What Is Slow Travel (And Why It’s Better With Friends)

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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What Is Slow Travel (And Why It’s Better With Friends)

We live in truly fast times. The digital age came in with a bang, bringing with it the seeds that bore the attention economy in which we live today. Clicks, views, notifications, emails, “did-you-know?”s and an ever-more voracious industry of influencers, networks and social media platforms desperate for your contribution, your data, your complicity. The impacts of the second screen reverberate through everything, but the saddest change is with that of travel. 

The attention economy is such that travel has become more of a status symbol than anything. “Do it for the ‘gram” is an ancient statement in internet terms, but speaks to a new, fast-paced, content-first approach to holidaymaking that goes against everything travel should stand for. Don’t we deserve better? Yes. Yes we do. And it’s here. It’s called “slow travel”.

Depth, Presence And Place-Based Discovery

Slow travel, in a nutshell, is a mindful approach to exploration and travel that prioritises depth of experience of spectacle. Rather than covering vast swathes of distance or snapping yourself in front of myriad tourist landmarks, you instead spend longer in fewer places, with more intentionality. You build a rhythm, and engage more meaningfully with local culture, food and everyday life in the process.

Slow travel is a much-needed antidote to the “tick-box” tourism that colours so many trips abroad, and which has been emboldened by a social media landscape that rewards “evidence” – of being there, of getting the t-shirt. Your expectations are re-framed, and time becomes the real luxury.

Shared Rituals And Stronger Bonds

The beauty of slow travel comes from sharing it – not with social media followers or the algorithmic void, but rather with your close friends. With friends, slow travel becomes a matter of shared experiences rather than snatched, ubiquitous tourist-trap moments. The most memorable parts of any holiday are those unique, ineffable experiences that spark joy, and such moments can be as innocuous as exploring a local market together.

Sharing routines and localised experiences like this creates space for connection and collaborative discovery. Group ski holidays are all the more fun for experiencing the same slopes together, and in different ways – and especially for the small, unsuspecting apres-ski debriefs at the end of each session. When you come back, it won’t be your descents that you treasure.

Lower-Impact Choices And Local Benefit

There are other benefits to slow travel too, outside the incredible personal benefits that come from slowing things down. Slow travel often aligns with sustainable tourism, in that tourist-y experiences are eschewed in favour of activities that fundamentally support the communities you’re visiting.

This is because slow travel is essential the antithesis to predatory tourism – to guided tours and plastic waste, to whistle-stop visits in local communities that leave inconsiderate fallout. To travel slow is to respect the culture and communities gracious enough to welcome you in; it’s kindness, grace and humanity.