Lore-Tripping, Groundhopping & Coolcations: 6 Travel Trends Worth Planning Around
By Krystal Wilson, Fora-certified travel advisor and the planner behind 3ozs. Edited for REEL BIZ Lifestyle.
The best trips aren't the ones where you saw the most. They're the ones you're still talking about two years later.
That's the shift happening across travel right now. Women are planning around the stories they want to bring home, the seasons that make a place feel better, and the way they actually want to feel when they land. Some are following their team from city to city. Some are trading heat waves for fjords. Some are taking Grandma and the kids and leaving everyone else home.
The names sound playful. The shift behind them is practical: more meaning, less friction.
A few of these terms are still emerging shorthand, not formal categories. But they line up with real patterns in the year's biggest travel outlooks, including the American Express 2026 Global Travel Trends Report, Expedia's Unpack '26 report (built on insights from 24,000 travelers), and Hilton's 2026 Trends Report. Different companies, same headline: people are planning trips around what matters to them.
Here are the six worth building your next trip around.
1. Lore-Tripping: Plan for the story you'll tell
Lore-tripping is travel built around memorable stories. Less checking famous places off a list, more creating the moment you'll still be retelling at brunch years from now.
That could mean staying somewhere with real history, visiting a place tied to a book or film you love, chasing a local legend, or simply leaving room for something unexpected. American Express calls it "Lore Chasing," and its research found 87% of travelers like to leave room in their itinerary for unexpected local discoveries. Expedia's data points the same way: screen-inspired "set-jetting" is now estimated at $8 billion in the US alone.
Why women are booking it: A heavily photographed landmark doesn't guarantee a meaningful trip. A small, unexpected moment often does. You want connection, atmosphere and discovery, and a story that belongs to you, not the same photo everyone else posted.
How to plan it:
Start with one question: What kind of story do I want this trip to create? History, food, nature, music, art, family?
Pick one or two anchor experiences and build around them.
Don't fill every hour. The best stories live in the gaps: a conversation with a local guide, a neighborhood café, a wrong turn that turns out right.
Pack it: A pocket journal turns lore into keepsakes. The Travwell Everywhere Travel Planner fits in a crossbody and doubles as your trip diary.
A travel advisor can surface experiences that fit the purpose of your trip instead of just adding more activities. That's the thinking behind 3oz Journeys, where itineraries are built around your interests, pace and priorities.
2. Groundhopping: Let your team pick the destination
Groundhopping started as a soccer-fan habit: visiting as many football grounds as possible, often across cities or countries. Today it's part of a much bigger wave of sports-led travel. Instead of flying in for one game and flying home, fans are planning entire trips around stadiums, rivalries, tournaments and the culture around the sport.
Expedia calls this trend "Fan Voyage," with travelers seeking local sports experiences from Muay Thai in Thailand to caber tossing in Scotland.
Why women are booking it: A match is an instant way into a place: local traditions, neighborhood food, language and community, all in one afternoon. It also gives the trip a built-in structure, and a reason to visit cities you'd never otherwise put on the list.
How to plan it:
Map a realistic route before buying tickets. Match schedules, travel times and transit get complicated fast.
Build in recovery days. A trip that looks efficient on a map can feel exhausting in real life.
Plan beyond the stadium: restaurants, markets, museums and neighborhoods near each venue. The goal isn't to collect stadiums. It's to understand the places around them.
For international trips, confirm ticket policies, entry requirements and event dates before booking anything nonrefundable.
Pack it: Fan-tracking apps like Futbology let you log every ground you've visited (see this roundup of the best groundhopping apps). For long match days, a slim Anker Nano Power Bank keeps your phone, and your tickets, alive.
3. Coolcations: Choose comfort over the heat wave
Coolcations are trips planned around cooler climates: mountain towns, northern cities, misty coastlines and nature escapes instead of the hottest, most crowded summer hotspot. The numbers back it up. Trip.com reported a 74% year-over-year jump in searches tied to cooler destinations, with rising interest in Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and Wales.
Why women are booking it: Extreme heat changes everything: how far you can walk, how well you sleep, how much you can comfortably do. A cooler destination lets you hike, sightsee and dine outside without wilting. Iceland, for example, typically sits around 50 to 59°F in summer. That's sweater weather, not survival mode.
How to plan it:
Look past temperature. Consider daylight hours, rainfall, seasonal closures, altitude and transportation.
Mountain destinations may be cooler but need more planning around transfers and elevation. Northern cities offer long summer days, and very short winter ones.
Balance outdoor and indoor plans so a rainy day doesn't sink the trip.
Match the climate to the purpose. Want rest? A quiet lakeside town beats an ambitious hiking itinerary.
Need inspiration? National Geographic's guide to Europe's best coolcation spots covers everything from Iceland's Central Highlands to Norway's Lofoten Islands.
Pack it: Layers and a waterproof pouch. The Floating Waterproof Phone Pouch handles fjord boat rides and surprise rain, and the Campervan First Aid Kit earns its spot on any trail day.
4. Fallcations: Make shoulder season the main event
Fallcations are autumn trips built around lower crowds, seasonal scenery, harvest food, local festivals and a slower rhythm. They're part of the bigger move toward shoulder-season travel: skipping peak summer and holiday periods for better value and a more comfortable experience.
Why women are booking it: Autumn hits the sweet spot. There's still plenty to do, but streets, restaurants and attractions breathe a little. And fall gives a trip a natural theme (changing leaves, regional menus, harvest events) without an overloaded itinerary.
How to plan it:
Research exact timing. Foliage, harvests, festivals and weather shift year to year. In New England, color generally moves from the north southward, from mid-September into early November.
Book small-town stays early. Vermont was just named the best US state for fall colors in 2026, and its October weekends fill fast.
Leave room for weather changes and shorter days.
Go focused: one region, a few well-chosen stops. That beats constant movement every time.
Pack it: Cozy-season packing still fits in a carry-on. The 8-Piece Packing Cube Set keeps sweaters, boots and scarves from taking over your bag.
5. Grandcations: Travel across generations
Grandcations are multigenerational trips that bring grandparents, parents, kids and sometimes the whole extended family together, often around a birthday, anniversary, reunion or graduation.
Hilton's research highlights the rise of "skip-gen" trips, where grandparents travel with grandchildren and the parents stay home. Across Asia Pacific, six in ten respondents have taken or plan to take one, and 89% say these trips support grandparents' health. American Express found two-thirds of travelers plan a trip in 2026 to celebrate a milestone for someone else.
Why women are booking it: Real time together is hard to schedule at home. Travel creates shared memories, but it takes careful planning when everyone has different energy levels, budgets, mobility needs, sleep schedules and interests. (And let's be honest: the planning usually lands on us.)
How to plan it:
Choose a destination with variety, so kids, adults and older travelers aren't forced into the same activity all day.
Set shared anchors (one family dinner, one big excursion) and leave plenty of independent time.
Accommodation matters: multiple bedrooms, accessible layouts, a kitchen, laundry and real common space.
Before booking, ask every traveler what would make the trip feel like a success. Beach time, culture, simple dinners: good planning makes room for all of it.
Pack it: A big group doesn't need a pile of suitcases. Pre-built TrekTote travel hygiene kits give each traveler their own TSA-ready set, and the 3ozs TSA liquids guide keeps everyone moving through security.
6. Slow Travel: Stay longer, move with purpose
Slow travel is the most established trend here: staying longer in fewer places, cutting unnecessary movement and spending real time in local life. A week in one neighborhood, a regional train journey, a month-long stay, or simply refusing to schedule every minute. Expedia found 84% of travelers are interested in staying on or near a farm, one of the clearest signals of the slow-travel pull.
Why women are booking it: Constant movement turns a trip into a string of transitions. Slow travel lets you settle in: return to the same café, learn a few local routines, take the long walk, change plans without feeling like you're missing out.
How to plan it:
Choose one primary base and explore from there. If you add destinations, keep transfers to a minimum.
Plan only the experiences that truly matter, then protect the open space around them.
Think about rhythm. A slow trip still needs structure; it just shouldn't feel like a to-do list.
Pack it: Longer stays mean you'll want your routine. The Sleep-Easy Add-On Bundle (night light, face mask, Vicks inhaler) makes any rental feel like home by night two.
The common thread: Plan for how you want to feel
Lore-tripping, groundhopping, coolcations, fallcations, grandcations and slow travel look like six separate trends. They're one shift: travelers are starting with the experience they want, not just the destination they can book. Hilton even titled its 2026 report around the idea: "The Whycation: Travel's New Starting Point."
Before you choose flights or build a list of attractions, ask yourself:
How do I want to feel on this trip?
What would make it meaningful?
What pace can I realistically enjoy?
Who needs to be considered in the plan?
What can I leave out?
Those answers make every other decision easier: destination, accommodation, activities, transportation and what goes in the bag.
Stress-free travel doesn't mean removing every surprise. It means cutting the avoidable friction so you have more energy for the parts that matter. When you're ready to plan a trip around your own interests, pace and priorities, 3oz Journeys can help you start with intention, and 3ozs handles the carry-on.
Travel less by default. Choose more thoughtfully.
FAQ
What is lore-tripping?
Lore-tripping is travel planned around creating memorable stories, such as historic stays, film or book locations, or unplanned local discoveries, rather than checking off famous landmarks.
What is a coolcation?
A coolcation is a trip to a cooler-climate destination, like Iceland, Norway or Scotland, chosen to avoid extreme summer heat and crowds.
What is a grandcation or skip-gen trip?
A grandcation is a multigenerational family trip. A skip-gen trip is a version where grandparents travel with grandchildren while the parents stay home.
When is the best time for a fallcation?
It depends on the destination. In New England, peak foliage generally moves from northern areas in mid-September to the southern coast by early November. Book small-town lodging early.
About the author
Krystal Wilson is a Fora-certified travel advisor based in Wilmington, Delaware, and the planner behind 3ozs, a travel brand built to make packing and planning lighter. A family-first traveler with a toddler in tow, she plans trips that feel joyful, doable and worth it. Plan your next trip with her through 3oz Journeys or her Fora advisor profile.
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