Monday, April 16, 2007

environmental monday

continuing with the travel theme, i know that divajood over at journeys with jood has the inside track :) she did a great piece about traveling to different locations other than the usual tourist traps in order to help her clients more fully experience the world. i mean you can only go to disney so many times.

so- in that spirit- there is a buzz afoot for what is called 'slow travel.' that's where you try to actually blend in and see a place from the local's perspective. i think it is a great idea- especially for americans who have a certain comfort zone. i mean we have our whole lives governed by 'chains' and to experience native and local cultures certainly can't hurt us. check it out here.

the other neat thing i stumbled onto via my mom- is couch surfing. now, this is definitely not for everyone- but it is an interesting concept. basically folks sign up to offer their home as a hostel for a pre-determined amount of time- usually not more than 3 days. the traveler comes and enjoys your area and sees how the locals live and whatnot. i found it interesting. if you want to stay longer- you have to stay at a different location. neat way to travel and less of an impact than a hotel.

weather update: we are getting dumped on by inches and inches of heavy, wet snow. sigh. good thing i didn't plant anything.

as of 5pm- still snowing. sigh.

2 comments:

DivaJood said...

Betmo, thanks for the props. I love the idea of "slow travel", which is something most Americans don't understand.

In general, Americans have the fewest number of vacation days; we have the fewest number of people who actually have passports. Most of the participants in "slow travel" will be educators who have summers off, or a sabbatical; and retirees.

Once in a while, I get clients who wish to rent an apartment or villa in a country - they want to live like the locals for a week or two - and it's great. Once in a while, I get people who take full world cruises which are between 80 to 115 days. Talk about relaxing.

But mostly, I have to talk people into staying more than two nights in a place. Americans are always in such a hurry! And that speed impacts the environment.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

"Slow Travel" has been around for a long time. It's called "The South."!:)

My Dad taught me that. We once went on a two week vacation that covered fifteen miles. Greatest vacation we ever had.

It wasn't until I was long since an adult, that I figured out "Shit! Dad didn't any money to take us anywhere else!!" I hate "freeway" vacations....AARGH!!

And are youse guys gonna ever git spring?:) LOL!! That sucks so bad....a ton of snow on top of 70 degree days....it should be criminal somehow.:)