Last February, I was sitting in an open-air café in Ubud, Bali, the kind of place with vines climbing the walls and a menu written on a chalkboard in three languages, and I watched a woman across from me close her laptop, pack up in about 90 seconds flat, and head toward the door.
She didn’t look stressed. She didn’t look like she was rushing. She just looked… like she had somewhere beautiful to be next.
I’d seen that look before, mostly on women who had figured out something the rest of us were still searching for. So I asked.
Turns out she was a brand strategist, had been location-independent for three years, and had just wrapped up a client call from the café terrace. She was heading to a waterfall. Her business was running. Her clients were happy. She was tan and calm and present in a way I deeply respected.
“I just figured out the system,” she told me. “Once you figure out the system, travel stops feeling like an event and starts feeling like Tuesday.”
That conversation stayed with me. And it’s the reason I’m writing this post today, to share the 7 things that smart, seasoned women travelers actually do (that most people skip entirely).
1. They Carry One Bag, Intentionally
Carry-on only is not about minimalism, it’s a strategic decision. No checked bag means no 45-minute baggage carousel wait, no risk of lost luggage, and no dragging a massive suitcase through cobblestone streets in a historic European town or up the narrow stairs of a Balinese guest house.
The system: one packing cube per category (tops, bottoms, shoes/accessories, electronics, toiletries), plus a small ‘work capsule’, your laptop, chargers, notebook, and any tools you need to stay productive, that lives in the outside pocket and can be pulled out in any café, villa, or airport lounge without repacking.
When your bag is organized for work, your brain stays organized for work. This is not a small thing.
2. They’re Always the Last to Board
This one surprises people, so let me explain.
Boarding first means sitting in a cramped seat for an extra 20–30 minutes while everyone else shuffles past you with their bags. It means elevated stress before the flight even starts. And contrary to popular belief, the overhead bins closest to your seat are not necessarily taken by the time the last boarding group walks on, because early boarders shove their bags three rows forward and spread out.
Smart travelers use that gate-side time to answer a few emails, finish a coffee, or simply breathe. Then they board calmly, stow their bag efficiently, and settle in with none of the chaos.
Bonus: staying at the gate until final call sometimes creates upgrade opportunities that appear in the last few minutes. Airline staff occasionally offer upgrades to business class when seats haven’t filled, and they tend to offer them to people who are present, calm, and not creating a scene at the gate.
3. They Build the Layover Reset Into Their Journey
For any international journey with a layover of 4+ hours, the airport shower is non-negotiable.
Before you leave home, Google the shower facilities at your connecting airport. Most major international hubs, Singapore Changi, Dubai International, Sydney, Istanbul, Amsterdam, have paid shower facilities near the international lounges. The cost is typically $15–35 USD.
That 15-minute reset between a 10-hour red-eye and a 3-hour connecting flight changes the entire trajectory of your arrival. You land at your destination feeling like a human being, not a piece of lost luggage.
This is the kind of detail that sounds small until you experience the difference between arriving in Bali fresh versus arriving completely depleted.
4. They Set Up Their eSIM Before Leaving Home
The eSIM has been one of the most life-changing travel tools of the last few years, and a surprising number of women entrepreneurs still don’t know about it.
An eSIM (embedded SIM) lets you buy a local data plan for virtually any country directly on your phone, before you board, with no physical SIM swap required. Your regular phone number stays active for calls and texts. You just add an affordable local data plan on top.
My go-to is Airalo (code: MARYBE0135). I typically buy a 30-day regional Asia plan for under $25 USD before every trip to that part of the world. The peace of mind of knowing your phone works from the moment the wheels touch down is genuinely priceless.
No hunting for a SIM shop in a foreign airport. No roaming bill that gives you a heart attack when you get home. Just connection, immediately.
5. They Have the Right Travel Credit Card
If you’re still using a standard credit card for your travel purchases, you are leaving significant money, and comfort, on the table.
A premium travel credit card gives you: complimentary airport lounge access (game-changing for long layovers), travel insurance that covers cancelled flights, lost luggage, and even your laptop and camera gear, no foreign transaction fees, and a points system that converts to free or deeply discounted flights and hotels.
In Canada, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite and the American Express Platinum are consistently top-rated. In the US, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Amex Platinum are the standards. The annual fee, typically $120–$700, pays for itself after one or two international trips when you factor in lounge access, insurance coverage, and points value.
Talk to your bank or a fee-free financial advisor about which card is the best fit for your travel patterns. This is one of the simplest financial upgrades a traveling entrepreneur can make.
6. They Download Everything Before They Leave
The ‘offline audit’ is a 30-minute ritual the night before every trip, and it is non-negotiable.
Here’s what it covers: Google Maps for every city on the itinerary (downloaded for offline use). Your Spotify playlists (offline mode). Podcasts queued for the flight. A show or two downloaded on Netflix or Apple TV. Your Notion workspace or Google Docs synced for offline access. Any Canva designs you might need to review. Client files in a local folder on your laptop.
This 30-minute investment means you never end up in the middle of a seven-hour flight, in a taxi with no signal, or in a slow-WiFi café spiraling into ‘I can’t work right now.’ You become the woman who is productive anywhere, because she prepared for anywhere.
7. They Started Traveling Together
This is the one that quietly changes everything.
Traveling alone as an entrepreneur has its own magic. But there is a different kind of trip that happens when you travel with women who are building what you’re building.
Women who understand that the Zoom call needs to happen at 7am so the whole afternoon is free for the waterfall hike. Women who aren’t going to make you feel guilty for opening your laptop at dinner. Women who push you to pitch the bigger client and launch the offer you’ve been sitting on, because they’ve done it and they know it’s possible and they believe in you.
That kind of travel changes your business as much as it changes you. I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve experienced it myself.
| Ready to travel this way? Everything in this post, the packing, the productivity, the community of women who just get it, is what the Bali Elite Retreat 2027 is designed around. A private luxury villa near Ubud. 8–12 high-achieving women. Business workshops, daily wellness, cultural adventures with a private guide, and more. Week 1: February 28 – March 7, 2027 | Week 2: March 7 – March 14, 2027 The early-bird rate ends April 30. DM me or email hello@sustainablelifestylesolutions.com to reserve your spot. |
And if you’re not quite ready for Bali but you want to stay in the loop on all things travel hacks, freedom business strategies, and real talk from the road, subscribe to the Insider Secrets newsletter. Every Friday, in your inbox.
See you at the gate. 💜✈️
Marybeth Welty
Women Entrepreneurs Who Travel | Sustainable Lifestyle Solutions
ABOUT MARYBETH WELTY
Marybeth Welty is a business coach, systems strategist, and founder of Women Entrepreneurs Who Travel and Sustainable Lifestyle Solutions. She has spent 19 years traveling between the US and Canada and across 11 countries, building and running her businesses from villas, co-working spaces, cafes, and everything in between.
These days she builds AI employees: the assistants, planners, and follow-up systems that run the parts of a business that used to take up half of a founder’s whole week. She helps women entrepreneurs put those systems, their offers, and their mindset together so they can work from anywhere and actually enjoy the life they built the business for.
Follow her on Instagram @womenentrepreneurswhotravel, or come join the free Facebook community, Women Entrepreneurs Who Travel.
Habits make the trip pleasant. Systems make the trip possible. If your business is the part that would struggle, start with the five signs it is travel-ready, then the work and play trip system for the actual setup. For the longer version of the same instinct, bleisure travel and why founders need a human sustainability strategy is worth reading.
Questions women entrepreneurs are asking about this
What do experienced women travelers do differently?
They optimize for recovery rather than efficiency. One bag so there is nothing to wait for, boarding last so they sit down for less time, a deliberate reset built into long layovers, and everything downloaded before they leave so a bad connection costs them nothing. None of it is about moving faster.
Should I set up an eSIM before I leave home?
Yes. Buying and activating an eSIM while you still have reliable Wi-Fi means you land connected instead of standing in an arrivals hall hunting for a signal to buy connectivity with. It is a five-minute job that removes one of the most common first-hour problems.
Why board the plane last instead of first?
Boarding first buys you more time sitting in a cramped seat. If you are not fighting for overhead space, which you are not when you travel with one bag, boarding last means less time confined and more time moving around before a long flight.
How do I pack for a working trip in one bag?
Choose a colour palette so everything combines, take work clothes that double as evening clothes, and be honest that laundry exists everywhere. The one-bag rule matters less for the packing than for what it forces: no checked luggage, no waiting, no lost bag with your laptop charger in it.
What should I download before a trip?
Offline maps, your boarding passes, anything you plan to work on, and the entertainment you actually want. Assume the Wi-Fi will be poor at the least convenient moment and the plan still works.
