Planning "Enough:" How We Travel with Intention Now

• Our “See Everything” Phase (Revisited)
• What We Got Right About Food
• The "things to do near me" Strat
• Lifestyle Creep with Accommodations
• Learning What “Enough” Feels Like
• The Place That Felt Effortless
• Pride Without Romanticizing the Exhaustion

This blog post is best paired with Our First Big Trip: What a Month Across Europe Taught Us About Travel.

Our first big trip in 2015 cost us about $10,000 CAD, which, accounting for inflation, would be closer to $13,000 CAD today.

Fast forward to our recent trip to England, where we spent $7,500 CAD. 

• Oxford: 5 days
• London: 3 days

On paper, it looks smaller in scale and more extravagant in price, which may be true, but I want to focus on how the planning was much more intentional and tailored to our interests. 

This post isn’t about travel hacks to spend as little money as possible, but about how we, as minimalists traveling, continue to learn how to spend our money intentionally. 

We’re also very aware that being able to have and spend money for travel at all is a privilege. 

That said, planning a trip with intention is not tied to a specific budget. 

Whether you’re traveling for a weekend close to home or planning a big, long-distance trip, the same questions still apply: what truly matters to you when you travel, and what makes a trip feel like it was "worth it" once you come home?

Our “See Everything” Phase (Revisited)

On our first big trip, we felt a pressure to do all the things.

And while the experiences we had were magical, it was also overwhelming at times. 

With this trip, we were actually visiting London for the second time, so that immediately removed that pressure. 

We had already seen many of the big sights on our honeymoon in 2019 when we stayed near Tower Bridge, and this time we stayed on the Isle of Dogs. 

That shift in location felt like we were in a whole new city, which only reinforced how overwhelming a big city can be if you try to see everything in one trip. 

We know we love smaller cities, so Oxford was the heart of this trip. 

When people ask us what our favourite trip has been, we often point to a 14-day stay in Prague in 2019. 

That trip was centred around the Prague Quadrennial, which was truly incredible, and it also meant the structure of our days was largely decided for us. 

Having a central event guide the trip was a relief, as we didn’t have to work hard to find exciting new experiences. 

Our recent trip had no such event, which meant every plan was ours, and that freedom made the trip feel deeply intentional, and we’re proud of how well we pulled it off.

What We Got Right About Food

One of the biggest lessons from our first big trip was how badly we underestimated the importance of proper meals.

Now, food is part of our planning from the very beginning, especially because my husband is a celiac.

With pre-pinned restaurants saved on our offline Google Map, something we did for the first time with our Prague trip, we are able to set ourselves up with options.

We’ve also learned that many restaurants are simply bad at advertising their gluten-free options, so stumbling upon gems is still very much on our radar as we wander. 

All this led to great food at places like Pieminister, Art Cafe, Gusto, and Pergola on the Wharf. 

I also don't drink alcohol anymore, so a hunt for mocktails led to amazing Everleaf drinks at multiple restaurants. 

The "things to do near me" Strat

My go-to thing on trips now is searching "gluten-free food near me" or "things to do near me" when we arrive, because it offers a lot more useful results than what you initially find searching from home. 

Searching "things to do near me" while staying in The Isle of Dogs led me to Greenwich, which led me to Up at the O2 - one of the coolest experiences of our trip (we love a viewpoint). 

When we go to a viewpoint in a city, it usually consists of public transit, climbing a lot of stairs, or an elevator ride, so Up at the O2 was an entirely new and amazing experience.

This experience was made possible by a combination of this strat, us leaving room in our schedule to wander, and our awareness of what we truly value when traveling. 

Lifestyle Creep with Accommodations

Through my discovery of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement last year, I realized lifestyle creep had slowly set a new standard for the accommodations we were choosing. 

On this trip, we did, unfortunately, have our first negative Airbnb experience in over a decade, but I don’t believe it was directly related to price. 

After initially being upset and overwhelmed, we got ourselves together, called customer support, received a full refund plus credit, and moved into a hotel. 

Unexpectedly, this experience clarified something for us: for very short stays, a hotel actually makes more sense.

We love using Airbnb to feel more local, have more space, and have a kitchen (mainly a fridge) to store food and drinks. 

A tiny hotel room ended up being the cheaper option and worked just fine for two nights. 

Learning What “Enough” Feels Like

We like to have one intentional plan per day (we usually map out our days the night before) and then let the rest of the day unfold around it.

In Oxford, on the sunniest day, my husband suggested we take a long walk to The Trout. 

He then managed to map out a whole walk shaped by His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust through Jericho, Port Meadow, and the ruins of Godstow Abbey. 

This walk would take about two hours, but we let it define our entire day. 

We took our time in Jericho by the water to look at the narrow boats. 

Then our visit to Port Meadow offered us a truly magical experience of seeing and getting up close to wild horses. 

We were able to chat with a local and spend a lot of time with the horses simply because we wanted to and didn't have a day crammed full of plans.  

The Place That Felt Effortless

Oxford felt effortless in the best possible way.

A major prompt for this trip was a desire to see Lyra’s bench in the Botanic Garden, and through all the strategies we've learned, we found seven different Philip Pullman–related locations and landmarks. 

From our trip to Prague in 2019, we knew we loved an old library, which led us to prioritize Bodleian Library tours to make sure we saw all of them. 

The tour on the first day ended up being the perfect start because we learned so much about how Oxford University is structured, so when we wandered and spotted colleges, we had a much better understanding of what we were seeing.  

Pride Without Romanticizing the Exhaustion

We’re proud of that first month-long trip to Europe, but it was exhausting.

And this trip, well, it was also exhausting. 

The difference is that we know our limits much better now, so while we were tired, we didn’t feel overextended.

We accepted that travel days are tiring and not particularly exciting.

We prioritized food.

We took midday rests almost every day.

And we traveled for a much shorter time.

We make space for new experiences by making time to wander and understanding what is meaningful for us to focus on when something exciting does present itself. 

We don’t try to force these moments by packing our days with activities that bounce from one location to the next without time to breathe.

That first trip was our “everything” phase.

Now, we continue to adapt and plan "enough" intentionally, so we get the most from our money and leave room for magical experiences to happen.