everything off and then feel guilty you don’t get to them all. On the flipside, not planning anything may result in you spending hours on Google in your hotel room and gripped by daily indecision. So do a bit of research beforehand, allocate each day (or half day) to a different geographical location, do your “must do’s” first and then wing it!

One last thing – in this day and age, things will inevitably not go to plan, and take more time than you think they will. Add some time buffers, embrace this mentality and you’ll be less frustrated when you need to pivot!

Happy travels, fellow Turtles.