Slow Travel – What, Why, Where, How?

What?

Slow travel is the conscious effort to take more time when travelling, either to more fully experience the place your are visiting, or to try and reduce your carbon footprint.

For example you may choose to take a longer trip trekking or cycling through a country or multiple countries, thereby practicing low carbon sustainable travel, as well as taking more time to enjoy the culture and environmnets you find yourself in.

A more simple way some might wish to practice slow travel is by using a form of transport that is more sustainable than an aeroplane, but often takes longer, to arrive at your target destination. Good examples of this are taking a train or boat.

Basically it is a way of making our travels less damaging to the environment.

Why?

Other than the obvious desire to have a lesser environmental impact when we travel, slow travel also offers us the chance to more greatly appreciate the communities and environments we choose to visit.

Whether it is choosing to take a donkey ride up to the glamorous Santorini, or a train through Sri Lankan tea plantations, taking it slow offers you the chance to really take in your surroundings, relax and appreciate the time you have and the often beautiful surroundings you find yourself in.

Rather than making a tick-list and rushing around to complete all the tasks you want to on a tourist break, the ability to take it slow sometimes and go with the flow often has greater and more memorable benefits.

Even on a longer trip, for example some a cruise rather than a plane flight, you get to see so much more of the world than you otherwise would and will hopefully appreciate a wider range of cultures and environments that the world has to offer.

Where/How?

The opportunity to practice slow travel is almost always an option if you are willing to allocate the time towards it.

Cruises are very available especially around Europe, including Mediterranean and Scandinavian tours, as well as in the Caribbean and Indonesian islands. All of which offer the option to experience more than one country and its culture. If you are looking for a totally unique way to travel by boat there is also the relatively new option of hopping on a shipping container boat as a passenger!

Inter-railing (train travel) is especially popular in Europe due to its excellent train system and offers a cheap and relatively quick way of visiting a large amount of countries in one trip. There is even the option to go from Portugal’s west coast all the way to southern Vietnam in the longest uninterrupted train journey in the world! America also has a great railway system should you wish to do a North American trip.

It isn’t just about taking a long train or boat trip rather than by plane. When in your chosen country taking the time for a bike ride, steam train trip, walk, kayak, or even camel ride is a much slower, more sustainable and often more enjoyable way to experience natural sites and cultures than taking a taxi, tube or bus. For example I recently took a kayak trip on the Norfolk broads.

For example the USA is putting together a new project currently, ‘The Great American Rail Trail‘, stretching an extraordinary 3,700 miles from the nation’s capital across 12 states to the Pacific Ocean, west of Seattle! This will enable you to travel coast-to-coast on bike or on foot, should you wish, taking you through lesser known historical towns and areas of natural beauty, that you other wise wouldn’t see via mainstream transport.

If you would like to learn more about slow travel, share experiences, or get idea from other, feel free to join this Facebook page I help run!: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnailTravelCommunity/