To the Young-Old Adventurers: Why Fast Travel Deserves a Place in Your Life

Who says we have to slow down after 50?

Life is for living! (Yes that’s a Bull Shark behind me!)

I love a slow morning as much as the next person.

A pot of tea. A sunrise walk. The same café every day where they know your order before you even sit down.

And after 12+ years living in Phuket and a year of coastal calm in Brisbane, you’d think I’d be craving more of the same.

But I’m not.

I’m craving movement.

Momentum.

The thrill of planning a route across countries, hopping on trains, negotiating bus schedules, getting it wrong, figuring it out, and collapsing into a dodgy hotel bed with a story to tell.

I’ve watched Race Across the World obsessively, not just for the stunning scenery, but for the pace, the adrenaline, and for the sheer determination and scrappy joy of making things happen on the fly.

And after years of beach life and comfort, I’m ready to shake things up.

So many travel resources aimed at the 50+ crowd talk endlessly about slow travel.

They tell us to rent a villa in Tuscany for three months, to settle into a routine in a quaint French village, or to take a leisurely river cruise where everything is planned for you.

But what if you’re not ready for that yet?

What if you want to trek the Camino de Santiago, city-hop across South America with nothing but a rough itinerary, or join a last-minute tour group to the Galápagos Islands?

Here are five reasons why fast travel absolutely deserves a place in your life, even (or especially) when you’ve crossed the magical 50+ threshold.

1. The Freedom to Choose Your Pace

There’s a quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) assumption that once you hit a certain age, you’ll naturally want to slow everything down.

You’ll want to take cruises, stay in one place, plan every detail, and prioritise comfort over chaos.

And I get the appeal. I will absolutely spend months in one place again. But right now, I want the opposite.

• I want to jump on a ferry in one country and land in another.

• I want to walk into a train station and figure out the next stop as I go.

• I want to book a hotel because we walk past it, and it looks good for a night.

Because why should that kind of travel be reserved for 20-something backpackers with questionable hygiene and unlimited time?

At this point in life, you know what lights you up. You’ve figured out what you love, what you’ll never do again (no thank you hostel bunk beds or shared bathrooms), and what makes your eyes sparkle.

So why slow everything down now?

We’ve spent decades planning for later, retirement, “the right time,” or “when things calm down.”

But guess what? Now is later. We’ve arrived.

So lets get moving.

2. Spontaneity Builds Confidence at Any Age

There’s something wildly empowering about landing in a new country with nothing but your backpack and a vague idea of where you’re going.

It reminds you just how capable you are.

Years ago, my sister and I backpacked through India with nothing but a rough itinerary. We booked trains and hotels on the go, often with nothing more than instinct and a dodgy internet connection.

We did the same through Europe, and my husband & I just did the same thing in Fiji.

Was it scary? At times a little. But was it exhilarating? 100%!

The exciting part is though, you figure it out. You always do.

(Memories of navigating the metro in China at night without Google and minimal English signs comes to mind!)

And every time you do, your confidence expands. You start to believe that you can handle whatever comes next.

That confidence doesn’t have an expiry date by the way. If anything, it grows more valuable as we get older.

3. Adventure Keeps You Young

Movement creates energy. It gets the blood flowing, the brain buzzing, and the muscles firing.

It keeps you agile, curious, and awake to the world around you.

Fast-paced travel immerses you in environments filled with students, backpackers, volunteers, creatives, and adventurers from every generation.

I can’t wait to join conversations on overnight trains, share stories with strangers on buses, and find myself having impromptu drinks on rooftops with people I met hours earlier.

These experiences don’t just temporarily energise us, they completely transform us.

Our brains literally forms new neural pathways as we navigate unfamiliar cities, solve unexpected problems and meet people from all walks of life.

Also we don’t just feel young again. Biologically, our bodies and brains respond, becoming more alert, more adaptable, and more resilient.

On our recent trip to Fiji, we went Bull Shark diving (the scariest thing I’ve ever done), but I felt invincible and capable of anything when I came back alive! 😂

We’re not just dreaming of having youthful energy, we’re creating it.

4. The Beauty of Contrast

After years of living the slow life, I’ve realised it’s not about picking sides.

It’s about the dance between the two.

Slow is lovely. But slow only, is like eating soup for every meal, nourishing, but eventually a bit bland.

Fast travel, with its scrappy, messy unpredictability, adds spice.

As exciting as that pace sounds (and trust me, I’m all in), I also know my body appreciates a bit of breathing room now and again.

Which is where slow travel comes in.

Not as the default. But as the recovery and recharge. I’m thinking of it as the pit stop between sprints.

Like a good interval workout. Fast, then slow. Hustle, then pause. Chase the wild, then exhale.

• A month racing across Europe with a loose plan and a Eurail pass — Then a few weeks in a peaceful Greek village where the only decision is red or white wine

• Bouncing from country to country, dodging tourist traps and loving every misstep—Then staying put long enough to find your favourite fruit stall and a spot to write in peace

That’s what I’m after. Not “slow vs fast”, but a rhythm that includes both.

When you eventually do stop to rest, in a quiet Airbnb in the hills of Portugal, or a tiny town in Laos, it feels earned and deliciously welcome.

5. Now Is the Time

Maybe your kids are grown. Maybe you’ve retired. Maybe you’ve built a business that lets you work from anywhere.

Whatever your version of freedom looks like, this is the time to use it.

While others are slowing down, winding in, building routines and safe plans… you can choose motion.

You can choose to run toward life, rather than just drifting into a slow decline.

You’ve got the wisdom of experience, the freedom of fewer responsibilities, and likely more resources than you had at 25. You’re perfectly positioned to travel in a way that younger adventurers can only dream of.

Forget the Rocking Chair, I’m Just Getting Started

I’m done with the idea that getting older means automatically slowing down.

If anything, age has given me the confidence and clarity to speed up again, but on my own terms.

So yes, slow travel will be a part of my nomadic life. But not because I need it. Because I choose it: as a balance, and a strategy, to create space between the sprints.

I’m not rejecting the idea of slow travel, far from it. Slow will always have a place in my life. It’s where I rest, recover, create.

But right now, I’m speeding up. And I’m loving it.

So if you’re a fellow young-old adventurer, the kind with wanderlust in your bones and a glint in your eye, I say: ditch the “slow equals sensible” narrative.

Book the flight. Jump on the bus. Plot your own ‘Race Across the World’.

Move like you’ve still got decades ahead of you, because you likely do.

Adventure doesn’t end at 50.

It’s just getting started.