Connectivity has opened the world up, allowing people to share secrets, tips and advice on travel. All of this information is readily available, and can be very inspiring for remote workers and digital nomads. However, your bucket list can quickly grow to an unmanageable level and leave you wondering just how you’re going to get to so many places, and how quickly you can tick them off. I want to introduce you to a different way of thinking, and travelling; slowly.
What is Slow Travel?
Slow travel refers to changing your mindset around travelling. At its core, it emphasises the connections you can build through culture, the arts, local people and even food. Instead of rushing quickly from tourist spot to tourist spot, get to know the locals and find the hidden gems. Spend longer in each location and maximise your knowledge of your location, along with its emotional impact on you. Much like mindfulness, slow travel relies upon being in the present moment, not letting yourself get caught up in the future. In this way, slow travel is more than just a way of travelling but actually a mindset. It can help you recognise the benefits of quality of experience rather than quantity. Hopefully, when you return you won’t need a ‘holiday from your holiday’. Discuss items with locals at the market, take a yoga class as the sun rises, or simply have a long, lazy lunch in an authentic restaurant.
Benefits of Slow Travel
Make connections
When your structure is too rigid, you can easily miss out on incredible experiences. How could you have drinks with your new friends if you have 3 museum tours scheduled for that day? Instead, why not take a few classes on the local language, emmerse yourself in the culture and create new experiences that will help you grow. You never know what may come next if you keep an open mind, and an open schedule.
Save some money
Tourist attractions are always the more costly option. You’ll quickly find, if you talk to locals and stick off the beaten track, that you can experience so much more than you thought for a lot less money. This could mean finding small, local restaurants with delicious home-made meals, using local accommodation rather than big chain hotels, or using your new friends as a ‘local guide’. Places like AirBnB are a great option for finding a local host to help you support the economy of the area you’re visiting.
Prevent burn out
Slow travelling is all about find the right pace, one that suits you, your needs and your energy levels. Most of us can recall a time we came home from a holidays and felt as exhausted as when we left. This was never meant to be the intention of travelling. It’s time to take that energy back, and empower yourself to pace your travels rather than rush them. Rather than carrying a mental, or physical, checklist around and assuming that that is how to have the best holiday, try letting yourself go with the natural flow of the day. This way, you can still experience as much as you hope to without forcing yourself into a state of exhaustion. Better to extend or re-book your trip and take the time to see everything.
Hopefully, if you can execute slow travel into your next holiday or workcation, you will come back feeling invigorated and excited for new possibilities in the future. There will always be another trip, and isn’t that an amazing feeling?
