Sailing through the Carmague, between Arles and Sete

While I would love for the temperatures to start dropping, this is my favorite time of year to take a walk on the beach or generally be out on the water anywhere. Things seem to move along at the pace of the wind or the waves, the crowds are gone and you’ve got time to reconnect with your family, or even reconnect with yourself! It’s a slower pace of life, if only for a short while.

It’s that idea of slowing down that brings me to one of the latest and hottest trends in travel right now, the concept of slow travel.

Lingering over a bottle of wine with the one you love as you finish a leisurely lunch in a cafe tucked away along the coast of Italy.

Chatting with the locals in their “local” over an extra pint before you step back outside to explore the cobblestone streets of Edinburgh.

Wandering through the local market to pick up vegetables that were picked just this morning to go along with the cheese the village is famous for and the baguette, still warm against your shoulder.

You know that the afternoon will be spent making memories that will last a lifetime because of the experiences, not necessarily the iconic sites you’ll visit. All of these are aspects of slow travel.

What is slow travel?

Slow travel is the antithesis of those “if it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium” type vacations. You know, the ones that you come home from more tired than when you left on vacation!

Gone is the trend of packing every possible site into your vacation itinerary. The slow travel movement evolved out of the slow food movement, introduced a few decades ago in Italy as an alternative to fast food.

The idea is to immerse yourself in the destination, to literally slow down and take it all in, rather than snap a selfie at every landmark you pass as you drive by.

Instead of queueing for hours to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, imagine strolling to the market with a chef and selecting the freshest local ingredients before you assist in the kitchen to make a grand feast.

Rather than the high speed train through the French country side, what about a luxury barge for you and a few of your closest friends that ambles along the canals?

The possibilities are bountiful and not limited to the destinations mentioned above.

Perhaps a yoga retreat in Costa Rica is more your speed.

Would you like to learn to make authentic Thai food in Thailand?

Sail through the Greek Isles or even closer to home, in the British Virgin Islands as you captain your chartered catamaran?

Maybe you’re ready to go a bit further afield and finally spend the time exploring the Australian coast?

Are ready to slow down and really take it all in on your next vacation?