Travel is like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it. You may find that driving feels like second nature after you’ve been doing it for a decade.
But just like driving, bad habits can build up over time, to the point you begin forgetting they were bad habits at all. This can be a problem.
The same can happen when traveling. For example, you may get so used to booking last-minute deals that in order to try and save money when heading abroad to see a relative get married, you find that nowhere is available, because booking in advance is what this situation called for.
Moreover, travel has changed as time has gone on. You can still convert your currency into cash of course, but many people now use auto-conversion apps to pay for things worldwide as well.
That might not have been around so easily if this guide were written fifteen years before.
So, sometimes it’s worth looking at the habits you have in place, and then think if breaking them could assist you. Let’s discuss some ways you may wish to break such habits in 2025:
Article Contents
1. Failing To Use Luggage Storage
Hauling our bags from one spot to the next feels normal until you realize you’re hauling around extra weight you don’t need and only because the hotel doesn’t allow check-ins.
It’s worth thinking about if stashing bags in a storage spot frees you to wander as you intend to instead of feeling bogged down, and in this case luggage storage could be ideal.
This means parts of the trip feel so much more free and open, such as when slipping into a café, ordering a drink and forgetting you have anything to carry at all.
It might seem like a small tweak, but it opens up a few extra hours of exploration that would otherwise be spent dragging a suitcases through crowded streets during the hot weather.
2. Only Using Hotels
Hotels are pretty great for comfort and predictability, but leaning solely on them means missing out on other areas that might work best for your trip.
The anti-AirBnB pushback is pretty natural so we won’t suggest that, but you might also consider an apartment share or a guesthouse tucked down a quieter lane or in a residential area, because this can feel more like locals than sleeping in a chain.
Moreover, splitting nights between a hotel and a short-term rental could introduce fresh surroundings each morning.
3. Resting In Package Deals
Package tours can make sense when time is tight, and no travel blog will tell you to avoid them outright because of that.
That said, they do herd explorers through predetermined spots. That can be good sometimes, but sometimes it’s not.
That’s because instead of following an itinerary stamped in a brochure, you might cobble together your own journey with train tickets to a nearby town, a walk along the waterfront, lunch chosen by chance.
In other words if your travel has felt a little rote, this can be a fun way to move forward.
We can easily forget the joy of stumbling across a hidden garden or being invited into a quiet bar where you meet locals and learn where they like to eat, for example.
Package deals serve a purpose for certain, but if you’re traveling with a relative or just going alone, think about flexibility..
4. Opting For Peak Times
It’s nice to start traveling off-peak when you can, not only to just avoid the crowds, queues, and inflated prices.
It can be simple to begin with, like changing your departure day by even twenty-four hours and preparing before the hordes arrive, and early-week arrivals can help you slip under the radar, letting you enjoy the popular spots with more space around you.
You’ll also find that attending just after or before the main trip times, known as “shoulder seasons,” has an extra benefit, and that’s friendlier service from tourism staff who aren’t as overworked as they had been.
5. Documenting Everything
It’s very easy to think you need to constantly post on your Instagram story or write blog posts or make a travel film. If you enjoy that and it enriches your trip, that’s wonderful. Be sure to do that, and share it with us!
That said, it can sometimes be nice to have a trip where you don’t think much about this, you just experience it. Go to a gig with no phone recording it.
Update your loved ones about where you are but don’t tag or check into places. Just enjoy a primary experience as they used to.
It might help you rely less on what the platforms are telling you to think about trip, and a digital detox in nice surroundings can be ideal.
With this advice, we hope you can challenge yourself by breaking some travel habits, but only on your own terms.
