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Slow travel on a budget
By Patrick Robertson
Travel blogs started as personal travel diaries. The first Internet travel bloggers began in 1995 when the Internet was first developed. They were people who travelled and wanted to share their travels with their friends and relatives through websites like bloggers.com. Dedicated travel blog websites began showing up in 2009.
My wife and I retired in 2010 and began travelling the world. We chose Facebook as the sharing medium to place pictures and comments on our travels. My family and friends loved them and I had great enjoyment doing it. Over the years many of our friends encouraged us to write a book (or website) about all the experiences we have had and all the money saving tips that we shared with them.
Our last international trip was in January and February 2020 to Panama. When we got back, the worldwide pandemic had been declared. It was a good time to start a travel blog after 10 years of constant travel and experiences with my wife and another ten years of travel on the horizon. We have not travelled internationally for the past 18 months so I had more time than usual to spend on writing and developing a blog.
I read a lot of travel blogs on the Internet. Most of them are geared towards the young hostel staying adventurer. Many of them could be thought of as their prelude to adulthood. That first step outside of the home before the responsibilities of adulthood. What was missing was the travel blog for the adult who had finished the responsibilities of adulthood. The kids were raised and on their own. The 30-year career was over. Now it was time to travel.
My blog focuses on slow travel on a budget. The two concepts go together. Slow travel is a cheaper way to travel and a far smaller budget is needed. I try to focus on two distinct groups; young people who have time – gap year – and little money and seniors who have time and a little more money but not unlimited funds. Time and small budgets.
Our travel is not about completing a list of epic 100 top things to do or to be able to say we have travelled to 55 countries. We travel to live our normal day-to-day life in another locale in the world for a longer length of time than someone on vacation. We rent a house or apartment and set up house in areas that we are interested in exploring and learning about the culture of the land. This includes the history, art, music, stories, and food of the area.
We take our time and explore the area. Each month, explore digitally, the world of slow travel with us.
– Patrick Robertson is an author and long-time resident of Fernie. He is an expert in planning travel and finding travel deals. Follow him on www.budgetslowtravel.com and like him on Facebook.
