Geographic distances are continually closing as the world gets ever smaller through globalization. Modern comforts reach us everywhere. If you forget your smartphone charger at home, you can purchase or borrow another one with relative ease. Time, however, continues to be interpreted differently across South America, Asia and Africa, as societies live in a polychronic culture. Their relationship with time is expandable. Distractions are welcome. Schedules are flexible. Each timepiece is a suggestion rather than a demand for promptness. Even amid the chaos of a bustling city, life appears calm. When you visit East Africa, you might hear the Kiswahili proverb, “Haraka haraka, haina baraka” (Hurry, hurry, has no blessing). Mahatma Gandhi once advised, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” In Costa Rica, ¡Pura Vida! encourages you to relax and take it slow. We can learn from these words of wisdom, and as Carl Honoré, author of In Praise of Slow (2004) puts it, connect with our “inner tortoise”. D I S C O V E R N E W W O R L D S 8 enchantingtravels.com Vacations were first pioneered in Ancient Rome, when wealthy Romans began traveling for pleasure. Pilgrims, merchants, kings, and explorers alike were the world’s first travel enthusiasts, spending months crossing vast regions of land and sea by camel, horse and boat. What these travel pioneers had in common was their appreciation of discovery and making new acquaintances. Their modes of travel forced them to be slow, and, for the most part, they seized this gift of time. Today’s concept of slow travel stemmed from Slow Food, a global, grassroots organization. Founded in 1989 by Italian gourmet editor Carlo Petrini, Slow Food aims to counteract the rise of the fast life, and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Today, millions of people across 160 countries are part of the movement advocating for good, clean and fair food for all. Slow travel follows a similar philosophy that benefits not only the traveler, but the hosts, their communities, and the environment. Honoré describes how to achieve slow travel: “My way of understanding the world is to move around it, looking, listening, tasting, pondering, chatting. When you do it right, travel can also be a wonderful antidote to the virus of hurry. It offers a heaving smorgasbord of new experiences, lessons and sensations which can only be savored properly if you slow down.” But how exactly does one adopt slow travel and do it “right”? There is no single approach. Slow travel may begin with a sense of nostalgia, perhaps reminding us of family vacations of yesteryear, undistracted and receptive to the moment. Pico Iyer, author of the book, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (2014), believes slow travel to be an antidote to the intensity of modern life. He writes: “In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.” Go Slow Our modern world provides plenty of movement and stimulation. To get away from this frenzied life we can enjoy what the Italians call “la dolce far niente” – the sweetness of doing nothing. Leisure travel has always provided the opportunity to partake in activities different from our day-to-day routine. Some of us like fast-paced travel because we gain energy from the excitement of movement. Even if we have a bucket list to check off, we might find that spending more time in each place will allow us to go deeper into a destination. Enchanting Travels offers flexibility with your planned itinerary. If you find mid-way through your trip that you wish to spend longer in a particular destination, then you only need to reach out to your Trip Coordinator to change plans. You can also get much inspiration and thrill from new experiences, and our travel experts will make personalized recommendations. For example, you can slow down through your mode of travel. Take a walking safari as an alternative to a jeep safari. Drive yourself through South Africa so that you can stop as and when you wish. Venture on horseback through Patagonia in Argentina, the deserts of Rajasthan in India, or the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Enjoy an overnight cruise through Vietnam, or go kayaking in Laos. Hop onto a bike and cycle through rural villages in Indonesia, the backstreets of Japan, or around Kenya’s lakes. Board a train and daydream as you watch the world go by. Such travel activities are honest, discreet ways to get acquainted with unfamiliar territory. Moving Fast and Slow GO SLOW 9