15 Stress-Free Travel Tips (how I keep travel carefree)
I’m a laid-back traveler. Stress-free travel is my default state.
I don’t care if it rains or if my luggage gets misplaced. I stay chill when flights get delayed and when I miss the last train.
I’m a happy nomad and I really don’t stress about much. This means I enjoy everything else tenfold.
So I’m stoked to share this travel style with you.
This is my guide on laid-back traveling. Below are my top stress-free travel tips for more carefree exploring and chillness.
Let’s get to it!
Table of Contents Show
What Is Stress-Free Travel?
Stress-free travel is traveling with the intention of relaxation, carefreeness and keeping things chill. And it becomes a feedback loop.
Travel supports a relaxed mindset – but at the same time, a relaxed mindset supports more carefree travel.
Huzzah!
Exploring the globe should improve your carefreeness and chillness in life. But sometimes it becomes stressful and uncomfortable.
Becoming a laid-back traveler is a way to reset and control things.
So let’s look at some more of the benefits.
Why Be A Laid-Back Traveler? (the benefits)
Travel on its own is already awesome. But stress-free travel is even better.
Being a laid-back traveler means you can enjoy your time more fully, have more fun and take full advantage of adventuring around.
Here are some awesome perks of carefree traveling:
Have more memorable and positive experiences
Live more “in the moment” and enjoy your time more fully
Be a more flexible and resilient traveler
Improve your health and wellbeing
Make travel decisions easier and with more clarity
Handle obstacles and issues better
Inspire other travelers to be more carefree
How to Be A Laid-Back Traveler (15 stress-free travel tips)
Palm trees from a recent Hawaii trip I took :]
Ready to join me and be a more chill traveler? Epic.
Here are my favorite moves.
1. Set the Intention
Setting the intention to be more carefree and staying aware is step one.
For this, it helps to get clarity on why you want to be a more laid-back traveler. Consider these questions:
How would you define laid-back traveling?
What are your goals for carefree traveling?
Why do you want to be more chill with your traveling?
What is your current traveling style like? Is it stressful? How come?
Recommended: Types of Travelers (which one are you?)
2. Don’t Plan So Much (be spontaneous)
A great way to experience stress-free travel is to keep things loose and not plan so much.
This means putting away the perfectly scripted itineraries and being more spontaneous. Talk to locals, leave room for intuitive exploring and go off course.
Traveling is all about adventure, new experiences and throwing routine on its head. This can feel uncomfortable – but that’s what traveling is for.
Of course, this is easier if you’re a solo traveler or exploring in smaller groups. But whatever your situation is, try adding some spontaneity and exploring into the mix.
Recommended: How to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
3. Make Time for Nothingness
Besides putting away the itineraries to make time for spontaneity, it’s helpful to also make time for doing nothing.
Laid-back travel is all about relaxation, stressing less and just going with the flow. So a great way to do that is to do absolutely nothing and not feel bad about it.
Here are some ways to do nothing while traveling:
Meditate
Try slow traveling
Just walk around with no destination in mind
Go to a cafe to read, write or do what makes you happy
Do things based on mood and intuition
4. Love the Weather (rain or shine)
A laid-back traveler doesn’t care if it’s sunny, raining, warm or cold.
So even if you have a weather preference, accept everything and just embrace it. This gets rid of stress and disappointment.
It can help to have backup plans for things to do if it rains (like museums or inside stuff). But either way, try to look forward to both situations with equal excitement.
This takes practice, but it’s a great way to stay carefree.
5. Be Flexible
As my favorite quote says, “let go or be dragged.”
Flexibility means you stay chill, no matter what surprises pop up while traveling. Since life isn't always in our control, being able to adapt and pivot keeps you carefree.
So here are some tips to stay flexible while traveling:
Keep your expectations and plans loose
If things fall apart, let them fall apart
Make backup plans
Don’t rely on any one thing
Don’t attach your trip’s success to things that can be canceled or changed
Have an adventure mindset with everything (even obstacles or problems)
6. Avoid Serious Stressors
Avoiding stressors is a great way to stay chill while traveling.
Because while it’s helpful to keep a carefree mindset, some things are just too important. For example, avoid these stressors to stay chill while traveling:
Staying in dangerous areas
Missing your flights
Forgetting important documents or medications
7. Travel Like An Artist (have a project)
Traveling like an artist makes you more curious and creative.
For me, this always translates to more carefreeness.
My favorite way to travel like an artist is to have some creative project. This adds artistic purpose to your travels and distracts you from “normal” stresses or concerns. It makes the whole adventure feel more intuitive, free-flowing and engaging.
For example, you could make a travel video or put together a cool photo collage.
Or if you’re a musician like me, writing adventure-inspired songs while you travel is an awesome creative project.
Alternatively, simply doing more artsy things and having an artistic perspective will reframe things as interesting creative points (which is always more carefree for me).
So what artistic thing or project could you focus on while traveling?
Recommended: How to Create A Travel Project
8. Do What You Want (not what you “should”)
Traveling takes time, money and planning.
So when you’re off visiting epic new places, you might feel like you need to do everything, explore all the local gems and see all the “must-see” recommended spots.
If this feels more like a travel obligation (not what you genuinely want to do), it can cause stress. So let’s put carefreeness back into your travel experience.
Because if you truly don’t enjoy doing something, then don’t do it.
Vacations and holidays should be a time to indulge in all of your guilty pleasures and doing stuff that brings you closer to chillness.
Of course, I’m all for pushing your comfort zones, but not all the time or every single day.
So if you want to just stay in some nights to binge watch your favorite shows, then do it.
Recommended: How to Have A “Guilty Pleasures” Holiday
9. Travel With Chill People
I’m as good as the company I keep.
So if you want to be a more laid-back traveler, then spend more time with chill travelers.
While it’s not always possible to travel with who you want to, there are plenty of ways to meet people while abroad.
Here are some tips for finding more chill people to travel with:
Stay at a share house to meet locals and other travelers
Recruit your chill friends
Use social media
10. Keep Your Super Important Stuff Close
There are some things while traveling (especially overseas) that are super important.
And losing them is going to be stressful – even for the most chillest of travelers.
So, in the event that your luggage gets lost, theft or something similar, it’s a lot easier to stay chill if you still have all your critical stuff (like your passport) with you.
You can also make copies of important documents and have multiple credits cards or methods of payment.
This is part of travel planning. Preparing things so you don’t have any single point of failure is a great way to stay chill.
You can read my checklist on the most important international travel essentials here for more info!
11. Go to Chill Places + Do Chill Stuff
Want a more stress-free travel experience? Then go to stress-free places and do more stress-free things.
Makes sense.
Unless your goal is adventure travel, planning a slow trip is a simple (obvious) way to stay chill.
For example, my favorite chill things to do include:
Self care stuff (like yoga)
Nature (hikes, parks, beaches)
Snowboarding
Thrifting
Spending time in cafes (especially chill ones)
12. Be A Minimalist Traveler
Being more minimalist means you have less to worry about.
This is a great segue to more stress-free travel.
Travel minimalism means you focus on the things that are either most essential or most important to you.
For example, a few of my non-negotiables are my guitar and music production equipment. But for someone else, these would obviously be unnecessary.
So narrow down your non-negotiables and prioritize those. And be honest with how much you actually need to bring.
Less is more (carefreeness).
Recommended: My Minimalist Travel Strategy
13. Travel More
Traveling more makes it a regular part of your life.
This helps you become a carefree traveler because you’ll feel less urgency to try and make everything perfect (more trips = less pressure to make each one “perfect”).
For example, if you only take one vacation per year, there’s added pressure to “make it good”. This can have the opposite effect of relaxation and chillness.
So learning how to change your lifestyle, budget differently and plan for more travel is a great way to become a more carefree adventurer.
Here are some quick tips:
Explore closer or cheaper destinations
Travel during shoulder seasons
Find remote work or way to make money while traveling
Earn travel rewards with credit cards
Recommended: How to Travel More In Life
14. Get Travel Insurance for Peace of Mind
Travel insurance protects you against financial windfalls, injuries, lost baggage and other emergencies.
And know that you’ve got some protection on your side gives you peace of mind and helps make things less stressful. So if you haven’t picked up travel insurance before, it may be a good idea to research your options.
There are plenty of flexible options, but choosing the best policy depends on your trip duration, goals and budget (among other things).
I recently wrote a whole article on the best long-term travel insurance options, which you can read in the recommend link just below!
Recommended: The Best Travel Insurance (+ what I use)
15. Practice A Chill Mindset + Lifestyle
Whether you’re traveling through a foreign city or just driving to the grocery store, carefreeness is a way of life.
So becoming more chill before you ever go traveling is a smart way to be a more laidback traveler.
This means practicing patience, present moment awareness and other stress-reduction techniques to develop a stronger chill mindset.
Having a chill mindset is a modern asset (that goes well beyond travel).
Recommended: How to Be More Chill
Later ✌️
Travel is enjoying life to its fullest. It’s supposed to make you relax, wonder, wander and have fun.
But things can get stressful – unless you plan ahead and you’re intentional about staying chill.
For me, stress-free travel means being carefree, staying flexible, embracing the ups and downs, having creative projects, practicing minimalism and avoiding major stressor events.
Carefree travel leads to a better time exploring and a more chill life in general.
So enjoy and stay chill out there!
Want More? Okay. Here’s More.
