If you're in your 40s, these 6 travel experiences are worth prioritizing

Travel hits different in your 40s.

In your 20s, you backpack, sleep on buses, eat mystery street food at 1 a.m., then somehow wake up fine; in your 30s, you start mixing in work trips, squeezing "experiences" into long weekends and pretending jet lag is a personality trait.

By your 40s, the question shifts: It stops being "Where can I go next?" and becomes "What is actually worth my time and energy?"

Because your 40s come with trade offs; you probably have more responsibilities, a bit more money, and less tolerance for wasting either.

Travel can’t just be about ticking countries off a list anymore.

Here are six types of trips that, in my opinion, move the needle most at this stage of life:

1) A solo trip where you actually unplug

When was the last time you were truly alone with your own thoughts for more than an hour... without a notification popping up?

A proper solo trip in your 40s is less "Eat Pray Love" and more "No one needs anything from me for five days and my nervous system can finally exhale."

Years ago, I booked a cheap room above a tiny bistro in a European coastal town.

No big itinerary. No big group. Just a carry-on, a notebook, a couple of non-fiction books, and a promise to myself that I would not check work messages.

By day three, something weird happened: I stopped reaching for my phone out of habit.

My brain went from anxious scrolling to actual thinking by noticing the fishing boats, tasting my food, and questioning where my life was heading, in a good way.

In "Four Thousand Weeks", Oliver Burkeman writes about how limited our time really is and how we burn most of it reacting instead of choosing.

Solo travel forces you to choose.

You pick your pace, your meals, your conversations, your bedtime.

In your 40s, that kind of intentional alone time is priceless.

It is a reset button you cannot hit any other way.

2) A food pilgrimage to a city that obsesses over what you love to eat

If you care about food, you owe it to yourself to build at least one trip around eating well.

Not just randomly finding “a nice place for dinner”, but treating one cuisine or dish like a quest.

A proper food pilgrimage.

Think of places like Tokyo for ramen and sushi, Mexico City for tacos and street food, Bangkok for noodles and curries, or a plant forward destination where the vegetables are treated like the main event instead of a side thought.

In my 20s, I went to Italy and accidentally stumbled into a tiny trattoria where the chef made a simple tomato pasta that honestly changed how I saw food.

It was just tomatoes, basil, garlic, and good olive oil but the balance, the ripeness, the way they respected each ingredient... it was like someone turned the saturation up on my taste buds.

That experience did two things: First, it made me fall harder in love with cooking and, second, it made me raise my standards for what I put in my body.

A food focused trip in your 40s can do the same thing.

You start noticing how you feel after a day of meals built on fresh produce, quality carbs, and good fats compared to ultra-processed airport snacks; you can still enjoy wine, dessert, and the occasional pile of fries, but the baseline is quality.

3) A multi-day nature escape that pushes your body

Your 40s are when you really start to feel the gap between moving your body and not moving it.

So one of the best trips you can do is something that combines landscape, challenge, and recovery.

A multi-day hike, cycling tour, or wellness retreat where the focus is getting your body working for you, not against you.

The first time I did a proper multi-day hike, I underestimated everything: The elevation, the weather, and my legs.

I was humbled by day two, but I also slept better than I had in months.

My appetite regulated itself, I craved simple, nourishing food and gallons of water, and all the stuff I "knew" from reading about health suddenly became obvious in practice.

Being out in nature for several days does something strange to your brain.

The constant low level anxiety from notifications, deadlines, and opinions fades; you start caring more about whether your socks are dry than about what someone posted on social media.

In your 40s, that reconnection with your physical self is worth chasing.

It reminds you that your body is not just a vehicle for your brain and your to do list.

4) A slow month in one place instead of six rushed weekends

A lot of people hit their 40s with an impressive list of places they have technically "been to," but if you ask what they remember, it is mostly airports and lobbies.

There is huge value in choosing one place and staying long enough to actually have a routine.

Rent an apartment instead of a hotel, find a local cafe and become a regular, shop at the market, cook some of your meals, and learn enough of the language to order without pointing at the menu.

When you slow down, you start living instead of just visiting.

You notice how people eat on a Tuesday, not just at special restaurants; you see which foods show up at breakfast, which snacks kids grab after school, what a "normal" lunch looks like.

This is where the lifestyle lessons live: You might see a culture where people walk more, share meals, prioritize lunch over dinner, or treat sweets as an occasional joy instead of a daily default.

Books like "The Blue Zones" talk about how long lived cultures often have simple, social eating habits woven into daily life.

Spending a month in one place lets you see that up close instead of as a theory.

If you work remotely, this might be more doable than you think; if you do not, you can still stretch a vacation by choosing one base and doing small day trips rather than hopping countries every few days.

Time in one place changes you in a way quick hits never do.

5) A learning adventure that makes you a beginner again

Most people in their 40s are very competent at what they already do.

They know their job, their routines, their roles.

That is exactly why it is powerful to travel for something you are terrible at.

Think surfing camp, diving certification, ski school, a yoga retreat where you are the least flexible person in the room, or a plant-based cooking intensive where you realise vegetables have been underused in your life.

Being a beginner again is uncomfortable, but it is also incredibly energising.

You remember what it is like to fail publicly, to ask questions, to laugh at yourself.

On one surf trip, I spent a full day wiping out while a group of teenagers casually glided past me.

My ego was not thrilled, but my brain lit up.

I slept like a rock, my appetite was dialled in, and I felt this deep, kid like satisfaction from finally catching one clean wave near the end of the week.

Psychologists talk about "growth mindset" a lot.

Travel is one of the easiest places to practice it; you will never see those people again, so who cares if you fall on your face a few times.

In your 40s, learning trips keep you mentally flexible.

They remind you that you are not done yet, that your identity is not fixed, and that your body can still pick up new skills if you give it a chance.

6) A memory-making trip with the people who matter most

Finally, there is the trip that is less about where you go and more about who is with you.

A lot of us hit our 40s and realise time is getting weird.

Designing one intentional "big memory" trip with your inner circle is worth prioritising.

It just needs three ingredients: Time together, shared experiences, and low distraction.

Maybe it is renting a house near the coast and cooking huge dinners together, experimenting with local produce and seafood, or maybe it is taking your parents to the place they always wanted to see but could never afford when they were younger.

On these trips, the food, the sights, the activities are really just the backdrop to conversations you will remember for years.

Stories get told, while old arguments soften.

Kids see their parents as actual humans for once.

When you look back later, these are the experiences that anchor your 40s and they become the stories that get told at future dinners.

The bottom line

Travel in your 40s is less about volume and more about depth.

You need trips that actually shift how you live, eat, move, and connect when you get back home.

You might not be able to do all of these every year, but that's fine; just pick one and put it on the calendar.

Life will always find a reason to get in the way, but you will remember the conversations, the meals, the views, and the quiet moments where you realised, "Oh. This is what I want more of in my life."

That, to me, is what makes these experiences worth prioritising.