Travel 101: Burrowing in for Weeks at a Time

Stephen F. Dennstedt

Burrowing in for weeks at a time. Joel and I travel differently from most people we know or meet on the road. We are location-independent and slō-travellers—what do those two terms really mean in plain English? Fellow travel photog Elia Locardi coined the first and I think our friend Paul France coined the second.

Location-independent refers to the fact that we are technically homeless: no house, no city, no state and no country. We’ve been citizens of the world for the past six years. We’re like turtles or crabs, we carry our rucksack homes on our backs and pull our offices along side of us. Slō-travel on the other hand refers to the pace of our travel.

In other words slō-travel means we visit fewer places but stay for longer periods of time. We see less but experience more, and those experiences are typically more authentic and deal with people. Most recently we completed a three-week stay in Dublin, Ireland where most people would visit for only three to five days max. We don’t run around frantically to all the must-see iconic tourist sites, instead we tend to wander and loiter. Our travel pace is slō like us.

Pondering Life in My Jungle Hammock – Rio San Juan, Nicaragua (2015)

Admittedly we miss a lot. We miss the overcrowded superficial touristy spots, we miss the transplanted American fast-food joints, we miss the stress & strain of travel and we scrupulously miss the partying and drunkenness of the out-of-control idiots who travel abroad to engage in their stupid antics (binge drinking, drugs, prostitution and crime). We’ve spent weeks and months in thatched jungle-huts, hostels, guesthouses and cheap local (non-tourist) hotels. We avoid expats (and some travellers) and focus our attention on the locals.

Thatched Jungle Huts – Rio San Juan, Nicaragua (2015)

We’ll be in Ireland for a total of three months and we won’t see everything—and that’s okay. What we will do is explore our immediate surroundings and make friends. Our next stop is the small Irish coastal town of Clifden (population 2,609) in County Galway. We’ve rented a small apartment for three weeks with kitchen & laundry facilities that will allow us to save some money and stretch our budget. We will make friends with the local baker, the local grocery clerk and the local pub owners. We will wander the cobblestone streets, sit on park benches and gaze out over the ocean.

Amazon Sunset – Northern Amazon River Basin, Cuyabeno, Ecuador (2015)

We will take scenic excursions and day trips and I will take pictures and write my articles. Joel will continue writing on his fifth novel (he has published four already). We will take naps, watch movies on our computers and stay in touch with family & friends. The Muppet Brothers are ageing (70 for me and 68 for Joel) and we have no sense of urgency to see and do everything. Many days we will venture forth and explore but on other days we will be content to stay in our room and catch up on our administrative duties. It’s a slō, peaceful and uncomplicated life for the most part, full of contentment.

Amazon Thatched Jungle Huts – Northern Amazon River Basin, Cuyabeno, Ecuador (2015)

We have a loose and ill-defined plan but we’re not tied to it. When we have the opportunity to make a little extra money on the side we do—me with my photography and writing and Joel with his professional paid book reviews and book sales. Again, we’re not tied to the moneymaking thing—if and when it happens all well and good but the world won’t come to an end if we go through a dry spell. We’re not rich in money and material goods but we are rich in the quality of life we lead. How many people can say that? I suppose not too many if you’re counting.

Charleville Lodge – Dublin, Ireland (2017)

Henry David Thoreau is famous for saying: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Once true for us too but no longer. We are no longer those desperate men nor will we ever be again. I’ve shared my motto (my mantra) ad nauseam but it bears repeating (often): Live Simple, Live Cheap, Live Free. Part of it is out of financial necessity but a much larger part is by choice. We drink our robust morning coffee, we take walks, we take naps, we explore, we eat simple (local) meals, we drink local beer and occasionally have a shot of Scotch whisky. Life is good.

Me Enjoying a Cup of Robust Coffee – San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico (2014)

Field Notes: This will be my last blog post for a day or two. Tomorrow is a travel day for us—we will be taking a bus from Dublin to Galway (a trip of two or three hours), stopping in Galway for about an hour to transfer to a different bus that will take us from Galway to the small coastal town of Clifden (another two hours approximately). Travel days can be tiring humping our rucksacks, Pelican case and duffels so we’re usually pretty tired when we arrive. Our ETA is 4 p.m. so we’ll check-in, get a quick bite to eat and maybe have a pint or two. Back soon. SFD