Have you ever returned from vacation feeling more exhausted than before you left? Many travelers live hectic, busy lives, and the frantic pace continues during their trip as they rush from one tourist attraction to another. But there's a grassroots movement that's quietly emerged as a solution to tourist burnout: slow travel.
What is slow tourism?
Slow travel is an offshoot of the slow food movement, which began in Italy in the 1980s in protest of the opening of McDonald's in Rome. The slow food movement aims to preserve regional cuisine, local farming, communal dishes and traditional cooking methods. This cultural the initiative has since evolved into an entire way of life known as “Slow Motion,” which emphasizes connection—connection to food, connection to families, and, in the case of travel, connection to local communities and culture.
Slow travel is not so much a specific mode of transport as it is a way of thinking. Instead of trying to cram as many attractions or cities into each trip ("4 cities in 3 days," for example), the slow traveler takes the time to thoroughly explore each destination and experience the local culture. According to the philosophy of slow travel, it is much more important to know one small area than to see only a few different areas - this way you will have something to see on your next trip.
Slow travel can mean:
- renting a cottage or apartment for a week at a time and exploring your immediate surroundings on foot or by car,
- cycling from one village to another on country roads rather than on the highway,
- crossing long distances by train rather than by air so you can see the scenery along the way.
But no matter how you do it, travel slows down and makes the most of every moment of your vacation.
Benefits of Slow Travel
It allows you to form a stronger connection with the place you are visiting and you will feel much less rushed. With the "slow" route, you won't have the stress of trying to hit new way in your guide. Instead, you'll stay in one place long enough to get to know your neighbors, shop at local markets, and choose your favorite coffee shop. Slowing down in other countries not only allows you to escape your own busy daily life, but also allows you to naturally immerse yourself in the pace of another culture.
Another less obvious benefit of slow travel is that it is much better for the environment than other types of travel. While airplanes have been identified as a major contributor to global warming, trains are a much greener alternative, as are bicycles and, of course, your own feet! And even traveling by car becomes less harmful to the environment when you only drive short distances.
Slow travel is more economical. Staying in one place for a week or more reduces your travel costs, and home rentals are often more economical than hotels because they allow you to cook your own meals rather than eating out. If you choose a home exchange, you'll save even more.
One thing to remember is that while the slow pace of travel can be leisurely and relaxed, getting to know new culture much more difficult than just getting to the main tourist places. Part of the reward of slow travel is overcoming language barriers, differences in customs, and other potential stumbling blocks to making connections with the new people you meet.
Best Slow Travel Destinations
Europe is the most popular place for slow travelers, because vacation rentals are plentiful, systems public transport efficient, historical sites are relatively close to each other, and English language widely spread.
However, slow travel is a mindset, not a destination, and with a little planning you can vacation almost anywhere.
Accommodation. Slow travelers tend to stay in holiday apartments, which are more economical than hotels for longer stays and are also more spacious and comfortable. Be sure to book your rental in advance and keep in mind that many properties must be booked from Saturday to Saturday. House swapping is another good alternative for long-term stays. Your home exchange partner will get to know your friends and neighbors, making you immediately feel part of your new community. You can even use your exchange partner's car while at their home.
Nutrition. In the spirit of slow food, find local ingredients and try the cuisine of the place you're visiting. Are you cooking for yourself? In the morning, join the locals on fish market to pick up a fresh catch for dinner, or stop by the bakery for a baguette straight from the oven. If you eat out, choose local cafes and restaurants.
Transportation: Traveling by rail can be a relaxing and often luxurious way to explore the countryside, especially in places like Canada and Europe. Trains in these regions are convenient and efficient, and there are plenty of fare options to help you cut costs.
Other "slow" alternatives include cycling, river boats, walking and even running.
When "slow" is not an option
While slow travel is becoming an increasingly popular option for people who want to enrich their travel experience, it's not for everyone. If visiting a lot of attractions every day leaves you feeling excited and energized, then you may find the more casual pace of life frustrating or boring. If you think this might be your only trip to Italy (or New Zealand, or Morocco), then you need to decide what is most important to you: traditional excursions or cultural experiences.
Upon returning from vacation, many are haunted by the feeling of an unfulfilled program: in a couple of weeks there was not enough time to visit, experience, photograph everything they wanted. Such regrets are unknown to Clive and Jane Green, who went to. On their yacht, the couple traveled 51 thousand nautical miles and visited 56 countries. Thanks to media reports, millions of people around the world learned about them. But before you sigh about the impossibility of such a long vacation, it’s worth delving into the essence of the amazing hike. From the unusual experience of the Greens, you can still get some ideas for your modest two-week vacation.
Not downshifters and not record holders
The Greens were not trying to set a record and had no plans to flee their native Wales in search of better life, they are not contenders for a place in the Guinness Book of Records and are not downshifters in the classical sense of the word. The idea of a British cruise was based on the concept of slow travel.
Take your time and you will see everything
The concept of slow travel is not new. It received a second wind in the bustling 21st century, but was very popular in the 19th century. The French travel poet Théophile Gautier (1811-1872), for example, was a good two centuries ahead of his modern proponents slow tourism, arguing that the world needs to “slow down.” The same opinion was shared by the Swiss researcher and writer Isabelle Eberhard (1877-1904), who also insisted that the most important thing on the trip was to get to know better the life of the people living in the country.
Slow travel is a fashion trend that is gaining popularity all over the world. Its main idea is not only to abandon standard tours, but also to hurried tourism, which the majority have chosen for themselves modern people generally. Fans of slow travel believe that it is better not to see the famous landmark, but to get many small and unique experiences that allow you to really get to know a new place and relax your soul.
To do this, it is recommended to literally integrate into the life of the locals, neglect the hotel in favor of a rented apartment and not try to see too much in a short period of time. Excursions and sightseeing are not prohibited, but the emphasis is still placed on non-standard impressions and the refusal of guidebooks.
In July 1998, Clive and Jane Green went on a cruise on their 35-foot yacht from Abergavenny, Wales. They traveled for 16 years, 1 month and two days, although at first they only intended to spend a week in Spain. The tourists were in no hurry and made long stops along the route: they lived with tribes in the Asia-Pacific region, swam with seals, helped save shellfish harvests, and were afraid of pirates eastern shores Africa.
The road is already a vacation
Some fans of slow tourism believe that airplanes deprive the traveler of one of the main pleasures - the anticipation of arriving at the destination. Just a few hours, and the journey “from A to B” is coming to an end. This, in the opinion of many “slow travelers,” is fundamentally wrong. Among slow travel adherents, however, there are also those who believe that it is a sin not to take advantage of the benefits of technological progress.
Nevertheless, both opponents of airplanes and their opponents recognize the beauty of long trips by car or train, if they fit into the time allocated for the trip. For example, travel along transcontinental routes, such as Route 66 and Lincoln Highway in the USA, are considered iconic for supporters of the idea of slow travel.
Eco, but not that
Some slow travel ideas have something in common with ecotourism (for example, complete or partial avoidance of air travel). However, the motives of the adherents of these movements are slightly different: ecotourists are concerned about environmental problems, and “slow travelers” are not satisfied with modern methods of moving in space, mostly from a philosophical point of view.
Manifesto of the “slow tourist”
Despite the fact that fans of slow travel disdain guidebooks for vacationers, even they have a set of certain rules. They are interestingly described by the Manifesto for Slow Travel. The article with this title was published by Hidden Europe and is considered a good read if you want to try slow tourism.
10 rules for a slow-hiker
Fans of slow tourism believe that you don’t have to quit your job to take a slow trip. Having a standard vacation of 7-14 days, you can also successfully apply the rules of slow travel.
It is better to stay in one place and explore it well than to see many cities in fits and starts. For example, you can get to know Italy better by renting a house in the countryside, rather than driving around the country trying to see Rome, Florence and Venice in one week.
Try couchsurfing, or an exchange holiday.
Visiting local markets is a lot of fun. And for those who plan to cook their own meals in a rented apartment, the tempting aisles with local specialties are a godsend.
Even those who in their homeland disdainfully turn away from shawarma and fried donuts should try the local street food.
Have a picnic in the park like a true city dweller.
You can sign up for local courses in drawing, diving, salsa, depending on what seems interesting.
You should definitely attend a concert of a popular local pop or rock band. Go to a purely local festival that no one has ever heard of. Visit a local sports championship, the results of which will not be covered on TV news.
Everything in the world can be done slowly
Slow tourism is just a small part of the global movement to slow down modern life Slow Movement. To learn more about this lifestyle, your best bet is to read the 2004 book In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honoré. At one time, The Financial Times compared the significance of this work for adherents of the slow movement with Karl Marx’s “Capital” for supporters of communism.
Tired and sleep-deprived, but checked in everywhere. Like!
Scrolling through my friend’s feed, I notice that most friends travel more often, but shorter and more intense. The pace of life is accelerating, and the list of desires is increasingly at odds with possibilities... Arriving in Paris, the average traveler tries to see all the museums, stand in line for the Eiffel Tower, and in the evening with difficulty crawl to Montmartre... And all this is because we have forgotten how to travel slowly, the list of points to visit is too long in relation to a unit of time.
I realized a long time ago that there is no point in trying to embrace the immensity if there is little time (and there is never too much of it!). You need to learn to capture moments, remember them, feel them. You shouldn’t chase a huge list of places, you should just visit a few points and return to this place again. For example, in the same Paris, I will remember for the rest of my life a bottle of brut for two with a friend at the Eiffel Tower and spending the night without a roof over my head due to the fact that I did not have time to go to the storage room to get my things (because of this very bottle of brut) . And on Eiffel Tower I’ve been twice or thrice already, and I’ve been to Paris many times since then.
Capture the moments.
Do this without haste, without being distracted by the logistics and nuances of travel.
TRAVEL SLOWLY.
Well, you know how much I love Bavaria, I return there again and again for many years in a row. Today I want to tell you how I went before Christmas and plunged into a real fairy tale...
At Munich airport I rented a wonderful BMW X1 from Sixt. After all, only a car gives freedom and saves time, how many times I have already, but will not get tired of repeating again and again... Even in such an ideal, from the point of view transport infrastructure In a country like Germany, you don't have to worry about transportation if you take a car. And if you are with your family, then any doubts will disappear by themselves.
If you analyze, more than half of my car rental episodes over the past 6-7 years are Sixt. In Europe, Israel, USA. Many rightly note that Sixt- it is expensive. More often Sixt really not the best cheap option, but this is a guarantee of no headaches at all stages from booking to delivery of the car. And even in case technical problems everything will go almost unnoticed by the client. I checked it for myself - Sixt in Bavaria I replaced a car within a few hours while traveling, by the way, also in Bavaria. Read it if you missed it.
But I digress, this year I made friends with Sixt and now I will talk more often about how to rent a car, especially if this is your first experience. It would seem that in the era of the Internet, what could be easier than booking something online, but in practice it turns out that many find it difficult to perform even a simple action related to finances and credit card online.
If you are new...
Make a call to the company's call center. Chat in Russian with the operator, ask about the nuances, book a car by phone.
- Is something unclear on the site? Call the call center, the operator will help you make a reservation on the website, answer questions, and suggest something useful.
If you are a pro...
Call the operator, comparing prices in different places, it is quite possible that this booking channel, which is unusual for you, will end up being the most profitable. Without prices, dates and specifics, the cost of car rental is one of the most variable values depending on the booking channel, time of year and specific dates.
All my reports about Car Rental are collected by tag.
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Slow down. This is a message we've been hearing a lot lately. Inhale. Relax.
This may be one of the reasons for the recent resurgence of luxury trains. Now a stream of new, newly converted and classic trains is returning to the days when traveling by rail was a graceful affair. These are the carriages where people will preen themselves for dinner, where attentive waiters will serve five-course meals on bone china and where freshly laid linen awaits you.
1.Belmond Andes Express
First luxury sleeper train South America, the new Belmond Andean Explorer, follows one of the highest railway lines in the world. One- and two-day trips cover the Peruvian Altiplano, Lake Titicaca and the caves of Sumbaya with connections to Cusco and Arequipa. The 24 carriages are roomy and stylish, with hand-woven fabrics and soft alpaca tones.
2. Luxury train Shiki Shima, Japan
One-, two- and three-day trips on this new ultra-luxury train take guests through the beauty of the eastern Japanese countryside. The carriages are all suitable apartments, equipped with modern Japanese furniture and materials. The white tablecloth restaurant serves gourmet regional cuisine, the lounge and viewing machines have wide windows, and the crew serves as butler and concierge.
3.Presidential Train, Portugal
Built in 1890 as the Royal Train for King Dom Louis I, the train took on this incarnation two years ago after a theater producer invested €1 million in a two-year restoration. Now this is his love letter to Portugal. Portuguese food and wine are especially important on full-day trips to the Douro Valley. A different Michelin chef cooks every weekend, and one long stop is at a winery.
4.Maharajasa Express, India
The most famous of India's luxury trains, the Maharajas Express takes 88 guests at a time on a four- to eight-night odyssey through the most fascinating places, Jaipur, Varanasi and Goa among them (and, of course, the Taj Mahal), the carriages have a classic Indian design, and the two restaurants with dining area, bar and lounge are simply superb. But there are plenty of reasons to disembark: the train makes stops for elephant matches and evening Aarti rituals at the Ganges bathing ghats.
5.Venice Simplon-Orient Express, Europe
The historical name Orient-Express is largely synonymous with "ultralight trains". While not the same train, Belmond's luxury carriages, which run from London to Paris, Venice and Istanbul, will be refurbished in March. Grand Suites feature private bathrooms and walk-in showers and 1920s Art Deco interiors that reflect the spirit of these cities. Think embroidered leather for Istanbul, chic furnishings for Paris and hand-crafted Venetian glass.
6.Blue Train, South Africa
Icon South Africa The Blue Train has been taking guests from Pretoria to Cape Town for 70 years. The nearly 1,000-mile journey is 31 hours of fun, with spacious carriages, five-star service and cuisine, an award-winning wine list and 24-hour butler service. This is an environment where people still dress in ties. And, although champagne and caviar are not included on the menu, they are available. The Blue Train also does a one-way, 19-hour "rail safari" as part of a package that combines the train with one of the safari lodges in the Greater Kruger and Sabi Sands areas.
7.Gan, Australia
Since 1929, Gan has been considered one of the world's greatest travel destinations. Over four days it travels from Darwin through the red heart of the outback to Adelaide. There are many stops along the way to explore the Northern Territory, such as canyon treks and camel treks. Back on board, there are expertly prepared meals featuring local ingredients such as barramundi and kangaroo, craft beers and some of Australia's finest wines. Platinum Class guests enjoy three five-course meals per day.
8.Canadian, VIA Rail, Canada
Over the course of three days, the Canadian Express winds its way through magnificent mountains, prairies and lake country between Vancouver and Toronto. During the day, guests dine and relax in panoramic cars with clear ceilings, and the best thing about them is the stunning views.
9.El Transcantabrico Gran Lujo, Spain
Another example of time travel during the golden age railways The 1920s, social carriages and cabins at El Transcantabrico Gran Lugio complement an authentic five-star hotel on rails with 21st century essentials (like bathrooms). An eight-day journey from Santiago de Compostela to San Sebastian is a celebration of Spanish landscape, gastronomy, culture, glamour, entertainment and relaxation.
10.Golden Eagle, Russia and Mongolia
The Trans-Siberian Railway has long appealed to the aspirations of Pavel Terous and a set of tourists, but the typical approach to horseback riding is hardly a luxury. That's why the classic Trans-Siberian route from the Golden Eagle is so attractive. The two-week journey covers more than 6,800 miles from Moscow to Vladivostok, detouring along the shores of Lake Baikal to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Luxury attractions include a private tour of the Kremlin, a glass of champagne with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia in Yekaterinburg and a traditional Russian cooking class in Irkutsk, the “Paris of Siberia.” New for 2018, the BAM Explorer takes guests even further into the underdeveloped parts of Siberia.
