Two Years of Slow Travel: What We’ve Learned, What We've Loved, and What's Next

Two years ago, D and I packed up and stepped out of the U.S., uncertain of where the journey would lead—only that we were committed to exploring deeply, living intentionally, and seeking out places that might someday feel like home.

Slow travel isn't a permanent vacation. It's an experiment. It's about testing environments against our values, routines, curiosities, and quality of life. And what we've found along the way has been equal parts delightful, eye-opening, and surprisingly… normal.

What We Value Most (And What We’ve Learned About Ourselves)

Throughout the journey, a few priorities have consistently shaped our experience:

• Affordability without sacrifice: Can we live well without overspending or downgrading basic comforts?
• Routine and rhythm: Are there good gyms? Can we work out, walk, do jiu jitsu, and create with ease?
• Community and safety: Do we feel welcome? Can we engage?
• Nature and beauty: Is there green space, water, or something alive and breathing in the place?
• Creative access: Is there access to create—pottery, art? Shared spaces matter.
• Personal agency: We value environments that let us live with minimal personal data intrusion, red tape, or exclusionary systems.

We also learned something else: Sometimes you love a place but wouldn’t live there. And sometimes the “maybe” becomes a serious contender.

Here’s a glimpse into what the last two years have looked like:

🌊 Porto, Portugal (3 months)
Porto was a gentle start. Cool ocean mist, walkable hills, clean streets, and early evenings. We fell into a daily rhythm—weekday workouts in Matosinhos, nature explorations, and long walks through cobbled alleys. The vibe: serene, a bit sleepy after dark, but deeply nourishing.

Awesome Standouts: Ocean air, gym culture, walkability.
Challenges: Sleepy city after 9 PM and an inconsistent, congested 500 bus.
Could live here? Possibly, with well-situated housing.

🕌 Istanbul, Türkiye (Galata, 5 weeks)
Vast, alive, and loud. Istanbul was a full sensory experience. Historic, layered, and vibrant. But also deeply confronting—with widespread street poverty and intense levels of smoking. A city of contrasts that didn’t try to hide its complexity.

Awesome Standouts: Call to prayer, food scene, ferry rides.
Challenges: Language barriers, prevalence of child labor exploitation, environmental strain.
Could live here? Unlikely but also an unforgettable city. (Would return as tourists!)

☀️ Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia (3 months)
KL tested us with its relentless heat but rewarded us with affordability, safety, and food that ranks as our global #1. The mall culture is intense—but necessary and functional. We got into a strong routine with gym, pool, and exploring the endless mall scene.

Awesome Standouts: Indian food (GEM is a star), medical access, gym culture.
Challenges: Walkability due to heat and poorly maintained sidewalks.
Could live here? A real possibility.

🍃 Taipei, Taiwan (1 month)
A revelation. Beautiful, efficient, green, and gentle. We fell hard for Taipei. Pottery, public workouts, and metro rides through bustling city. But Mandarin and cultural homogeneity presented a long-term barrier to connection.

Awesome Standouts: Pottery studio, metro, active public life.
Challenges: Language and cultural diversity.
Could live here? Would return for a sabbatical, but lamentably not a long-term base.

🧱 Valencia, Spain (2 months)
Charming at first glance, but a bit inaccessible in practice. While I loved the pottery studio and the parks, the pay-to-play nature of public amenities, frequent theft, and an exclusive feeling to many spaces made it less viable.

Awesome Standouts: Beach, creative community, historic neighborhoods.
Challenges: Expensive, access to “public spaces,” and prevalence of homeless.
Could live here? No.

🍨 Palermo, Sicily, Italy (1 month)
Home. Or at least, it felt like it. Warm people, walkable city, stunning coastline, and street life that welcomed us in. I passed as a local and enjoyed the best gelato of my life. Pottery studio? Yes. Park workouts? Every day.

Awesome Standouts: Co-working pottery, local warmth, affordability.
Challenges: Dog poop on sidewalks was extreme and gym couldn’t be found.
Could live here? Definitely, with the right visa setup.

🐱 Kadıköy, Türkiye (3 months)
Back to Türkiye, this time on the Asian side. Slower, more residential, but also slightly isolating. Language again became a major barrier, and grocery shopping was a chore. But park workouts, Prince Island ferry rides, and friendly street cats kept us engaged.

Awesome Standouts: Dining scene, ferry rides, cat companions.
Challenges: Language, grocery shopping, and antiquated plumbing.
Could live here? No.

🍷 Tbilisi, Georgia (3 months)
Tbilisi captured us...(more me than D). Affordable, rich in history, filled with creative energy and political passion. Pottery studio? Incredible. Gym? The best yet. We even looked at apartments.

Awesome Standouts: Dumplings, pottery, walkability, history, food, and art culture.
Challenges: Geopolitical location and language (although English is widely spoken).
Could live here? Yes. A strong contender.

🌊 Montevideo, Uruguay (6 months)
Peaceful but muted. Long walks along La Rambla, daily gym, and some good connections—but the energy felt low. High costs, interesting housing options, and barriers to integration made this a maybe-not-right-now place.

Awesome Standouts: Walkable coastline, safe streets, calm, artisan markets, tax incentives for foreigners.
Challenges: Prevalence of homeless, dumpster blow-outs/trash throughout city, insulated culture, expensive.
Could live here? Maybe in the distant future. Not right now.

💃 Buenos Aires, Argentina (1 month in, 2 to go)
Immediate connection. Dynamic city, creative vibe, green spaces, and full of life. We found our routines instantly—gym, jiu jitsu/boxing (D), pottery, yoga, and long, winding walks through vibrant neighborhoods. The people? Warm, inclusive, and proud. We’re already planning our return.

Standouts: Fullness of city, dynamic vibe, Bikram yoga, markets, green spaces, arts, and artisan markets.
Challenges: Inflation, cash economy, taxes.
Could live here? Yes—with the right tax setup and balance.

My Rankings (So Far)

🏋🏽‍♀️ Best Gyms for CrossFit-style workouts
1. Tbilisi
2. Porto
3. Kuala Lumpur
4. Buenos Aires
5. Montevideo
6. Taipei
7. Valencia

💇🏽‍♀️ Best Hair Salons
1. Kuala Lumpur / Tbilisi
2. Palermo / Porto
3. Montevideo
4. Valencia
5. Taipei
6. Istanbul / Kadıköy (none found)
***Buenos Aires — TBD!

What’s Next?
We’ll be in Buenos Aires for two more months. After that, we don’t yet know. That’s the beauty—and the challenge—of slow travel. It's not about ticking off places. It's about asking: Could we live here? Would we thrive here? And then listening closely to the answer.

Thanks for following along. Stay tuned for more stories (yes, I’m about six months behind)!

Until then—onward, with curiosity and an open heart. 💜