6 Reasons to Try Slow Travel
Last week, my family and I headed off to Canada for a long-awaited and much needed holiday.Truth is, the last few months of 2014 have been intense and I'm feeling more than a little burnt out. I had great intentions of pre-scheduling posts over the Christmas period, but at some point I had to decide between sleep and work, and sleep won. Besides, running myself in to the ground is pretty much the opposite of slow living isn't it? So I thought I'd better walk the walk and not just talk the talk.After over a week offline and without so much as a word written, I'm feeling good. In fact I'm feeling more positive than I have in months - the passion, the excitement and the drive are back and I'm excited to see what the New Year brings. I guess sometimes all we need is to take a few steps back in order to see the bigger picture.So while my family and I are still on holidays and will be until late January (and I will be mostly offline for that time - checking in very sporadically) I have some new posts scheduled between now and January 1. After that I have a 26-part series due to go out once a day until I return on January 28.I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy a safe and happy New Year.
For us, this trip is all about slow.Slow travel - to us, at least - is simply saying no. No to rushing. No to cramming. No to endless touring. No to nameless museums and galleries that are simply an item on a to-do list, a photo on a memory card, a thing we can say, "Yep, did that. What's next?"We've been looking forward to this trip for over a year, and will be away from home for just over a month. And what's been interesting is the number of people who have asked if we'll be touring around a lot, considering the length of our holiday. Aside from a detour to Disneyland on the way home (I know, I know, it's the antithesis of simple living, but our kids are 4 and 5 - what are you gonna do?) we're staying in one place the entire time.And while it's occasionally tempting to try and cram as many destinations, tours, sights, museums and galleries into our time, it's really not appealing to us. Instead, we prefer to view our holidays through the lens of slow: quality over quantity and depth over breadth.I know many people see that as a lost opportunity but we don't see travel as a reason to be on the move constantly. Rather it's an opportunity to reconnect, relax and spend time together as a family - time that doesn't involve endless early mornings, transfers and airports. Neither Sparky nor I find that in the slightest bit relaxing, so it was a no-brainer to stay in the one place.Besides, spending a month in the gorgeous Canadian Rockies is hardly a chore, you know?
And I get that. I really do. But the reality is none of us will see every sight, every wonder, every monument, every ocean, every pyramid, every festival, every tribe, every mountain, every village, every church. Even if you started travelling now and didn't stop until the day you died, you wouldn't see it all.So isn't it better to see - and I mean really see - one or two places? To get amongst locals? To play where they play? To eat where they eat? To gain a better understanding of different people, places and cultures?Slow travel helps us have:
- deeper experiences
- a better understanding of the places we visit
- a less touristy experience
- a more restful holiday
- more time for experiences
- less time travelling
Take today for example. I've spent the morning writing in the library and am about to walk in to town and have a coffee and some lunch. I might take the long way back, through the woods (although I might not, considering it's -10C) and when I get back to our apartment we will probably watch a movie together.To some this probably sounds like a wasted opportunity (think of the sights we could have been seeing! the tours we could have been doing!) but to us it's what makes a trip worthwhile. I feel part of a community when we travel like this. I'm more prone to talking to strangers. More likely to discover a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. More inclined to have an afternoon nap and a glass of wine before dinner.It's more of the good stuff and less of the stress. Life, but simpler.