What Are Snail Travelers? The Concept Of Slow Travel

Snails are not known for their speed.

Snails have been found to travel at the speedy rate of 0.6 miles per hour–not bad for something carrying its house on its back! We call ourselves snail travelers because our plan is to “slow travel” by staying in each city we visit for about one month, and we each have everything we need in a carry-on bag—our shells.

There are other people that travel the world, but they do so at a quick pace, staying in a city for a day or a week, and then packing everything up, going to the next location, and repeating the whole process. It makes sense for when you are trying to cram everything in to a week of vacation or even a one-year trip, but we wanted something different, especially since we hope to do this for a while.

With slow travel we see a number of advantages:

1. We get to experience the city, the people, and their culture on a much deeper level.

We have the time to walk through the markets, see the sites, and just relax.

2. It is cheaper, and we are trying to make our money last.

And if you know us, you know that we are frugal people! Every time you change to a different destination, you have to pay to get there—either by bus, boat, or plane. These expenses can add up if you are doing this once or twice a week. And by staying at AirBNBs (apartments or homes that we rent from locals) for at least a month, often the hosts offer a discount on the rate, usually from 20-50% off. That’s almost like getting a week or two for free each month!

3. We have down-time to do what we want to do.

Having left super busy and at times very stressful lives behind us, we are looking forward to having some time to do our main hobbies—sewing for Emily and working on his computer for Ryan. We also look forward to have the time to read, study Spanish, and work on restoring a healthy lifestyle. Now we will have the time to shop at the local market, cook fresh food, and walk a lot. We are also hoping to find volunteer activities through local churches or ministries in order to serve others.

4. Time to spend together.

Believe it or not, after 8 years of marriage, we still like each other. But Ryan reflected one day that our careers have hijacked our marriage. And this is without having children in the mix—I just don’t know how people do it! This is something we hope to continue to grow and nurture because we believe the best is yet to come!