Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. You heard of the concept of slow travel. If you haven't, you could be missing out. It's the idea of really switching off and taking your time rather than rushing around to tick off the tourist checklist. And joining me now to tempt us all is Irish travel content creator, Kevin Penrose. Kevin, you're very welcome. Thank you for being here.
We were all guilty of this, aren't we?
Chapter 2: What is slow travel and why is it important?
I'm going to Rome. So there are four places I need to see, two restaurants I need to eat at before I catch the flight back. So you're turning all of that on its head.
Yeah, exactly. I think the whole concept of slow travel sort of came around after lockdown, I guess, you know, when we had to slow down. And I know from my own experience and for social media and content, I'm always the one like, OK, I need to shoot this, that, the other and fit as many activities as I can on the one time, you know.
But at the same time, it takes enjoyment out of the trip then and you go away from it thinking, do I even remember that or did I really experience it, you know?
Well, given your job then, is it really hard to do slow travel when you're trying to make interesting content?
At the time, I've learned to get a good balance now. I feel I really enjoy the experience. For example, I'm doing the Wild Atlantic Way series right now. I'm starting from Donegal, going all the way down to Cork. And I'm really taking the time to really do the slow travel and take it in and also...
shoot everything as well, you know, it's trying to find that balance where you're not rushing through it, but you can't exactly remember it. And that's one of those things. When will I get to do it again? You know, so I might as well take the time to do it.
So how do we do slow travel? Like you take a couple of days off work and you're going to a place, you have to sort of almost force yourself to do it slowly. And rather than say, I have to be enjoying myself now and I have to do this, that and the other on this one day. So how do we do, say, a long weekend slowly? Yeah.
So, for example, me and my group of friends, we do this slow travel. We've done it the past four years now. It's sort of like our tradition where we choose a place in Ireland and we just go there just before the summer kicks off and it gets busy, you know. So we've done our fourth year in Donegal a couple of weeks ago and probably planned it, I guess, a month or two in advance.
And you're not throwing anything into the group chat. You're just like, right, yeah. Do you want to do this? Sort of get to feel what everyone's up to.
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Chapter 3: How did the concept of slow travel emerge post-lockdown?
And in the end, we just sort of went with the flow. And we went from the Friday to the Monday. We always rent a big house, get the comfort and the accommodation sorted. And we prioritize food and coffee as well. So those are the two big ones that we can all sort of agree on. And then anything else that comes along with it is a bonus.
So you're not going out, you're not planning to go to restaurants or... Not really restaurants, I guess.
You know, we sort of like to cook and really use the accommodation, I guess, you know, and have breakfast together and just switch off our phones and really bond over the food and just catch up with each other because we don't exactly all get to get the same room as often as we'd like to, you know. And we did have a couple activities planned, but it wasn't...
For me, for example, I'm the one who wants to be outdoors, hiking, swimming, do the waterfalls. They'd be really switched on, you know. So we had to sort of compromise and see what people wanted to do. And we were in Donegal, we were in the Sleave League Peninsula.
And instead of doing the hike and the viewpoint up to it, just knowing how busy that is now with coaches and tours and everything, we decided to take the boat tour instead, which was a lot more quieter for us.
and we're lucky enough we had the boat to ourselves and we even had the chance to swim off the boat you know which is quite nice so i think it was like a two-hour tour and it's just one of those times when you're like oh my god we've seen sleeveless cliffs from this different point of view that's not a lot of people would
Not necessarily think of, but they just think Sleeve League, right, we'll do the tour, see the viewpoint, do the hike.
It's just a different way of doing it.
Different way of doing it.
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Chapter 4: What are the challenges of creating content while practicing slow travel?
Yeah, but, you know, Kevin, maybe it's easier to do that if you're in Ireland or you're going on a short trip. But if you're investing in flights and accommodation overseas, you might feel under a bit more pressure to do more.
Yeah. This is especially if it's like a bucket list trip that you've done or want to do for a long time.
I booked a trip to Tenerife just after Christmas time and at the start I was like okay I need to do all these hikes, all these spots that I want to check out and leading up to it I was like actually I'm just going to take it day by day and go with the flow you know and just rent a car and you have that freedom to do what you want.
And I just immerse myself in with the locals, go to local coffee shops, seeing what's around there as well, and then maybe go to one of the bigger hotspots as well and get the balance. But yeah, it is hard to find it, you know.
Yeah, you are forcing yourself to relax. I mean, slow travel for some people is spending weeks or even months in a place and learning the language. I mean, that's a luxury if you can afford to do that and you have the time to do that. But for you, is that part of slow travel?
um not as much anymore i remember a couple years ago i was on a slow travel seven months i would call it um out in asia and spent a lot of that time in thailand vietnam you know so i was trying to immerse myself in with the locals i guess you know um and they did do a lot at the time and again like he says it's time and money at the end of the day you know and for someone that might have kids and family and a lot more restrictions i guess you know um
You sort of have to pick and choose what you want to do.
But it sort of turns a holiday on its head. It's not really what you see and what you experience. It's how you feel.
This is it, you know. When you come back. Like coming back from even that Asia trip, I was like, oh my God, I have so much more life experience just hearing stories and experiences and trying new foods and everything, you know. Just being immersed in a different culture. It's just something that you wouldn't necessarily... think of going out of your way to do initially until you're in it.
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Chapter 5: How can we incorporate slow travel into a long weekend?
I guess just thinking what do you want to get out of it? What's your main priority? Is it your activities or is it your food and your culture or is it your coffee, for example? Like for me, I love all those things that I had to sort of compromise. OK, hiking is probably my number one, I guess, you know, and that's one thing we did do in Donegal as well, for example.
A sunset, for example, that's an experience in itself rather than like a normal hike. So even like narrowing down what you want to get out of it and then branch off from there and maybe limit one or two activities or one or two things that you want to actually do and then really sit in that moment and you'll feel better for it after.
I love the sound of it. It's just taking the pressure off a break like that. Getting the value out of it doesn't mean making yourself exhausted so that you come back and you feel like you haven't had a break at all.
100%. Like I know for myself, like you're almost at burners to a point within social media, for example, you're always chasing the next activity or hike or the next hotspot, you know, and like it's ever changing. But after that, on the golf trip, for example, you're like, oh, actually, there's more important things going on in life.
You can take it slow, you can switch off and you can go back into it then feeling motivated and have a different perspective on it, you know?
Kevin, thanks very much for coming in. How do we find you on social media?
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok, just Kevin under slash Penrose.
All right, Kevin Penrose, thank you very much for being with us. Lovely to have you in.
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