Chilean Lake District road trip
Our first big empty nester adventure. The route, the volcanoes and lakes, and how we planned the drive as a couple.
★★★★★ Rated 4.5 out of 5
Travelling as empty nesters isn’t about doing more. It’s about rediscovering how you want to travel now, the pace, the places and the experiences that suit you at this stage.
For years, family travel meant compromise. It meant working around school holidays, paying peak season prices and planning trips that kept everyone else happy. We became very good at it (hence the birth of this blog), finding the balance between fun, keeping the holiday moving and trying to keep everyone on side.
And then, suddenly, things change. The house is quieter. You lose track of the days. There’s no need to get up early other than to walk Linus and do some work. It’s the same feeling that runs through all our travel companions guides, because who you travel with changes the trip, and this time the who is just the two of you.
At first it can feel quite strange. You have the freedom you always wanted, but you’re not quite sure how to use it. This is where finding your travel mojo comes in.
In short: Empty nester travel works best when you slow down, travel outside the school holidays and build trips around your own interests. Start with something familiar, then let the bigger trips follow.
It didn’t take long for my husband and me to find our travel mojo again. Over time, we realised our trips were naturally starting to centre on three simple ideas. We now think of them as the 3 R’s of empty nester travel.
When the house goes quiet, it isn’t just your routine that changes. Your relationship changes too. For years, our conversations revolved around logistics. Who’s picking up? What’s for dinner? What time is the Leeds game? Travel followed the same pattern, focused on keeping everything running smoothly.
When that layer of organisation disappears, something quite nice happens. You get time back, time to talk properly, to relax over a meal without rushing and to enjoy each other’s company without distraction. Some of the best parts of this stage are the simplest ones, like a slow breakfast that turns into planning the day together, or an evening where you talk for hours without noticing the time. It’s not something you can plan into an itinerary, but it’s often what makes these trips feel different.
One of the biggest changes is letting go of the idea that every day needs to be full. As a family, there’s an unspoken pressure to make the most of every minute, to fit in the key sights, keep everyone entertained and justify the time and cost of the trip. Now that pressure fades. You can wake up and decide what you feel like doing, rather than what you should do. This is where a lot of people move naturally towards slow travel.
We’ve had days where the only plan was a walk into town and a nice lunch, and those have often been just as memorable as the bigger, more structured days.
Without school holidays to work around, you suddenly have a much wider window. You can travel in the shoulder seasons when destinations are quieter, midweek when places feel calmer, and for longer without rushing back. Our guide to when to go on holiday goes into the timing side.
For us, it has meant we can finally travel to Asia, which we avoided for years because of Tom’s severe nut allergy. If you’re planning around an allergy too, our allergy safety guides cover the airlines, food and places to stay. Places also feel different. A destination that felt busy or overwhelming in the school holidays can be far more appealing now, and often better value, which leaves more for a better room or a special experience.
One of the questions we hear most is how travel actually changes once the kids leave. Here’s how we tend to think about it.
| The parent years | The empty nester years | |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Fixed around school holidays | Flexible, including off-season travel |
| Pace | Busy, activity-led days | A slower, more relaxed rhythm |
| Focus | Keeping children engaged | Following your own interests |
| Budget | Spread across the whole family | Put into comfort, experiences or quality |
When our youngest headed off to university, it did feel a little strange at first. We suddenly had time back and weren’t quite sure what to do with it. The first couple of trips were fairly low key, a few relaxed breaks and a couple of city trips with friends, nothing too ambitious. But those trips helped us find our travel mojo again, and they led to our first proper empty nester adventure in Chile. This is the approach I’d suggest if you’re at the same point.
It’s tempting to plan something completely different or ambitious straight away. Often the easier way in is something you already know.
The difference is how you experience it. Instead of trying to fit everything in, you slow it down, allow more time and enjoy the details. It’s the easiest way to settle into the rhythm of travelling as empty nesters.
For years, trips were shaped around what worked for the whole family. Now your interests can take centre stage again.
These interests don’t have to fit around anything else. They are the trip.
It’s easy to overthink this stage, especially when it feels like a big shift. A long weekend somewhere you’ve been before, a short city break or a countryside stay close to home is plenty. The goal isn’t the perfect holiday. It’s getting comfortable with a new way of travelling, and the confidence follows from there.
In all honesty, there isn’t a huge difference between empty nester travel and travelling with young adults. You want some adventure, some time to relax, and the option of doing a bit of work as you go. These are the types of holiday that have worked best for us.
Slow travel is where empty nester travel really comes into its own. Instead of moving every few days, you stay long enough to get a feel for a place. You start to recognise faces, fall into a routine and find spots you’d never see in a “top 10” list. It feels less like a schedule and more like a way of living, even if it’s only for a week or two.
Road trips give you a freedom that’s hard to match. If you find somewhere you like, you stay longer. If somewhere doesn’t work, you move on. They feel much more relaxed now than they did with young children, with fewer stops and fewer constraints. Our Chilean Lake District road trip is the one that showed us this, and our road trip guides cover the planning.
Accommodation becomes much more important at this stage. You’re not just looking for somewhere practical to sleep, you’re choosing somewhere you’ll enjoy spending time, whether that’s a quiet breakfast, an hour by the pool or simply a calm, well thought-out room.
One stay that stood out for us was a weekend in Singapore at Raffles. It lived up to the expectation, and then some. It felt special for another reason too. For years, Singapore wasn’t really on the table because of Tom’s allergy, and realistically a hotel like Raffles wouldn’t have been within reach for a family of five. Being able to enjoy it now felt like one of the quiet perks of this stage, travelling differently and sometimes a little more indulgently than before.
City breaks work particularly well at this stage because they give you variety without pressure. You explore at your own pace, dip in and out of the sights and stop whenever you need to. Some days are full, others are slow, and both feel just as worthwhile. Our city break guide has the planning basics, and these four cities keep coming up when people ask us where to start.
These are the trips and guides that suit this stage best, from the big trips we waited years for to easy weekends closer to home.
The big trips we waited for
Our first big empty nester adventure. The route, the volcanoes and lakes, and how we planned the drive as a couple.
How we planned a bucket list trip to one of the most remote islands on earth, and what to know before you book.
The things to know before your first visit to Athens, from a trip my husband and I took as a couple.
City breaks
How to build a winter city break in Vienna, with what to see, where to warm up and how to plan the days.
Ten reasons to love Seville and what to know before you go, from four nights with two empty nester couples.
How to plan a Las Vegas trip with friends so it works for the whole group, not just the loudest voice in the chat.
How to plan Hong Kong whether you have a day between flights, a few nights or longer.
Road trips and longer stays
A road trip loop from Long Island up into New England and back, with the route and the stops worth making.
A five day leaf peeping loop through New England, timed for the autumn colours.
Tbilisi, the mountains, the food and the wine, and how to put them together in a single week.
UK breaks and days out
Our local’s guide to a weekend in Harrogate, from the spa town sights to where to walk and eat.
The villages, wildlife and history of Islay, for a slower island trip in the Inner Hebrides.
A day in Whitstable built around the oysters and an easy circular walk along the Kent coast.
Why you’re never too old for the National Railway Museum, and how to make the most of a visit.
Why Falmouth earns its “Falifornia” nickname, and how to plan a stay in this corner of south Cornwall.
Falmouth with Linus, and his ratings for the places we went. For the trips where the dog comes too.
One of the biggest perks of this stage is travelling outside the school holidays. In Europe, late spring and early autumn are often the sweet spot, when the weather is still good but places feel far less crowded and better value. Further afield, travelling just either side of a destination's peak season can make a big difference too, so check the local climate and pick the shoulder months.
In many cases, yes, although it depends how you like to travel. Once you're not working around school terms or squeezing everything into a week, slowing down comes naturally. Staying in one place for longer lets you settle into a routine, explore beyond the main sights and enjoy the destination rather than passing through it.
Choose a city that's easy to walk, has plenty of cafés to stop in and doesn't need a packed itinerary. Rome, Vienna, Seville and Athens all work well because you can mix one main sight a day with long lunches and slow wanders, and they're even better outside the school holidays.
It depends on you. Plenty of people now take the bigger, once in a lifetime trips earlier rather than waiting, and it makes sense, because you have the flexibility and the energy. Personally, I've never really had a bucket list. I think in terms of ongoing travel goals, like visiting every US state and as many national parks as possible. It's less about ticking things off and more about enjoying the process over time.
The quiet house takes some getting used to, but it opens a door. For us, it led to Chile, Rapa Nui and a lot of slow breakfasts we'd never have had time for when the children were at home.
Start small, start with something familiar, and let your mojo come back at its own pace. When you know what kind of trip you want, move on to Stage 2 of the Roadmap and choose your holiday style.
Enjoy the freedom, you've earned it.