Silent Travel
I like quiet more than I can put into words. Like, I work in silence. I drive in silence. I wanted a lot more than just 45 seconds of silence.
So, yes, I clicked on Traveler’s article about silent travel when it popped up in my news feed. Their take on silent travel:
In overstimulated times, silence is a hot commodity. The ‘silent walking’ trend that took TikTok by storm at the end of last year reflects a growing impulse to find new ways to escape the noise of our tech-fueled lives. In our travels, too, we’re increasingly looking to switch off and find refuge from the chaos for a little while.
I was not aware of the silent walking trend—in my world, that would just be called “walking,” but there is something enticing about the idea of escaping noise and crowds and doing and intaking and processing and just going somewhere and existing.
And at the same time, I will go on a finite number of trips in my life. It takes time and money to travel outside my home, where I set up my life with a lot of quiet. Would I want to use a trip in this way? The article discusses how “silent travel helps us disconnect to reconnect—to nature, to our true priorities, and to ourselves.” But part of the reason I travel is not to reconnect to myself but to connect with the other people I’m with or to connect to a different culture.
What is the word for something appealing and unappealing simultaneously?
2 comments
I have to escape too much noise. But that’s mostly inside. I don’t mind outside noise as much.
Is the word, “meh?!” Or perhaps just “moderation?”
I don’t like too much noise. But equally, I don’t like too much silence. I guess if I was in a hectic lifestyle surrounded by noisy busy people, then a week of silence on my holiday might be lovely. But I wouldn’t ever want to go to a retreat just for that.
Travel can both be a mix of new people and cultures, and scenery and silence. Not quite at the same time, but at least in the same day. For example, I adored our trip to Norway – silence in the middle of majestic scenery, and meeting people (local and tourists) in the hotel public rooms that evening. Or driving in France – stopping on the side of the road for a picnic in the middle of nowhere. And I can only take so much hustle and bustle in Asia or Africa before I suffer from sensory overload, so the tranquility of a spa and a silent massage is divine. That way, I get just enough of the appealing, and none of the unappealing.