There is always a new trend when it comes to lifestyle including how people travel. Basically, there are various types of travel such as luxury travel, family trip, adventurous tour, short trip, road trip, lazy vacation, and many more. There is also a new trend which is called slow travel. Basically, there is no big difference between the usual travel and slow travel. However, the essence and the vibe truly make it different. Slow travel means a more in-depth exploration of a place. It means slow travelers spend more time exploring and appreciating the place they visit. They try to immerse in the way the locals living.
What is slow travel?
It is often that you feel even more stress and exhausted after taking a vacation. Maybe one of the reasons is that you take frantic pace when traveling. Thus, it doesn’t give you the healing effect instead of more fatigue. Rushing from one attraction to another will not give you more meaningful and valuable points. On the contrary, slow travel allows you to stay longer in one place and enjoy more everything around you without a rush or frantic movements. Everything is done in a more relaxed pace so you won’t get more fatigue when you back at home from traveling.
Slow travel is kind of offshoot of the slow food movement which began in 1980 precisely in Italy. At that time, there was a protest against the opening of McDonald’s in Rome. The movement aimed to preserve more regional cuisines as well as local farming, and traditional food preparation methods. Thus, it led to the whole concept of Slow Movement. It aims to emphasize the connection to food and families. When it comes to travel, it means that slow movement is to emphasize the connection to local people as well as the culture.
The concept of slow travel
The concept of slow travel isn’t limited to transportation choice. Slow travel also means the travelers choose to squeeze as many sights or places as possible into each trip. The exploration in slow travel concept is more in-depth. There is a strong urge to form a solid connection with the local people and cultures. Therefore, travelers need more time to do it. There are many challenges in achieving the real goal of slow travel such as language barrier, different culture, and customs, etc. However, once they have been tackled down the reward is priceless. Travelers will learn more valuable lessons in life.
The concept of slow travel is also not only to emphasize the connection between travelers to the cultures and the local people but also to the environment. By taking slow travel, your awareness of your surrounding is heightening. You will be more aware of the damage you might cause to the environment when traveling. Therefore, slow travel allows you to choose wisely for many things. For example, you choose to rent a cottage promoting a green concept or choose transportation that produces less emission. Another thing included in slow travel concept is that you can save your money from reducing transportation cost or decide to do a home exchange instead of booking a hotel.
