‘Moving In Silence’ Is So Much More Than Just A Travel Trend, It’s A Lifestyle

Can you even believe that summer is halfway over? No, me neither, and I actually refuse to, thanks! I can work around summer being too hot, but what I can’t accept is the best season of the year being shorter than my favorite pair of short shorts. That being said, I’m hellbent on doing the most this Cancer/Leo szn, which of course starts with honoring Brat Summer like babygirl Charli XCX told me to. But what if you took that Brat energy on an impromptu international world tour? There’s a new type of travel trending on God’s internet called the “sneaky Europe trip.” The vibe is essentially “catch flights not feelings,” but without the cringe tagline and attention-seeking Instagram captions about how cool you are for leaving the country. This approach is all about popping off to live a cool life, instead of prioritizing telling all your friends and followers where you’re going first, which is a MO I’ve personally been championing for some time now. I’m talking about ~moving in silence,~ and I hereby declare moving in silence the official vibe for what remains of summer 2024.

What is a sneaky Europe trip?

Before I dive into the lifestyle trend, let me back up. Raise your hand if you’re old enough to remember the feeling of pure exhilaration when waking up on December 13th, 2013 to a surprise new album by the name of Beyoncé. I will never forget the sensation of my brain attempting to catch up to the hundreds of texts in my phone that I needed to wake up and smell the Gizelle Knowles Carter coffee. A “sneaky Europe trip” is us mere mortals’ version of gagging our own community of fans (AKA our friends and those who silently lurk on our Instagram stories). How? By stepping out on the town without warning… when that town is a top 10 European city.

As influencer Daniel Bennett so eloquently summarizes it, “Radio Silence. Mykonos.” The thinking is, if you don’t tell anyone but your manager who has to approve your timesheet that you’re about to globetrot, you get to enjoy selectively letting your adoring public slowly into the know of your little secret in waves. How mysterious chic cool girl of you!

Mind you, this doesn’t have to stop at your overseas summer plans. While a sneaky Europe trip falls under the umbrella of moving in silence, travel isn’t the only indicator of the lifestyle trend. Getting a new job, finding a new man, hell, even having a new baby can be done in SILENCE. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very entertained by loud breakups. But the way we overexpose ourselves without a second thought puts more pressure on ourselves to perform in moments that really should be about just us and who we’re with.

Celebrities Did It First: Examples Of Moving In Silence

Image Credit: Getty Images

Adam Brody and Leighton Meester are the perfect example of a celebrity couple who moves in silence. They did approximately one (1) total interview in December 2023 that was earnest yet tasteful enough to confirm what we already suspected (that they’re happily in love). They’ve been together for over 10 years and they only have four pages of Getty Images. Brava, Blair and Seth.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Moving in silence doesn’t mean you can’t work and/or slay. Zendaya clocks in on set, clocks in double-time on that red carpet, and then goes home to Spiderman. Outside of her craft, what more do we know? That’s right. Virtually nothing.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Careful now. Don’t let the chic allure of moving in silence overpower you. You can be *too* silent, like IDK, waiting six years to drop your highly anticipated debut album, and still expect your fans to be patiently waiting?! (cough, cough Normani). And you can’t talk about long-awaited albums without bringing up Rihanna. Another fascinating case study of someone making the radio silence phase literal. It’s been nearly TEN years since Anti, so the gap between Riri’s last album and R9 is approaching puberty ATP. Rihanna Mama, Can You Hear Me? Moving in silence does require *some* eventual movement.

How To Participate In The “Moving In Silence” Trend

As a certified yapper and chronic oversharer, moving in silence is not innate to my natural form and I didn’t make this phrase my mantra out of nowhere. If my 2000s middle schooler memory serves correctly, its mainstream origin comes from the 2011 musical banger “6 Foot 7 Foot.” In the lyrical masterpiece, my pal Weezy F. Baby known to his fans as Lil Wayne raps, “Real Gs move in silence like lasagna.” Because when you say the word lasagna the G isn’t pronounced, get it? At the time the phrase caused a bit of confusion, even among the most cultured crowd.

Yes, Quest, you’re getting old — because we all are. But the evergreen concept of moving in silence is still important nearly 15 years after Lil Wayne made it cool. It’s low-key part of the solution to our modern online overload.

As we all know by now, social media addiction has been shown to increase anxiety and depression. It’s natural to want to compete in the Instagram-filtered rat race and, more than that, keep your loved ones in the loop with the things you’re excited about. But moving in silence surgically removes the validation that the social media boom has intrinsically linked with living our best lives.

Moving in silence by doing things like sneaky Europe trips on the low is the happy medium between casually sharing bits of your precious moments and granting the entire world (including those who actually aren’t rooting for you) to claim a minority stake in your happiness. Whatever happened to subtly? Whatever happened to an air of mystery? Even though a lot of bad guys seem to be winning these days, I still believe the universe rewards humility.

Keeping quiet and sprinkling your own tea, instead of drowning everyone in it, is a form of self-care more effective than those under eye patches you definitely need for your next flight.

Plus if you did want to look at it from a slightly less altruistic POV, keeping your circle on their toes gives main character energy. There’s something oh-so-satisfying about dropping a geo-tagless coastal sunset and seeing your Story do numbers while everyone wonders where the fuck you are. When it comes to everything — but my personal style — less really is more. It’s almost like the biggest flex of all is not having to flex in the first place. So, let’s leave flexing to the bodybuilders in 2024.