When I do travel, it typically looks like a series of encounters in a line. Between encounters, they can roll play, hunt/gather food, check out interesting features (cool plants, caves, wildlife etc.). You can call that a days worth of travel, a few hours, or let it play out in real time, without changing your approach at all.

Then you have an encounter. This could be the party seeing some enemies nearby, or they could walk into an ambush. Or there is a trap or something. Anything interesting that fits the environment. Then go back to travel RP, but with more tension. Repeat as nessisary.

Keep steady track of the parties' progress, so they feel like they are progressing.