How to Slow Down and Travel Intentionally

The Beauty of Slow-Travel

Challenging ourselves to move slowly, to feel slowly, provides an antidote to a life fast-lived. We deserve to feel the rhythm of a place. To hear its heartbeat. To allow ourselves to experience it, wholly. What that looks like is up to you.

Slow travel allows us to discover more than just the 'top ten' sites quoted in our favourite travel guides. By travelling slowly we curate moments for ourselves which tether us to a place. To how we felt and who we were in that moment. That, is priceless.

Five Ways to Travel Slowly

1. Diarise time for slowing down

Diarising time for slowing down is just as important as diarising time to see all of the sites that you want to visit. Create that importance by adding time into your itinerary for 'slow-time', whatever that looks like to you.

2. Prioritise hotels where the stay is the experience

A hotel is more than just a place to stay, they are an experience of themselves. Looking for accommodation which invites you to slow down means that your accommodation is doing the heavy lifting. Let it. Seek out rooms with luxury features such as: landmark views, roll top baths, plunge pools or hot tubs on the balcony where your stay 'is' the experience.

3. Create a sense of home

Sometimes, we just need to create a sense of home no matter where we are in the world. To help create a sense of home think about:

• Travelling with your favourite tea or coffee, and savour your mornings drinking in your view

• Packing travel candles to create a relaxing atmosphere in your room on arrival. Being able to re-light the same candle when home can be a magical way to be transported back to a place

• Travelling with your own pillowcases, such as a silk pillowcase, to add a luxurious and relaxing touch to your accommodation

4. Cherish independent experiences

Even if you are travelling with a partner, friends, or family, take some time to be by yourself. When we are alone, we are forced to be just that little bit more present. Revel in it. Our travel itineraries don’t always match up with our travel partner's itinerary. If there is something you want to see, go and see it. Look for guided walks and group experiences to allow yourself to be independent, but not alone. You could go for a drink or dinner by yourself, or take yourself for that morning walk before the world wakes up. Steal the small moments.

5. Detox from your devices

Slow travel is about being present, yet our devices work on algorithms to steal our attention and intoxicate us into staying online. Challenge yourself to enjoy a dinner without your phone, or to take in a view first-hand and not through a screen. Small moments away from our devices make a huge difference.