I love to travel. It still excites me, challenges me, and occasionally reminds me that I should have packed lighter. But loving travel doesn’t mean it’s for everyone—and it doesn’t even tell it looks the same for those of us who do travel.
That includes slow travellers too.
Somewhere along the way, retirement picked up a particular personality. Curious means mobile. Engaged means booked. Alive means somewhere else. If you’re not travelling—or if you’re travelling “wrong”—it can start to feel like you’re failing at retirement.
That idea needs to retire.
The Quiet Snobbery Inside Travel Culture
There’s snobbery aimed at people who stay home. But there’s also snobbery within travel itself.
Slow travellers are often just as judgmental—sometimes more so. Tourists get dismissed as shallow. Stay-at-homes get labelled fearful. Movement becomes virtue, and stillness becomes suspect.
The irony is hard to miss.
Slow travel, at its best, is about presence and respect. At its worst, it can turn into moral superiority with better (and of course less) luggage.
Curiosity Is Not a Hierarchy
Not all curiosity needs to be outward-facing.
Some retirees travel slowly and deeply, returning to the same place year after year. Others stay home and explore ideas, relationships, memories, or neighbourhoods. Some do both. Some do neither—and are perfectly content.
None of these approaches sits higher on a ladder.
| Common Judgement | What’s Really Happening |
|---|---|
| “Tourists don’t get it.” | People experience places differently |
| “If you’re not travelling, you’ve given up.” | Contentment isn’t resignation |
| “Slow travel is more enlightened.” | It’s just a preference |
| “Staying home is playing it safe.” | Stillness can be intentional |
| “Movement equals growth.” | Growth can be quiet |
Let People Choose Their Pace
Retirement isn’t a contest between motion and stillness. It’s a phase where choice finally gets to lead.
Some people want fewer places and more depth.
Some want no places at all.
Some want routine, predictability, and the comfort of knowing exactly where the kettle is.
All of it is valid.
Curiosity doesn’t disappear when you stop travelling. It changes shape. And it doesn’t need defending.
Enough Is Still Enough
If you love travel—fast, slow, or somewhere in between—go. If home is where your curiosity lives now, stay.
Just don’t turn your preference into a philosophy.
Retirement is not improved by smugness.
It’s improved by alignment.
And the most generous thing we can do—travellers and stay-at-homes alike—is stop ranking how other people live.
