Our month in Buenos Aires was a highlight of our year-long trip
All long-term travelers have their own way of doing things, their own style, their own opinions on the best way to take an extended trip. Some like to move at the breakneck speed just the same as a one or two week vacation. Some like to really slooooow it down and hunker down in one or two places for a few months. Most like some mixture of the two.
When we took our RTW trip, we fell into the last group of moving fast at times and slowing down at others. I’m writing about our trip on a daily basis, so it’s afforded me the opportunity to think and reflect. Since Argentina, and lately, Buenos Aires, has been the focus here on World Travel for Couples, I have naturally been thinking about our time there.
Buenos Aires is the city we spent the most time in during our year of travel. We rented an apartment in San Telmo for a month that we had set up before we left. We were on the road for a little over two months at the time, spending about a month in Peru, 3 weeks in Bolivia, and a few weeks in other parts of Argentina before arriving in BsAs. After moving rather quickly those first few months, we welcomed the change of pace and the chance to unpack our bags, settle down, and just enjoy one place for more than a few days.
This has really gotten me thinking about future travels and the benefits of really slowing down and getting to know a place. Not unlike many other long-term travelers, we suffered from the travel burnout phenomenon several times throughout our year abroad. By the time the year was up, we were both more than ready to return home (after a month home though, we were more than ready to head back out on the road). Travel burnout is a tough thing to explain to those who have never traveled for a long time, but that’s a topic for a whole different post.
Because of our work situations, we actually had the opportunity to stay on the road for a few months longer than we did. For many different reasons, we chose to come home instead, despite the fact that we would have spent less money by extending our trip for a couple more months. The biggest reason for returning home was simple. We were simply sick of traveling and were ready to be home. It sounds crazy to even think of how or why we felt that way at the time, especially now that we’ve been home for over a year and would give anything to be traveling again.
The more I think, remember, and reflect, though, the more I realize that we simply moved too fast. There are probably those of you out there who look at the number of countries (11) and cities/places (~90) visited on the trip and think we’re crazy. We averaged one country a month and a new place or city about every 4 days. Some who have done a similar trip went to two or three times as many places and moved much quicker (though some went to half).
It was so nice to have our own kitchen for a month
Which brings me back to our month in Buenos Aires. It was a Heavenly month that we reminisce about often. Having our own apartment, our own bathroom, our own KITCHEN, our own refrigerator, a balcony, wifi, cable, even a pool in the building. Walking down to the corner market every day, shopping at the same grocery stores, frequenting the same restaurants, having drinks at the same bars. Taking daily Spanish classes, chatting with people in our building, getting to know the bus and subway routes, becoming familiar with the different barrios. Really being able to immerse ourselves in the city was just simply fantastic.
And that’s why we travel. That’s what we love about going to new places. Learning about the customs, the culture, the food, and the way of daily life is what drives us to keep going, to keep exploring new places, to keep traveling. And by only spending a day, or two, or even a week, in one place, while staying in a hostel and having 90% of your conversations with other travelers just doesn’t afford you the same type of experience.
I loved our trip. It was a life-changing time that has made me a better person, has made my relationship with Megan better, and has just changed the way I view the world and life in general. And while I really don’t regret anything we did (except that bus ride to Rurrenabaque in Bolivia), if I had to do it over again, I would change a few things.
Settling down and getting to know a city like Bangkok is one of our best memories
First, I would go even slower than we did. It’s difficult to find a good balance, especially when you’ve never done anything remotely similar to what we did. But more than anything, I would choose to stay in one place longer, rent an apartment, and really get to know a city, a neighborhood, and its people. It’s no coincidence that the places we talk about most are the ones we spent the most time in: Buenos Aires, Bangkok, and Bariloche amongst them. We got to really know those places, and when you’re constantly throwing yourselves into new places and cultures a few times a week, it’s nice to get a bit of familiarity.
There’s no one right or wrong way to travel. Everyone has their own preferences, and everyone likes to do things differently. The most important thing we can do is listen to that little voice inside our heads and do what it is that WE want, what it is that makes US happy.
How do you like to travel? What’s the best pace for you when on any kind of trip? Does it change depending on the length of time you’re gone? I’d love to hear your opinions, so please comment below and share your opinions on it is that YOU like to do.
As my RTW progresses I find I'm spending more and more time in each city. At first I thought five weeks in Nicaragua was a lot but I've not spent 3 in Cuenca, Ecuador alone.
I think it's because my style of traveling has evolved with the trip, in the beginning I was content to see the 'sites' and move on and now I want to understand each city more.
But yikes I'm running out of time!
I hear you. At some point, you just have to realize that it's all right that you aren't going to see and do everything you thought you would. Just put it on the ever-growing list and save if for another time, another trip.
Glad you're having so much fun on your trip. Keep enjoying it and living in the moment, and thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
We are all about slow travel. That hasn't always been the case; we've had some trips similar to yours – 8 countries in three weeks kind of trips. Because we have the ability to work from any location, we really try to stay in one place for as along as possible. This allows us to get settled in and establish a routine. In fact, we are currently in Kauai and both had to fight off the feeling that – despite being here a month – we had made this trip too quick. I suppose that is luxury of a NVR life!
BTW – There is nothing crazy about wanting to be home! And there is nothing crazy about wishing you were still traveling once your home! We find it to be one of our favorite dichotomies – we love to be home and we love to be gone. The trick is to really lean into where ever you are at the time and fully enjoy it.
Thanks so much for the comment. Ultimately, I'd love to find a way to be on the road for half the year and home for half the year. Haven't figured out how to make that work yet, as I'm not actually making any money from this, yet, and my wife's current career is not at all location-independent-friendly, but that's OK.
Your last statement really rings true. So often we worry too much about what's next, what the future holds, and we forget to live for now. That's something our trip really taught me how to do, but the longer we're home, the more I lose sight of that.
Thanks so much for the great comment!
Great Article. A subject near to my heart, especially as the last two blog posts I have written are exactly on this subject. Being home and trying not to do too much when traveling.
Love the examples of Slow Travel. I don't get to do long trips, but even on my vacations I try to go slow. A week in one town with day trips is far preferable to a week were each day is a bus ride and a sight and a different hotel. I find my threshold for burnout is a little over a week of constant moving. If I can slow down and have a routine, I can last a lot longer away from home.
Maybe you guys are just into places beginning with B? Did you try Brussels or Brooklyn?
Thanks a lot for the comment Andrew. We have yet to go anywhere for longer than 4 days since our return from our trip, but I have a feeling that we will be traveling slowly when we do. It's just too exhausting being on the move every day, and I feel as though I never get a chance to really see a place when I do that.
Thanks so much for the comment. Haven't been to Brussels yet, but I do love Brooklyn!
could not agree more. for us, the slower the better. sometimes we take it to extremes. but, its usually because we travel for a long time. i could imagine packing everything in should the trip only be a couple of weeks.
great post, jamie from cloudpeopleadventures.com
I always thought the same about long trips vs. shorter ones, but now that we've been gone and back from our first really long trip, we've started moving slowly wherever we go, and for however long we're gone. Even if it's just a weekend trip, we now tend to move slower and not worry too much about missing something. The way we look at it is that you're always going to miss something, no matter how long you're in one place. Hell, there's plenty I've never done in my own city, and I've been here for 28 of my 32 years on this planet. At some point I think it's important to realize and accept that you simply can't see it all.
Thanks for the insightful response! I really do appreciate it.
Great article. It look me a little while to figure out the best pace for me. Ive got it down to about 1 week in any given city. This gives me enough time to check out a lot of the main attractions etc. I also travel light so if I decide to stay longer I can. I buy all plane and bus tickets last minute for the same reason.
I hear you, Allen. Even in our entire year abroad, I don't think we ever really figured it out. It depended so much on the place we were in, both physically and mentally. It wasn't until we returned home and really processed the entire experience that we were able to talk about what we did “right” or “wrong” in regards to pace of travel. Traveling light and not planning in advance are definite musts if you want to travel this way. I can't wait to go on another long trip, whenever that may be, to apply everything we learned from our first extended time on the road. It's going to be interesting to see what we do the same and what we do differently.
Thanks for the comment!
Hope you get to travel again soon. Im pushing for early in the new year to go back to Asia. Fingers crossed
Thanks. It will probably be a few years before we're able to do something big again, but we'll definitely have some trips planned for 2011 that will last longer than a weekend. We're actually spending NYE in New York City this year, which I am SUPER stoked about.
I think slower paced travel is the best, but it's just not viable for most people, like myself. So, I just try to enjoy every single moment of my fast, whirlwind trips.
Ahhh, your posts on BsAs are making my heart ache. I can't wait to return in February!!!
I'm soooo jealous. Writing about BsAs has me wanting to go back really bad as well. I've just been longing for it lately.
And I agree that slow travel isn't viable for most people, well, us American anyway. Like I said, ultimately you have to do what YOU like to do. As long as you're loving it, then that's all that really matters.
I have a serious case of itchy feet. I plan to stay for a month in one place and then, after a week or two, I get restless. I have found a good mixture right now: I have rented an apartment in Beirut for 2 months and take weekend trips to Sharjah and Dubai, then Jordan and Oman next. It's true that you can only immerse yourself into a different culture if you live there for something like a month.
Now that sounds like a plan, Inka. Having a home base and exploring from there is a fantastic idea. It allows you the chance to really get to know a place, but also gives you the opportunity to get out there and explore other areas. When we do it again, I think this may be our plan of attack. A month or two in “home base” destinations then trips on the side. Thanks for the comment!
This is a very interesting post. I know speed of travel is talked about a lot especially in the travel blog community but in the end like you've said its up to the traveler and what he wants.
I have NEVER been on a long term travel adventure and as I am planning my RTW trip I do know that while I am in Europe I'm gonna be going pretty fast through just a few cities i want to visit but once I get to the middle east is when I will really slow down cus it is a lot cheaper. The thing is thats what I tell myself now cus all I know is to travel on VACATION TIME where you have a few days to get it all in. This time I have NO RETURN date so there is no rush. I guess I wont know how Ill be till i am on it, but I think Im gonna be like yall. Some fast and some slow… I know for sure SUPER slow in Egypt!!!
You're right, Jaime, it just really depends on what you like. But for any long trip, it's going to be tough to maintain a fast and furious pace. Everyone gets burnt out from time to time. It's also difficult to get used to just doing nothing for a few days, but it's necessary when traveling for a long period of time. Once you get in your own routine, though, it's easy and you'll figure out what works best for you.
Like you guys, we decided to take a breather in Buenos Aires and it was great. Even though we had taken it slow in terms of the number of months in each country, we were still moving around a lot within countries and wanted a break where we could be still, make our own coffee each morning and feel like we were living somewhere. The longer we're on the road, the more I like taking breaks for 1-2 months to live somewhere for a while and not focus on the next sights, transport, logistics and more. It's a fine balance though, because itchy feet do tend to start after a few weeks
I totally agree, Audrey. Just being able to unpack the bags and do something so simple as brewing a pot of coffee is something I truly missed while out on the road. Even if it was for only a few weeks or a month, it was needed. I think we would have lasted longer if we did this more than once, too. There's something to be said for having a home base and a place to call home, even if it is only for a little while. Thanks so much for the comment!
Adam, we absolutely agree! We have been traveling for a month now just rushing from one place to the next and are SO ready for a break. We have a much greater connection to the places where we spend more time than just a few days and it's always good to settle down in a place for a while to refill our batteries. Every time we have periods that involve a lot of traveling, packing and unpacking our backpacks every second day or so, and a lot of time in public transport, we find it very tiring and there's also not a lot of time to take in properly what we've seen and experienced. We can't wait for our next 'travel break' to have some time to reflect and relax. Love that you spent a month in Buenos Aires – we plan to stay there for a month, too.
It really does get exhausting at times, doesn't it? Especially when traveling for a while, it's just impossible to keep up that frenetic pace, and you get burnt out so quickly. Packing and unpacking and constantly getting on buses and trains just gets tiresome after a while. Have so much fun in BsAs. It's certainly a great place to take a break and hunker down!
Couldn't agree more. The temptation to keep on moving and tick off as many places from yr list as you can is great sometimes, but travel's always more enjoyable at a slower pace staying in apartment rentals over hotels any day.
Absolutely! It's tough sometimes to avoid ticking places off, but we always enjoy ourselves so much more when we slow down and really get to know a place.
Agreed. I spent 10 weeks in Europe after graduating from college. The first 6 weeks we did 6 countries and at least a dozen cities. It was fun, but spending at most 4 days in a city was exhausting. I stayed for 4 weeks after that with my family in Spain. I had the same experience–it was so nice to be settled for a bit and get to immerse myself in the daily life. As much fun as it was seeing so much in so little time, I swore I'd never do it again.
My husband and I are planning a year on the road in 2013. We haven't started planning our itinerary (just been doing a “wish list” of sorts), but I hope to take that experience and help keep our travels at a slower pace even though I'm sure we'll be excited to see everything.
Thanks for visiting Carmel. That's very exciting that you guys are planning a long trip in a few years. I understand how overwhelming it is when initially trying to decide where to go. We first thought we'd be able to go everywhere in a year, which is obviously a ridiculous thing to think. Good luck on your plans, and if you need any tips or pointers, don't hesitate to contact us!
I LOVE slow travel. Although I don't have a ton of travel experience and I have a bit of a different experience as all of my travel more or less starts with my moving myself to a new city first. The benefit of this for me is that I get to always be somewhere new and different.
For example, I leave Florence for a weekend or a couple of weeks and then I come back to a place where I am still learning about the culture and practicing the language. I have been really lucky to have to opportunity to do this having no job or ties at home. I enjoy getting a chance to know a city and a culture.
I found on our short trips around that I was always left wanting more. That has a bit to do with me still developing as a traveler, but mostly I think it's because I've been spoiled being able to take my time in some places and therefore learn a lot about that place at my own pace.
We are travelling permanently, working as we go so we've found that combining a few months of faster travel to explore and a few months in one place works well for us. Buenos Aires is a great place to spend a longer period of time and we also enjoyed Salta and now Medellin, Colombia. I do get itchy feet after a few months but it means we are refreshed to travel again.
I concur! I spent my last 3 months chilling in a small town, NZ… cooking my own food was the best part!