There’s a strange stage that happens before retirement — especially if you’re dreaming about a slower, more travel-centered life. I’m in that stage now, and it can be a little disconcerting at times.
You are still very much in your current life. Still working. Still dealing with schedules, deadlines, responsibilities, and all the ordinary realities that come with being employed. Still managing the bills, the fatigue, the routines, and the practical demands of the life you have right now.
And yet, part of your mind is already somewhere else. Not completely somewhere else, but far enough ahead that you’re thinking about what a different pace might look like. What retirement might feel like if it includes slow travel. What kind of life might fit better than one organized around work calendars and limited vacation windows.
I think this middle stage feels stranger than people expect. I’m not “there” yet, but I’m not not building it either. I’m still living one life while actively preparing for another. And that requires a mindset of its own.
Living in Two Timelines at Once
I think this is the part that deserves more attention. When you’re planning slow travel retirement while still working, you are living in two timelines at once.
One is your current reality: your job, your commitments, your routines, your finances, your energy level, your obligations, and the life that still has to function every day. There are still those “have-to” deadlines, challenges, and last-minute schedule changes.
The other is the future life you are trying to shape: more flexibility, a different rhythm, slower travel, fewer rushed windows, and more room to actually live inside your days. That isn’t to say there won’t still be “have-to’s.” There will be. But they’ll usually exist in a different system, often with less external pressure.
Both timelines are real. That’s what makes this stage complicated.
You cannot fully live the future yet, because the present still requires you. But you also cannot ignore the future if you want it to arrive in a way that is financially, emotionally, and practically sound. So part of the work becomes learning how to hold both realities without letting either one cancel out the other.
You are still living the life you have while actively preparing for the life you want next.
That is not confusion. That is transition.
The Wrong Mindset Is “I Just Need to Get Through This”
I understand why that mindset shows up. When work feels demanding and the future looks freer, it is very easy to reduce the whole present chapter to one sentence: I just need to get through this.
Sometimes that thought probably feels true. Sometimes it may even feel necessary. But I don’t think it is the strongest mindset to build from.
When retirement planning becomes pure emotional escape, a few things can happen.
The present starts to feel even heavier because you are mentally arguing with it all the time. The future starts to become idealized because it is carrying too much emotional weight. And the planning itself can become less honest, because fantasy is doing more of the work than observation.
Slow travel retirement is not a permanent vacation high. It is still life. It may be a better-fitting life. A calmer one. A more spacious one. A more intentional one. But it is still going to include decisions, tradeoffs, routines, budget questions, tired days, and ordinary days.
That is one reason I think it helps to be careful about turning retirement into an escape hatch in your mind. Not because the dream is wrong, but because the healthiest version of that dream is usually built steadily, not desperately.
The Better Mindset Is Preparation, Observation, and Trust
For me, the better mindset has three parts:
Preparation. Observation. Trust.
Preparation means doing the practical work while you still can. That may be financial. It may be logistical. It may be building systems, simplifying obligations, testing travel rhythms, or learning what this future actually costs. It may mean being more intentional with your current travel so you can learn from it instead of just consuming it.
Observation matters just as much. This is where you start paying attention to your real patterns instead of your imagined ones.
What kind of pace actually restores you? What kind of travel leaves you tired? How much movement is too much? What feels exciting for two days but not sustainable for two months? What parts of your current life are you trying to move away from — and which parts are you actually trying to bring with you into the next chapter?
That kind of honesty matters.
And then there is trust. Trust is what keeps this process from becoming frantic. Trust that slow progress still counts. Trust that you do not need to have the whole future solved this month. Trust that this stage of planning is not empty just because it is not fully visible yet. Trust that thoughtful preparation is not wasted time.
I think that mindset is much steadier than simply trying to “hold on” until retirement day.
Continuing to Work Does Not Mean You Are Not Building the Future
This is one of the most important reminders in this whole process.
Continuing to work does not mean the future has not started. In many cases, this is exactly how the future gets built. The current job may be the thing funding the options you want later. It may be what allows you to reduce risk, test ideas, pay down debt, build savings, strengthen your flexibility, or avoid rushed decisions. It may be the reason your later choices can be calmer and more durable.
That matters.
It is easy to feel like “real life” will start once work ends. But I don’t think that framing helps me. This chapter counts too. I’m not failing to begin.
I’m building the runway. And sometimes runway-building looks quiet. It looks repetitive. It looks like spreadsheets, discipline, waiting, testing, and making practical choices that do not feel glamorous at all.
But that does not make it less real.
Slow Travel Retirement Begins Before Retirement Officially Starts
I think one of the biggest mindset shifts is recognizing that slow travel retirement does not begin on the day you stop working. It begins much earlier than that. It begins when you start paying attention to pace.
It begins when you stop planning every trip like a compressed reward and start noticing what kind of travel actually feels livable. It begins when you test longer stays, slower rhythms, or more realistic routines. It begins when you start thinking about money, energy, recovery, transitions, and what kind of movement actually feels sustainable to you.
In that sense, the future lifestyle is not something you suddenly step into one morning. You shape it in advance.
That is why I believe so much in testing, observing, and adjusting before retirement becomes official. Not because every detail can be solved early, but because the more honest I am now, the less likely I am to build a future around fantasy alone.
The Goal Is Not to Mentally Leave Your Life Early
I think this part matters emotionally. Planning my next chapter does not require emotionally abandoning the one I am still in.
Yes, I may be tired. Yes, I may be ready for change. Yes, the future may feel more aligned than the life I am living right now.
But there is still value in living this chapter well. There is still value in respecting the fact that this stage is carrying real responsibility. There is still value in noticing what it is teaching me. There is still value in not making the present more miserable by turning it into something I simply want to erase.
That doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect. It means allowing this to be what it is: a meaningful in-between. A season of work, preparation, and becoming.
Not the final chapter. But not a throwaway chapter either.
What This Mindset Looks Like in Practice
When I think about the mindset of continuing to work while planning a slow travel retirement, it comes back to a few simple reminders:
My current job is funding choices, not just consuming time.
I do not need to solve my entire future this month.
Testing matters more than fantasizing.
My energy level is useful information.
And this middle stage counts too.
That mindset feels healthier to me than escape thinking. It feels steadier. More honest. More sustainable.
And maybe that is exactly the right tone for slow travel retirement anyway.
Not a sprint toward freedom. A deliberate move toward a life that actually fits.
Final Thoughts
There is a real mental shift required when you are still working but already building a slower future in your mind. You have to hold responsibility and possibility at the same time.
You have to keep showing up for the life you have while steadily preparing for the life you want next. That can feel emotionally messy some days. It can feel exciting on others. Often it is both.
But I do not think that means I am doing it wrong. I think it means I am in the real middle of the process.
And maybe the best mindset for that stage is not: I just need to escape.
Maybe it is: I am building this carefully, learning as I go, and letting the next chapter become more real one honest step at a time.
If you’re trying to imagine what retirement travel might feel like in real life — not just in theory — that’s exactly why I believe in test-driving the lifestyle before making big decisions.
Solo Travel by Design 
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