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One of the defining elements of slow travel is the opportunity to become part of local life and to connect to a place and its people. Slow travel is also about connection to culture.
Gone are the hectic holiday tours where you flit from one ‘must see’ to another, and arrive home feeling like you need a holiday. Slow travellers stay in one place for at least a week. They usually choose holiday rentals ie houses, cottages, apartments, and villas that are a ‘home away from home’ – you shop and cook just as you would at home.
Holiday rentals are often called by different names in different countries eg in the UK and Australia they are called ‘self-catering’; in France, ‘gites’; in Italy ‘agriturismos’’; in Switzerland and Germany ‘ferienwohnungen’; and in North America ‘vacation rentals’.
Holiday rentals are fully equipped for the slow traveller to just move in and start living. They come with sheets, towels, crockery and cutlery etc. Some are stocked with food but it is better if they aren’t. People have different tastes and may not like the food that is supplied. But more importantly, if the larder is not stocked the slow traveller has to go out into the community to shop. This is an important part of ‘living’ in your travel destination.
By living as opposed to ‘staying’ at your destination, you can experience the place more intensely. Not only do you have the opportunity to shop for your groceries, you see people in your community or village every day. You can go for a run each morning and stop at the same café for a coffee – meet the locals.
Slow travel is not restricted to urban settings. Many slow travel operators offer self-catering accommodation in rural areas sometimes on fully function farms.
One of the pleasures of slow travel is the slow and thorough exploration of the local area – it is like an immersion process. Most slow travellers start by exploring everything within a couple of hundred metres of where they are living. This can easily be done on foot and is the area that is given most time and attention. Next they explore out to a few kilometres – this can easily be done on a bike. If there is time slow travellers then explore further afield, perhaps by train or hire car.
This slow exploration is in direct contrast to conventional travel that seeks to ‘hit’ the major tourist features in a 20 km radius. Slow travellers are freed from these tedious pressures of standard tourism. By exploring on foot and by bike there are opportunities to talk to people and find out the points of interest from their perspective.
If there is time, you can become involved in local activities eg take a language or cooking course, volunteer for a local organization or group, volunteer at a local school to teach English or another language you know, or try wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms).
Slow travel is comfortable – you have your own home where you can spread out. You can have a day off too, if you want to.
