Slow Travel: Decentralize Yourself for a Better Experience
The author's hiking partner, Lauren 'Neon' Reed', giving a handshake in Bolivia
Getting out after a long car ride, my grandmother always used to pause and lean against a tree or lamp post, “my soul needs time to catch up with my body,” she’d quip in her birdlike voice and Arkansas drawl. The more I walk, the more I see my grandmother's point. There are unacknowledged tolls to all our globe-trotting and hurry. Equally, there are sources of healing at the tips of our toes and tongues.
As international travel returns with vengeance, “wellness tourism,” in particular, is on the rise. Perhaps an effort to counterbalance the global traumas we experience and ingest daily. Yet, after the prolonged stillness prompted by the pandemic, we must ask ourselves: is it truly healing to continue centering our individual narratives and needs in every situation? Is the carbon cost, physical toll of transport, and hurry to exotic climates truly regenerative and sustainable, for ourselves, the locals, or the planet? How many of us have returned from a “trip of a lifetime” only to fall ill and need to take time off to recuperate?
Whether taking a vacation with your grandma or gearing up for an international expedition, these are a few overarching yet straightforward methods I have learned for making the most of travel opportunities. The aim of Slow Travel, in this sense, is to fulfill your highest well-being by honoring local resources and engaging in reciprocity with host communities. In short, Slow Travel encourages us to balance our needs and perspectives with those around us.
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The author and her extremely fashionable family in Chile in 1992.
My background and what is slow travel
Growing up as a third culture kid (a white missionary in Brown communities across Latin America), most people I grew up with didn’t go on vacation. When folks had the time or the seasons dictated, they’d go to campo homes, visit family, or participate in community peregrinajes and local festivals.
It took the first 5,000 miles of hiking on the Her Odyssey Expedition to appreciate that the lack of interest in ranging into new territories isn’t exclusively a result of lack of finances so much as it is living a lifestyle one doesn’t need to “escape” from. Finding rest by settling in rhythm rather than leaping to a globe-spanning reaction to strain.
Between these two tacks, of global and financial access and settling into rhythms of season and family, lie routes for the sustainable and empathetic paths forward. I call this exploration “Slow Travel,” an invitation to reciprocity by learning and practicing how to pace movement and decenter ourselves. Mindfully exploring shifts in how we engage travel opportunities, setting an intention to make them positive for everyone affected. Doing so not only yields more fulfilling experiences for us but also goes a long way toward building mutual respect from host populations and preserving natural resources.
The first step is not to focus on quantity and scope so much as slowing down and showing up mindfully in any given moment. It can be exercised when stepping into a new neighborhood or trail in your community just as easily as it can on an exotic vacation.
At its most fundamental level, Her Odyssey was an exercise in going back to my roots. Walking, paddling, and pedaling across the Americas from 2015-2022 was certainly grand in scope and it was also, ultimately, the most basic approach I could muster. To show up and connect the places where I grew up in the humblest way possible: on my own two feet.
These are some of the Slow Travel tips I have learned in 34 years of living and traveling internationally. My goal is to use my experiences to encourage more folks to travel with respect and integrity for other people and the land. It does mean doing the uncomfortable work of considering overlooked costs and risks. However, doing so also offers the benefit of potentially avoiding dangerous junctures and affords a wealth of learning opportunities. If we can consider the challenges and costs from a place of safety ahead of time, we are well along the journey before even stepping out the front door.
1) Tips when Planning
Enjoyment can be cultivated at every stage of the travel process – from planning, into the experience itself, and on through the storytelling and memory crafting afterward. It helps to remember that along the way, all aspects are moving targets, imperfectly achieved and flowing into one another.
Plan and allow for flexibility
Safety and enjoyment are components of creating a fulfilling travel experience, from start to finish. Whatever your style, whether you are a detailed planner or a laissez-faire leaper, embrace your style and practice counterbalancing.
As the old saying goes, “Adventure begins at the detour.” Or, as Yvon Chouinard elaborated, “The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.” However you cut it, having an idea of what is out there and allowing for flow and shift of plans opens the path to adventure more so than “doing Bali” or “doing Patagonia.”
Reduce planning stress
We’ve all been there, anticipation contorting into stress as ticket prices seem to climb with each new web search. This is by design, as the algorithms are monitoring searches and applying pressure tactics and price hikes accordingly. One trick I have learned, particularly where booking flights and lodging are involved, is to search prices in incognito tabs on your browser. Know your budget, have your price limit in mind, and when you see the opportunity, commit.
While researching and building stoke, let yourself geek out and fixate only so long as it is uplifting. Be intentional to detach when it gets stressful. In this, I find having a physical book on hand is helpful. Whether it’s a travel guide, historical account, or by an author from the region to which you are going, these can help maintain the momentum of anticipation without all the other hullabaloo. I often bounce back and forth between pages in a book and tabs on my computer screen.
The author says: “Pick 10 items I probably didn’t need to bring.” A layout of gear the author brought on a recent trip.
2) Tips when packing
Trust the Journey
Whether packing your bag or your schedule, leave wiggle room. Dozens of times I’ve been through the Horrendous Space Kablooie of gear. I'll reach critical mass and mess, then collapse it into my backpack, then shed unnecessaries along the way. If you have time to go through this cycle of intentionally shedding two or three times, you’ll travel much lighter and happier.
Weather- and culture-appropriate clothing is generally available at your destination. Making purchases at your destination also has the advantages of supporting local economies, is often cheaper, and can later serve as mementos of the experience. Bring what is necessary, but you can leave that third swimming suit at home, or in your Amazon cart.
The members of Her Odyssey doing their sock laundry in a stream.
Select a smaller bag
It is in our nature to fill whatever space we give ourselves. So, if you have a choice in your luggage, select a bag slightly smaller than you think you need. Also, aim for something that you can carry. Wheeled luggage is excellent for airports and business trips, but if you are planning on going off the beaten track or to multiple destinations, I recommend a travel backpack which is, at most, ¾ full at departure.
The author paddling in Rio Maranon, Peru. It is hard to feel like a big deal when you’re this small.
Pack for the joys ahead instead of the expectations and fretting
If you are touristing, you can either bring a collapsible duffle to serve as a souvenir bag on the return trip or pick one up at a local market. That straw hat or traditional figurine may sing your name from the shop shelf, and the stress of getting them home can be alleviated with a little foresight.
In many locations, such as Asia and Latin America, these bags are readily found at public markets for cheap. Look around you at bus stops and public markets and note what the local women use. The bag I found at the Ensenada, Mexico market for 60 Pesos (~$3.50 USD) is still holding up and makes me preen, remembering the approving glances it earned me from the abuelas.
The author spent five years planning, researching, and saving up for Her Odyssey and it was every bit as much a part of the adventure as the physical journey.
3) Tips for scheduling
Leave Room in Your Schedule
Try not to schedule every moment ahead of time. Leave wiggle room in your schedule for unexpected delights, opportunities, and challenges that inevitably present themselves.
Specifically, I would advise leaving buffer time around any sort of vehicular transportation. The chicken buses of Central America will roll when they have enough passengers. The Empire Builder train will resume motion when the cattle have cleared the track, and no amount of stressing is going to change that.
Plan for jetlag
When flying internationally, there is a saying, “West to east I like the least. East to west I like the best.” Jet lag is real so think twice about “hopping” over to Ireland from the US for a weekend. Transportation and the concept of time within many countries is itself fluid. Not everyone sees time as something meant to be squeezed into boxes and bent to expectations.
Know your agenda, then set it aside
Being able to separate what we have planned from the needs we are trying to meet is fundamentally individual work. Pursuing it usually requires some degree of risk, perhaps being willing to step away from your itinerary or partner. Sometimes taking a morning to yourself and wandering aimlessly can be more informative and restorative than being herded around with a tour group.
4) Tips for safety
One of the most elemental lessons I have learned about safety is to remind yourself you have options. Stepping into any scenario where there is only one way through, whether by your estimation or literally, is to step into an inherently risky situation. This category of tips is angled toward safety and grounding.
The following points are not intended to frighten or dissuade. Travel does, however, present very real risks that most of us do not face in our daily lives and may thus overlook. Often, the means rise to meet the need, and we can skate by. In the thru-hiking community, we say, “The trail provides,” and the second half I would add is, “where it doesn’t, you find your resilience.”
Hope for the best and plan for the worst
These are two concrete practices to set you up for safety. Once you book a ticket, also set a news alert for the region and watch the trends. Secondly, American citizens can also register for STEP Notifications, which provide general and dispassioned government notices from US embassies about political and natural events.
Equip for risk
Queer folx and women viajando solas should and already generally do travel with heightened risk awareness. Avoiding a dangerous situation is generally preferable to getting out of one. Remember, if you feel unsafe, you don’t owe strangers the benefit of the doubt.
Safety concerns can be broached by research and connecting with voices of experience within our communities ahead of time. It is a huge asset to have someone who knows the area and what you are up to, established and within digital reach. I also made it a point to find and pin the locations of Queer bookstores and cafes in major cities ahead of time. These were places I could go to find cool happenings, retreat to in risk situations, or just sit back and let my guard down for a bit. In rural locations, I learned to seek out groups of abuelas, usually gathered at local shops or in front of homes, if I needed information or was being followed.
Don’t stop at tapping the voices of others– practice raising your own. If you are being targeted, get loud. I recommend practicing screaming in appropriate venues ahead of time. I did it while hiking far away from people. It’s strange to feel how much a lifetime of being told to keep your voice down or natural shyness represses a critical first line of defense against predators.
On Her Odyssey, when making initial gear and shopping runs, it was a priority to find pepper spray and then determine a specific and accessible spot to carry it so I could train muscle memory. At one border crossing from Argentina into Chile, immigration officers confiscated our pepper sprays. The agent later returned them to us on the sly, saying that, while it was against the law to enter with a weapon, they understood we were women alone in remote regions on foot.
Safety When Traveling Alone
Two general safety practices I highly recommend arise particularly if traveling alone. The first is to establish a place to sleep before you touch down. If you find someplace better you can always move, but the added stress of finding a place upon arrival introduces a significant degree of risk.
The second piece arises if you meet someone who catches your fancy along the way. It is made pointedly and repeatedly in certain Reddit threads: never go to a second location. Disregarding this advice does not necessarily lead to the worst-case scenario. However, I’ve also never seen it lead to the best case. Give yourself a few encounters to decide what and who to trust.
5) Tips for wayfinding
Often your most meaningful travel experiences arise from recommendations from local folks. I recently enjoyed two days of Slow Travel, walking across San Francisco, from the airport to my Wilderness First Responder recertification course in Sausalito. It helped my sense of grounding and mental preparations for the course. I planned for 15 miles or less per day and got to connect the city and Bay Area by following the ridges and peaks.
Use multiple types of sources
In the Bay Area, I initially plotted a route using Google Maps to connect interesting points and then adjusted that route in the Gaia snap-to feature. I ran that plan by a local friend who offered several changes and points of interest I never would have found otherwise. While walking, I corroborated with folks along the way and learned many insights and fun tidbits that further adapted my path and showed me more about the history and communities.
By these means, I got to enjoy hidden gems such as mural and graffiti art, checked out neighborhood libraries, enjoyed an artisanal soda and fresh apple at the Canyon Market, and supported small gay-owned businesses, such as The Perch. Ultimately, I found a lesser-known, peaceful, and compact nook hidden in the City of Fog. Not only did I enjoy my trip that much more, but also found quiet little spots where I’d delight in bringing friends or family back to visit.
Embrace the unexpected
By coincidence, and much to my delight, I happened to be in the Bay Area during Fleet Week. Since I was walking, I was able to watch the Blue Angels overhead and massive Navy ships parade through the waters. While cities like San Francisco do an excellent job of promulgating festivities digitally, you can’t always research everything ahead of time.
In rural or international travel, you may end up in places where the emphasis is not on broad digital sharing. Often this is because the events are already deeply ingrained in local knowledge or social rhythms, and these often have the richest cultural roots. Walking or taking public transportation increases your odds of encountering such events, whether by stumbling upon them or checking community information boards.
Chatting with locals further increases your odds of finding these sorts of cultural events. While canoeing through the Northwest Territories of Canada, we happened upon several Treaty Day Celebrations. Across much of Latin America, pueblos and condados often have Patron Saint celebrations and peregrinations, known only to locals and neighboring communities. On the one hand, these weekend festivities, which can yawn into five days, will disrupt the flow of transportation and business hours; on the other hand, if you have the flexibility to show up and the spirit to enjoy, more often than not, even happenstance interlopers are joyfully welcomed.
The author at the Golden Gate Bridge during her walk from the airport through the city.
6) Tips for getting around
Walk or take public transit
If you’re traveling light, you can quickly get an immersive experience and become acquainted with a new city by walking or taking public transportation. After a long flight or ride, walking is also a great way to shake off rapid travel weariness and let your body burn off pent-up energy to help regulate sleep. It has the added advantage of an opportunity to get your bearings in new surroundings.
Connecting the urban with the natural environments across San Francisco by human power helped me appreciate how these spaces function as neighbors. From the San Bruno Mountains to Mount Davidson and Golden Gate Park and Bridge, I appreciated how the area is full of modern life and yet preserves greenway access. I got to walk alongside not only other humans, but also coyotes, falcons, field mice, hummingbirds, snakes, and many other populations who make it their home.
In a moment of contending with the nature of humanity, I was halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge, watching two dolphins rendezvous in the waters below, when I got a text from a friend that our beloved trail angel Donna Saufley had passed away. Because I had slowed my travel pace, that moment was filled both with memories of her and the joyous animals beneath.
A Patagonian rancher walking Fidgit across his land.
7) Engage with traditional land stewards
Of the hundreds of border crossings I’ve made, stepping onto indigenous lands have generally been the gentlest. Some Nations, such as the Blackfeet along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) or the Guna peoples of what we call the San Blas Islands, have established contact points and formal ways to seek permission beforehand. In other regions, you may need to do research and ask around when you get there.
In places where I did not know how to establish contact ahead of time, being respectfully communicative and upfront often opened doors and afforded insight. One typical approach in South American campos is to whistle a tune when passing homesteads and greet the people who are out tending the land.
In all occasions I’ve experienced to date, passage has been granted. In many instances, it came with an invitation to attend cultural and family events. In one instance on Mapuche land, we were passing during a sacred harvest ceremony and were asked to steer clear of the celebration grounds.
Don’t try to Sneak
The “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission,” approach I’ve heard espoused by some adventure travelers deeply violates trust and, long-term, harms intercultural relationships. For example, there is no such thing as “stealth camping” when on ancestral lands. While early perpetrators may not be directly confronted, this approach generates uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous situations for folks who follow in their tracks.
A size 10 shoeprint, fat-tire bike tracks, or tent footprint do not go unnoticed. You may simply be behaving in such a strange manner that they are not sure how or whether to approach. As one woman explained: if someone doesn’t greet their hosts, they figure there is “something off” about that person and it’s better to stay away. In most scenarios, the onus is on the interloper/guest to establish contact and seek permission. Wherever possible, rise to that.
What you need appears when you need it. A local guide arrives to encourage us on a down climb in Huayhuash Range.
Learn greetings, phrases, and rituals
One of my favorite ways of offering respect and connecting with locals is learning greeting rituals and phrases. These vary by country, region, and sometimes, from one valley to the next. While I had thought Spanish would suffice, in the Andes I learned greetings in Quechua and Aymara.
In other regions of South and Central America I was amused to learn that adios was the standard greeting when in passing. I was humbled when school-age children would passively but firmly correct my cheerful “buenos dias” by replying “buenas TARDES” if it was after 11 am.
From the Middle East to Latin America, there is often a greeting script that stands as an invitation to engage on a person-to-person level. Similarly, if someone makes the effort to greet you in your language, respond according to the basic script taught in school. This allows them to practice, affords social esteem, and establishes friendly relationships. In many scenarios, those few phrases are all we know, and the chance to exercise them is a low-effort interaction that generates a lot of joy.
There are also no-gos worth learning and, if possible, practicing ahead of time to train muscle memory. A couple of examples are not patting the top of a child’s head and not showing the soles of your feet in Buddhist countries, such as Nepal or Thailand. Watching, reading, and learning how to emulate or avoid certain practices speaks volumes about you and the country you represent.
Guidebooks or perusing online sources ahead of time often give mention of the more significant points. Taking time to read public signs will convey culturally pressing matters, such as removing shoes and covering knees and shoulders when entering Buddhist temples. Google and many apps offer translation capacities, increasing access to comprehension.
Sign above a Bolivian market that tells people, “ Don’t be a donkey, greet people.”
8) Tip: Follow the Locals’ Lead
The most elemental and rewarding way to learn is through a practice called “mirroring.” This entails slowing down and watching the details of how locals go about their days, then emulating them. I find great joy and settling in by spending my initial time in a new region by sitting back and observing how life happens.
Some of it is as concrete and safety-oriented as following when they cross the street, or as detailed as learning the ritual of financial transactions. For example, while it is standard practice to negotiate prices at street markets in much of the Caribbean, attempting to do so in Patagonia is outright rude. In much of Asia and the Middle East, it is disrespectful to extend your left hand, whether in greeting or when paying for goods. Ultimately, making efforts to learn, greet, and emulate local ways of interacting speaks volumes.
The author interviewing Cholitas.
Offer Respect and Ask Permission
Many other fundamental, broad, and simple efforts worth learning come from paying attention. In most cultures around the world, you afford significant respect by learning someone’s full name, particularly in rural areas where apellidos mean something. Learning names is part and parcel to acknowledging the humanity in another.
One sobering example arose around the tourist bubbles of Peru. The brightly dressed and spirited Cholitas have learned to demand payment for photographs taken of them because they have come to understand that we leverage their vibrant appearance as a commodity.
The way I was told it, a white man came and took portraits of several of the women around the ‘90s, and then they never heard from or thought of him again. Years later, someone brought a postcard back, prominently featuring one of the Cholitas, and they learned he had been making money off their images. He hadn’t asked permiso or even bothered to learn or include her name.
Learning both how to ask for permission and how to take no for an answer are critical components of basic decency. In another case, a Dene elder along the DehCho (Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories) told me a deeply stirring story. I jotted my notes and his name, then asked if I could share the story in the blogs I kept along Her Odyssey.
He said no. I felt extremely small and awkward at that moment. Yet, as the interaction matured, something unique arose around having been trusted and being able to honor that. He gave me a gift that day. One I will not soon forget.
Sign in elementary school in Peru teaching kids to bin their paper.
Carry and bin your toilet paper
In Latin America and many other places around the world, a fundamental lesson is to provide and handle your own toilet supplies. Just as when backpacking, I always carry a toilet bag when traveling internationally. This includes TP, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and a small bag for hygiene products or when a garbage can is not accessible.
A difficult and fundamental point for most United States travelers is the need to bin your toilet paper rather than flush it. Many places don’t have the septic infrastructure of the United States. In fact, many US cities don’t have the septic infrastructure we seem to assume.
It doesn’t matter if your wipes are labeled as compostable or flushable, cleaning up the resulting mess costs millions in taxes and requires a few folks to do a very difficult and disgusting job. So, while off-putting at first, providing and managing your own hygiene products is a first-hand way of cleaning up after yourself.
The author holds up an example of Patagonian generosity.
9) Be mindful of what you take and what you give
A sort of chicken-or-the-egg scenario arises between the traveler narratives of “they need our money” and “being a cash cow.” I recently spoke with a woman who started complaining about the “white tax,” an unofficial price markup leveraged by providers, on her vacation to Baja California.
This is generally around 15-50% on top of the cost they would charge a local. It can rise to 300% if you are behaving rudely or seeking a service they do not wish to provide. It is also one way that local industries offset the cost of demands and strains extolled by visitors who may not understand how to conserve resources or reciprocate effort. Small gestures such as patience with service time, conducting polite greetings, or ordering local menu items are passive ways to signal awareness.
The clearest example is also the most critical: access to clean water. Free, cold, drinkable water readily available is a stunning facet I notice every time I return to the United States. In many places around the world, water has to be hauled in and there is not purification infrastructure. As such, most of the world’s population rely on plastic bottled water for consumption (an industry which generated almost $350 billion USD in 2023 and is projected to keep growing*).
The effort to reduce single use plastics is another increasingly pressing issue. In considering this, I noticed that many homes and establishments in Latin America have grifos, water dispensers supplied by reusable plastic jugs. During Her Odyssey, when we saw one, we asked to refill our water bottles from these instead of buying new ones.
I was sometimes met with hesitation from staff; presumably, both because it is an unusual request and because they lost income from sales of the water bottles. Putting these pieces together, I adapted. I held my ground in asking for refills from the grifos and explained my desire to reduce plastic use. I also offered a bit of money, saying I wanted to cover the cost and thank their effort.
Small gestures like these affirm to service providers that visitors value reducing plastic waste and are willing to help carry that cost. It’s not always possible and it does require a bit of effort, but it is just one example of the many ways we can leverage resources to convey values and reduce pollution. For those of us who like to travel off the beaten track, it bears remembering that we are enjoying communities that work hard for resources we may take for granted.
Lend an Ear
In these tales and spaces, I’ve come to appreciate how significant it can be just to lend an ear. While paddling the Rio Maranon with the Waterkeepers, we had a rest day in one of the pueblos. I spent an afternoon on the porch with an elderly couple sorting colorful beans and separating the worm-eaten ones.
After a couple of hours and noting inefficiencies in the process, I realized the point wasn’t the beans, it was to be doing something, outside. My presence there wasn’t making work go faster, they were simply enjoying having someone new to hear their woes and show off to the neighbors. Realizing this was a never-ending task, I had to establish a time limit and excuse myself. This taught me that my drive to complete a task is my own expectation, not that of my hosts. Communicating mutually respectful boundaries is further important for the long-term well-being of exchange dynamics.
Amplify Local Voices
A powerful gift that travelers from developed nations can give is to amplify local voices, joys, and concerns. Often, on occasions of pageantry and events celebrating cultural pride, taking pictures, participating in song or dance, and giving compliments are both encouraged and encouraging. Getting a message out to a wider and wealthier audience is a unique capacity we as travelers wield. Again, we can look to the Cholitas as they leverage international attention to spread the word of the attacks, oppression, and violence the government and corporations are enacting against them and their land.
You can use your platform and voice, with permission, to share the stories of people who are underrepresented. It can also be as simple as allowing time in your schedule to listen to someone’s story. Remind them that they are not alone; issues such as political repression, river damming, and unaffordable housing due to short-term leasing are wide-sweeping social problems.
Personal struggles such as depression, gender, identity, and financial constraints can either alienate or bring us closer together. The willingness to engage, combined with a capacity to promulgate awareness, is an influence many don’t know we wield but is a critical healing element to alienating trends. Leverage what you have to aid others.
The author on Great Divide Trail in Banff, Canada.
Final thoughts
Slow Travel affords the opportunity to experience, grow, and heal in meaningful ways. Those of us given the privilege of access also bear responsibility. Travel often exposes us to the strengths and struggles of people who are alienated or repressed. It is a choice and matter of balance to be capable of engaging. If you are exhausted or in a hurry, your scope will be limited, but slowing down allows for doing things differently.
Significantly, we can witness international trends if we are willing to look beyond our own experiences. Relaying the story and sharing the whole picture, of reciprocity and respect, of cost and benefit, is powerful and critical work available to anyone who has the means to travel. Slowing down, even just a little, can make a world of difference to someone somewhere down the line.
It is no great cost to us as travelers to learn names, greetings, and ways of living when we’re entering new communities. It may be uncomfortable to take an honest look, to clean up after ourselves, or take "no" for an answer at the moment, but the impression and effect we leave resounds beyond our own experience.
Reciprocity doesn’t have to be a huge or arduous effort; in fact, it is generally quite the opposite. The most profoundly life-changing moments are not the stuff splashed on media or that make a bucket list, they are the quality with which we show up and share small moments and stories. Sometimes, pausing to lean on a tree and lending an ear is the first step to transforming a trip into an adventure.
About the author
Bethany Hughes has been walking, writing, speaking, and advocating for meaningful connection through Slow Travel for more than 20 years, across 27 countries, and over 22,000 human-powered miles. Most recently, she completed the Her Odyssey Expedition, a traverse of the Americas, connecting the story of the land and its inhabitants. She is currently working on a book about the Odyssey and sharing stories of change and hope.
