Conscious Travel or Slow Travel-a new trend in travel?

Everything new is well forgotten old: time goes on and some events, situations and trends repeat themselves as if in a spiral, the only difference being that they can be called differently or have a broader meaning. The consequences of quarantine restrictions, general crisis, difficulties in organizing travels led us all to the fact that we travel less and this trend, unfortunately, will continue in the foreseeable future. It is time to learn how to travel consciously, how to take the most important things from a trip, how to relax and how to get the most out of it.

Conscious travel is not a new term; it was first mentioned back in the 19th century, when the pace of life got faster and people were first inclined to think that travelling should be more constructive and facilitate learning the history and culture of the region we were travelling in. Much later, in 1986, a new concept, slow food, appeared. It was prompted by negative reaction to the opening of a fast food restaurant McDonalds in Rome. Italians were concerned about the increasing pace of life, which could negatively affect the cult of food that goes back several centuries in Italy. On the day of McDonalds opening, a group of especially enterprising citizens at the entrance of the restaurant handed out free famous pasta bolognese, urging not to forget about the traditions and culture of food in Italy. Of course, all this has not gone unnoticed and the direction of slow food has spread to other areas of life, including gave a new impetus to slow travel, that is, deliberate travel

Conscious travel is not about "catching up with everything"! It's a philosophy aimed at a more detail-focused journey, a clear understanding of what you want to get and catching the fun of the new experience. In other words, it's more about a deeper understanding of the region and the new opportunities that each country is rich in. It is also about getting to know the locals, their culture and traditions.

Like every trend, followers of conscious travel have their own principles, of which a few of the most important ones can be highlighted, for example:

Fewer is better

Basically, this is the most important idea that conscious travel followers adhere to. It is not a goal to go to every museum, even those that do not interest you. It is not a good idea to travel around several countries in a short period of time, or to take a million photos of one landmark and post it all on the social media. Do not complicate or speed up your journey. Listen to yourself, what do you really want? If you want to sit on the terrace and slowly drink wine, be kind and allow yourself that!

Get in touch with the locals

What affects our idea of a country? Of course, communicating with locals

You can hear insider information, a story, a beautiful legend about a local landmark. If you are looking for local people and their favorite restaurants, you may find it interesting to learn what traditions are upheld by locals or by different generations of families.

Pay Attention to Details

How many useful habits, ideas or skills you can pick up by paying attention to details. If you avoid the standard travel itineraries and smart tricks, which the Internet is generously full of, you can suddenly, even for yourself, learn how to make tea in a new way, see the building and be inspired to build your own house, make a new dish on a master class, which will become your favorite.

Try something new

I'm always all for trying new things. If you've dreamed of learning to ride a scooter, try it! Try unusual foods, new routes, any new activities you've only dreamed of trying before

Think bigger and deeper

Ask yourself: what does this city have that you don't have anywhere else? For example, Paris is the capital of France and the main city of all lovers. The world-famous attractions and it would seem that what could be more unique? But remember your favorite movie "Amelie" and look at Montmartre with different eyes and see how ordinary Parisians live here. We can go even further and try this quest - to find and visit the places where the movie was filmed, would it not be exciting for fans of "Amelie"?? And most likely on such a journey on foot you will meet other attractions that are associated with real life events.

And remember that travel is one of the few pleasures that not only provides emotions and memories for a lifetime, but also allows us to improve and learn each time we hit the road again

Author of the article:
OnlineExpo expert, Dmitry Lebedev
https://www.tripadvisor.ru/Profile/Dimatll