Why Slow Travel?

Travel—in particular, slow travel—has the potential to open our eyes, break down walls, and dissolve fear of the other.

Today is the 5th of January, and I am sitting in our library where a lovely fire is burning and a hot cup of herbal tea is sitting on the table next to me. Outside I can see the remnants of a quickly disappearing snowstorm that took place during the night. This is a rare occurrence here on the Dingle Peninsula, so I am taking the time to enjoy it.

Since a whole new year stretches out before me, I am also taking time to reflect on my Travel Doorways newsletter, on what I have written over the last year and what I want to write about in the coming year.

The overall focus of Travel Doorways is—and will remain—on slow travel. In my mind, this means taking the time to connect with and learn from the people and places you visit. It might mean spending a few days in one place rather than trying to visit 10 capital cities in Europe in 10 days. It might also mean focusing on out-of-the way places that enable you to connect more fully to the natural world and to yourself.

I strongly believe that travel—in particular, slow travel—has the potential to open our eyes, break down walls, and dissolve fear of the other. It can inspire creativity, connect us to the Earth, and give us greater appreciation for our own homes. Above all, it gives us stories that enrich every aspect of our lives.

This is one reason I love the following quote by Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey:

I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.

In its simplicity and poetry, this quote encapsulates the power that travel has to transform us.

This is particularly relevant in the year of 2025 because many people—from astrologers and psychics to technology experts and political pundits—are predicting enormous, even cataclysmic, changes for 2025. Such changes can leave many of us afraid of what is to come and of how we are to survive—much less thrive—in such a world.

Unfortunately, demagogues around the world are using this fear to manipulate their citizens. Creating fear and hatred of the other keeps people small and powerless while justifying the demagogues’ wars and efforts to empower and enrich themselves.

This is why it is so important for each of us to stand up and say “No!” to otherization.

It is also why it is so important for us to understand—at the deepest level—that most human beings are fundamentally good and want the same things for themselves and their families: to live in peace, to see their children grow up healthy and happy, to have meaningful work and enough food to eat.

One of the most powerful ways to discover this truth is through slow travel, through interacting meaningfully with people from other cultures, lifestyles, languages and countries.

Slow travel can take place anywhere—it doesn’t have to mean traveling abroad. It may simply consist of going to a place in your own state or country that you have never been to before. A place that enables you to connect with nature or with a person you wouldn’t normally meet in your day-to-day life. A place that enriches you in some way, that deepens your understanding, that creates an ‘aha’ moment.

In the articles I have written here and will continue to write, my overall goal has been to introduce you to the culture, history, people and traditions of the places I live in and visit, as well as to specific locations, restaurants, hotels and natural areas that I have found interesting and that you might want to include in your own itinerary.

Because I now live in Ireland and have strong connections to Austria, many of the articles focus on these two countries. But I also write about other countries in Europe and other continents as well.

My recommendations are always my own and seldom focus on typical tourist attractions or the “in” places of the moment. I hope you enjoy reading them and the articles that are to come in 2025!

In the end, my ultimate goal is to follow Mary Oliver’s wonderful advice:

Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”

A Note to Readers

Most of you receive my posts via individual emails. If you would like to see the full array of posts that I have written, please go to my Substack home page: Travel Doorways.

And if you liked this post, please click on the little heart at the top or bottom of the post or on the share button. Doing so will help other readers find the posts as well. Thank you!