Beyond the Checklist: Designing Trips with Intention in Midlife
When you think back on your favorite travels, what stands out most? Chances are, it isn’t the checklist of sights you crammed in. It’s the lingering dinner conversation. The spontaneous detour. The moment of awe when you stood still and truly felt where you were.
For many women in midlife, travel is no longer about “seeing everything.” It’s about being present and creating experiences that nourish body, mind, and spirit.
As one woman who joined our Africa journey shared, “Travel opened me to new ways of being that I carried home.”
That’s the essence of traveling with intention.
Why Intentional Travel Matters in Midlife
Midlife is a time of transition — empty nests, career pivots, health shifts, or simply a desire for “what’s next.” Travel can meet us in this season not as an escape, but as a way of reconnecting with what matters most.
Designing trips with intention allows us to:
Shift from tourist to participant. We stop racing from one sight to another and start engaging with people, culture, and place.
Open space for serendipity. Some of the best memories come when we let go of rigid schedules and allow the day to surprise us.
Support our well-being. Slowing down, moving our bodies, and immersing in new environments bring joy, perspective, and vitality.
As one woman in our recent class described, she longs for “somewhere I can just slow down and immerse myself in the people and culture. Somewhere I can try new foods, outside-the-box activities, and be surrounded by nature.”
Intentional travel makes that possible.
Three Principles of Designing with Intention
You don’t need to overhaul your entire itinerary to create a meaningful trip. Start with these three guiding principles:
Leave Space for Serendipity
Don’t pack every hour with activity. Instead, leave blank spots where something unplanned can unfold. Maybe it’s a market you stumble upon, a café where locals linger, or a path you decide to follow just because it looks inviting.
Choose Meaning Over Quantity
A trip designed with intention doesn’t try to cover every famous sight. Instead, it zooms in on what feels most important to you.
For one class participant, that meant Iceland’s hot springs: “peace and connection to nature.” For another, it was sunshine, beautiful beaches, and history: “I just turned 65, have never used my passport, and I’m really just starting this idea of traveling.”
When you align your travels with your personal values and desires, the trip becomes less about checking boxes and more about living fully.Anchor Your Trip With a Theme
Think about one word or value you want to carry into your journey — joy, connection, adventure, rest. Use it as a compass to guide what you say “yes” to.
As another Rumblings’ traveler reflected, “It wasn’t about escaping my life, but returning to it with more joy.”
Intentional Travel as a Path to Flourishing
When women in our community talk about their dream trips, they often highlight the feelings they want to cultivate — peace, connection, discovery, renewal — rather than the logistics.
That’s the beauty of traveling with intention. It reminds us that travel is not just about where we go, but how we choose to experience it.
And here’s the best part: those same principles can flow back into daily life at home. When you practice slowing down, being present, and leading with intention abroad, you carry that perspective forward into your relationships, routines, and sense of purpose.
As one traveler put it, “Travel reminded me that life is meant to be experienced, not managed.”
A Tool to Support You
If you’re ready to bring more intention into your next trip, our new Rumblings Travel Journal was designed for precisely this. With guided prompts and reflection pages, it helps you turn ordinary trips into transformative journeys.
And if group travel inspires you, our upcoming Portugal Camino Experience in 2026 is built on these very principles — walking with purpose, sharing stories, and connecting deeply with place and people.
Your Next Step
Whether your dream is Iceland’s hot springs, a beach steeped in history, or your very first passport stamp, intentional travel is a powerful way to step into midlife with meaning.
Before your next trip, ask yourself:
What do I most want to feel?
How do I want to experience connection — with myself, with others, with the world?
What do I want to bring home, beyond souvenirs?
Because when you travel with intention, you don’t just see the world — you let it change you.
👉 Explore the Rumblings Travel Journal to start your own intentional journey.