The Freedom Series: Zara Aitken on Dancing to Music Others Can't Hear
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Words by Zara Aitken | Edited by Tania from Slower Travels
Zara Aitken has never been interested in the life that was quietly being assembled for her. No property ladder, no children, no desk from nine to five. From the age of twenty, she knew. What she didn't yet know was how far that certainty would take her — from Birmingham to The Gambia, and eventually to a life split between a coastal corner of England and wherever her next flight lands.
She's been at it for over a decade now. And she's only just getting started.
The Trip That Changed Everything
In 2014, at twenty-three, Zara boarded a flight to The Gambia. She’d hardly left Europe before, having only visited Canada and taken a childhood trip to Disney World. Nothing could have prepared her for what followed.
"It was one giant culture shock. But it was addictive."
That trip didn't just open a door. It blew the walls off. From that point on, Zara made it her mission to see as much of the world as possible, as often and as affordably as she could. A mortgage felt like wasted money. A rigid job felt like wasted time. The idea of booking annual leave just to live her life became quietly intolerable.
So she started building something different — beginning with a travel blog, and working steadily toward the flexibility she knew she needed.
The Woman Who Showed Her the Way
There's someone else in this story worth mentioning: Zara's nan, Margaret, who passed away in 2025.
Margaret was, as Zara puts it, the original solo traveller. She would regularly leave her husband for a month at a time to travel to Australia — something that, in her generation, was quietly extraordinary. Growing up watching her do it made solo travel feel not just possible, but natural.
"There are no surprises that I also love travelling solo and often leave my husband for a month at a time — following in my nan's footsteps."
That inheritance — not of money, but of courage — runs through everything Zara does.
Life Now: Devon, Flexibility, and Working From the View
Today, Zara is based in Devon, a deliberate escape from the pace of Birmingham she made at twenty. She wanted the ocean and the countryside. She got both.
Her working life is split between a part-time role with a community charity — flexible, remote, and genuinely meaningful — and her travel blog, Passport for Living, which now earns a comfortable income. She chooses her own hours. She takes her work with her when she travels. If it's raining, she works. If it's sunny, she goes to the beach.
"I could never go back to being tied to a desk Monday to Friday from 9-5."
A recent three weeks in Spain, working from a coastal apartment, with sunny days saved for exploring and cloudy days reserved for writing — that's what the life looks like in practice. Not glamorous every moment, but deeply, genuinely hers.
The Music Other People Can't Hear
Zara travels solo. Often without her husband, whose work is less flexible than hers. And yes, people find it strange.
She's made peace with that — helped along by a Nietzsche quote that lodged itself in her mind and stayed:
"Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."
For Zara, it's a perfect frame. The people who don't understand solo travel simply can't hear her music. The unconventional choice only looks irrational from the outside. From the inside, it makes complete sense.
Her first solo trip was at eighteen, to Canada. By the time she'd decided she wasn't going to wait for others to be ready, she'd already booked it. Since then: Botswana, South Africa, Spain, throughout Europe. Experiences she would never have had if she'd waited.
The Parts Nobody Talks About
This life isn't without cost. In 2025, Zara hit burnout — the familiar collision of travel, charity work, and blog management all demanding attention at once. Travel, she's learned, stops being a holiday when it's also your job. There's a particular pressure to explore a destination thoroughly enough to write about it, rather than simply experiencing it.
Late evenings working to catch up. Health as the ball most likely to drop. The juggling act of keeping everything in the air simultaneously.
"Now, I'm trying to make sure I'm more balanced — prioritising sleep, health and wellbeing."
It's honest, and it's relatable. Freedom, it turns out, still requires management.
What Freedom Actually Means
For Zara, freedom has always been about time more than money.
"Time freedom is much more important to me than a large salary."
It's the ability to choose. To look at a sunny morning and decide that the beach comes first, and the work comes later. To book a trip without consulting a leave calendar. To build a life around her needs, rather than bending her needs around a job.
That's the version of freedom she's been quietly, steadily building since she was twenty. And it looks, from the outside, like exactly what she always said she wanted.
For Anyone Still Figuring Out Where to Start
Zara doesn't believe in waiting for the perfect moment. But she also doesn't believe in leaping blind. Her advice is precise:
Decide what you want your life to look like in two, three, or five years. Then work backwards. Be honest about what it would take — a career change, new skills, a period of studying alongside working. The upfront investment is real. So is the return.
"So many people are unhappy in their 9-5 but don't want to make the effort to actually change their situation."
She's not unsympathetic. Change is hard. But staying stuck, she'd argue, is harder.
Follow Zara's Story
🌍 Blog: passport-for-living.com
📷 Instagram: @zara_passportforliving
📩 Newsletter: sign up via her website
The Freedom Series: Life On The Other Side of Should is a storytelling project from Slower Travels, featuring honest reflections from people living life by their own rules.
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