Defining your travel personality, style, budget & pace

As wonderful as travel is, everybody does it differently and over the past two years that we have been traveling around the world, we have observed a few categories that travelers usually fit within.

In this post, we go over the patterns we noticed and help you identify what type of traveler resonates with you by looking at your travel personality, travel style, travel pace, and travel budget. Also, we will touch upon how our way of travel will likely change due to the current pandemic.
Are you ready to identify what kind of traveler you are?

Travel personality – what do you look for when you travel?

This describes what travel means to you and what you prioritize when you plan your trip.

The Romantic traveler

• Looking for a picture perfect destination with nice beach, light blue ocean colors, great sunsets
• Looking for relaxing and beautiful places to chill.
• Looking to share romantic moments with your partner.

Recommended spots for romantic travelers we’ve been to: Puerto Vallarta, Tepoztlán, Aruba, Douro Valley, Koh Lanta, Cameron Highlands, Ubud

The Cultural traveler

• Looking to get immersed into history, art, traditional experiences and come back home with new knowledge.
• Looking to spend lots of time in museums, art galleries and historical sites.
• Looking to attend cultural tours and local classes.

Recommended spots for cultural travelers we’ve been to: Mexico City, Tepoztlán, Oaxaca City, San Miguel de Allende, Porto, Lisbon, Kotor, Chiang Mai, Ubud

The Adventurous traveler

• Looking for a constant adrenaline rush with activities like multi-day hikes, river tracing, canyoning, bungee jumping, ziplining.
• You don’t mind staying in modest accommodations as your priority is the adventure
• Spending most of your time outdoors and in nature.

Recommended spots for adventurous travelers we’ve been to: Mont Tremblant, Koh Lanta, Taipei

The Bucket list traveler

• You want to check some of the top rated places in the world because they are worth the trip.
• Looking to see the seven wonders of the world.
• You’ve got a long list of places to see and check off.

Recommended spots for bucket list travelers we’ve been to: Mexico City, Oaxaca City, Koh Lanta

Travel style – how do you want to travel

Now that you’ve identified what travels means to you, let’s look at how you like to travel. Here are the most common travel styles we’ve observed:

Traveling off the beaten path

• You are not a fan of tour groups and prefer to avoid places popular among tourists.
• You usually like to wake up early and explore on your own.
• You prefer lesser known places and ideally where you are the only foreigner

Traveling with a plan

• You are type A personality and prefer planning everything ahead and stick to a well defined plan
• You have a specific goal in mind (like trekking to Peru) and need to follow a strict training routine beforehand
• You need to do things in a specific order to optimize your journey 

Immersive travel

• You decide to travel for a specific purpose (like learning a language, practicing scuba diving or getting in touch with a specific location)
• Immersion can be achieved through a specific program abroad (Remote Year Program, Peace Corps)

Responsible travel

• Protecting the environment is very important in your activities
• You travel with a zero-waste kit and avoid using plastic as much as possible (you actually feel ashamed every time you forget to bring your reusable cup and need to buy a drink!
• You visit local shelters or local communities as a way to give some of your time back

Nomadic travel

• Travel is part of your life so it is mostly all about the location.
• You want to live in places that are comfortable, safe, great infrastructure and strong wifi connectivity
• You prefer the low cost of living countries so it costs you less to stay long-term
• You want to have access to a great community of like-minded nomads

You don’t have to fit within only one specific style and can be multiple. 

Travel pace – are you a fast or slow traveler?

Next stop: your pace of travel. There are mainly two ways to travel: either traveling fast or traveling slowly (and the extreme version for each of them).

Fast travel 

This is the most expensive option but also the most common for people that take time off. In the USA, US workers took on average 17.2 days of vacation in 2017 (source). This is actually at an all-time high, especially for the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee its workers any paid vacation time (source)! As I was researching this, this is pretty sad for US workers, but moving on!

People on fast travel are on a time budget so they want to see as many sights and take as many experiences as possible. They are trading their money for that limited time which ends up costing them a lot more. It turns out that American, in 2013, spent on average between $144 (for a domestic trip) and $271 (for an international trip) – source. And these numbers are likely to have increased since then.

Fast travel isn’t only for the annual summer vacationer, it is usually the way people that can afford to take an extended break from work (whether it is 3, 6 or 12 months) usually travel because they want (once again) to get most of the value out of this limited amount of time.

	Ultra Fast Travel	Fast Travel
Cost	$$$$	$$$
Frequency per location	1-2 days	1-3 weeks
Pro		– Your days are packed with sights and things to do/experience – You are able to check a lot of things off your list – You are able to get the most of your trip in a short period of time
Cons	– It is really expensive – It is usually not environmentally friendly	– It is very expensiveIt can be very exhausting – It is really hard to fully embrace a place
For who?	– Busy people that can not take time off during the year – People that can afford it	– People that have limited time to go explore – People that have a bigger budget for travel

Slow travel

Slow travel is pretty much the opposite of fast travel. Rather than optimizing for time, you optimize for the quality of the experience.

Slow travel usually describes people that would stay in a place between 1-3 months. They like to get to know the place they visit and usually live like the locals, by going out at local restaurants, grocery shopping and even cooking their own food! 

Slow travel is obviously much cheaper than fast travel because you don’t have to be on a schedule, you can negotiate a great discount on accommodation. Slow travel is also the best way to relax while fully embracing a destination.

With fast and slow travel, you have the extreme versions of both travel paces.

The ultra slow travel would be when you decide to stay in the place for at least 3 months up to a year. This is something we started to adapt to as we came to Taiwan to shelter ourselves from the pandemic for the past 5 months. It is usually the cheaper option to travel as we can tap into very long term stay discounts (3+ months) for instance. 

	Slow Travel	UltraSlow Travel
Cost	$$	$
Frequency per location	1-3 months	3-12 months
Pro	– You really get to know a place – You can easily connect with new people – It can be really affordable You have time to relax	– You truly become a local of the place you are visiting  – You create deeper connections – It is the most affordable way to explore places
Cons	– You don’t cover a lot of ground staying in one place – You are not quite a tourist but not quite a local
For who?	– People who are traveling for the long-term – People that want greater control over their spending – People that appreciate the downtime	– Digital nomads – People that want to live like a local

Travel budget – how much are you spending?

Lastly, we should not forget the cost of travel as this is an important part on defining your travel experience.

Budget

• The price is the most important piece that goes into the decision-making process when booking a stay or an experience
• It isn’t because you have a limited budget that you can’t find ways to spend less why getting more
• You always keep your budget top of mind

Mid Range

• You travel without counting your money but like to spend within reasons
• You don’t mind the occasional splurge

Luxury

• Your comfort is your top priority in every place you go to and don’t mind the extra budget
• You prefer fine dining over a hole-in-the-wall restaurant
• You enjoy the business/first-class experience
• You love upgrading everything (room with a pool, private dining…)

Bottom line

We hope these definitions are useful to help you identify what type of traveler you are or what kind might want to try out.

What about you? What is your travel personality, travel style, travel pace and travel budget? If we missed anything you’ve observed, please let us know as we are sure there are more types out there.

As for us, we considered ourselves slow travelers whose goal is to travel responsibly and preferably off the beaten path. For instance, we prefer going hiking during weekdays or taking advantage of the low season to visit more tourist places. As for the budget, we find ourselves in the mid-range category enjoying the occasional splurge without having to stick to a budget on a daily basis.

After the pandemic, we’ve adapted our travel style quite a lot given the current circumstances, and are definitely getting to the more extreme side of slow travel and nomad travel. This is allowing us to get to know a country deeper and to make long term friends so it definitely has its benefits even though we might miss the adventure of discovering a new foreign land. So styles can definitely evolve as we are sure ours will continue to!