Holland America Line will open up grand voyages and pole-to-pole sailings to travelers hoping to book just a segment, making it easier to explore some of the coolest regions on Earth.
19.08.2024 - 17:17 / insider.com / Scott Dunn / Claire Sturzaker
My trip to Europe in October 2022 was doomed from the start.
My itinerary? Travel by train to six cities in four countries in just two weeks.
Don't get me wrong — I had a good time on the whirlwind trip. It was fascinating to explore new cities and countries so different from mine. But ultimately, the trip wasn't fulfilling.
Two weeks just isn't enough time to see more than a small fraction of what Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Zurich offer, as I spent one to three nights in each city.
Looking back on it, I feel like I viewed them more through my camera than my own eyes. From the Colosseum in Rome to the canals in Venice, I only hit the tourist hot spots without truly discovering what life was really like in each place.
I should have been more like Claire Sturzaker.
When the full-time solo traveler books a trip, she said it's usually at least a month long. She schedules time to rest and explore lesser-known destinations that are just a day trip away.
"It helps me really get to know the place without rushing around," she told Business Insider. "I'd rather spend a month getting to know a place than say, 'All right, I've been here for a day. Let's go."
And she's not the only one.
According to the Summer 2024 Travel Trends Report: The Rise of the 'Slowcation' by Scott Dunn, founder of the luxury travel provider Scott Dunn, 60% of 2,000 US participants are planning vacations to have slow travel. The report described it as a "mindset" that emphasizes "exploring somewhere on a deeper level" and "making space mentally and physically for things to happen spontaneously."
A representative of the luxury travel agency Goway told BI that their clients have been booking an average of three additional days for trips than they did before the pandemic, and more travelers now book 11-day vacations compared to any other length of time.
While the "slowcation" trend is on the rise, the idea of slow travel — spending more time truly getting to know a destination rather than rushing to hit the tourist hot spots — is nothing new.
Slow travel is about "exploring all of what one country has to offer, whether…going from different major cities to different landscapes, checking out coastal areas, or going into the mountains and hiking depending on your traveler preference," Goway destination specialist Melissa Moses told BI. "It's seeing the difference between each city and one country and the landscapes of one country to get a better idea of that culture as a whole."
It doesn't just benefit the vacationer — sustainability experts have been promoting the slow approach to travel for years.
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Holland America Line will open up grand voyages and pole-to-pole sailings to travelers hoping to book just a segment, making it easier to explore some of the coolest regions on Earth.
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