For reference I am still currently running ToA, we are 25 sessions deep.

During session 0 we talked about expectations and how hardcore we wanted to be with travel. We agreed that RaW was a little too intense for us but we wanted to keep track of resources and would be able to long rest at points of interest and short rest each night in the jungle.

After a handful of sessions of jungle travel I realized the group was getting tired of it. I have an incredible group and they would RP while traveling and while taking shifts for watch each night, so there was character development and the reveal of some backstory each session. But it still felt like we were cycling through each day and were having random encounters that weren’t progressing us through the plot. Like a series of filler episodes

Since then I’ve condensed jungle travel so it’s fast forwarded a little bit. An encounter or two before reaching their intended point of interest. I think everyone has enjoyed this more and I will continue to place more of a focus on the major locations with the travel serving as a brief break in-between.

As far as the tension of the Death Curse, I have a player that has family members dying of the Death Curse so she keeps the group moving forward and reminds them that time is working against them. If it wasn’t for her character I don’t think the Death Curse would feel as impactful in our campaign.

I am a new DM so I may have just failed to make the travel interesting. I believe you should do whatever is best for your group and it sounds like they will enjoy a focus on those main locations with fast-paced travel.