Thomas Swick Slows Down

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.01.05 | 5:26 PM ET

In a thoughtful column Sunday, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel travel editor champions the notion of slow travel. “In the age of The Amazing Race, there’s obviously a need for a Slow Travel movement,” he writes. “Travel for most Americans is what we do when we’re on vacation, and vacation, by definition, is a break from the marathon of our working lives. But because our vacations are so short, we often feel compelled to fill them with as much as possible, spend them in perpetual motion, which is never conducive to quiet appreciation. Many people travel with checklists (even if only mentally) and, because they’re pressed for time, they end up eating at chains. Fast travel almost inevitably leads to fast food which, some would argue, leads to fast death. And then where are you?”