Sustainable Travel: Camino de Santiago, Sailing & Freighter Travel

SLOWTRAVEL experience – discovering the present

Traveling slowly, consciously, and sustainably is the art of finding openness to the present moment, in which life reveals itself in all its fullness. Whether through unexpected encounters along the way, touching experiences in nature, or surprising discoveries in unfamiliar surroundings. SLOW TRAVEL offers the Way of St. James in Spain and Portugal as well as selected sailing ship, cargo ship, and mail ship trips for this type of sustainable and conscious travel.

In the spirit of sustainability in tourism, it is our concern to make our offerings as environmentally and socially responsible as possible. The best compensation is to avoid and reduce carbon dioxide. The CO2 emissions, which are already very low compared to cruises or air travel, are always 100 percent offset by Atmosfair's climate protection projects (CDM Gold Standard). This carbon dioxide compensation is included in our prices, so you don't have any additional costs when booking. Sustainable tourism and sustainable travel therefore encompass all aspects of our inner and outer nature.

The history of SLOWTRAVEL experience: Sustainable long-distance travel!

When SLOWTRAVEL experience was founded, our primary goal was to offer an alternative to air travel and cruises for sustainable long-distance travel. The products were cargo ship voyages, mail ship voyages, sailing expeditions to Antarctica, Atlantic crossings by sailing ship, and the Trans-Siberian Railway. All of these types of travel helped many long-term and world travelers not only to travel the world more sustainably, but also to experience the world in a new way.

Until the coronavirus pandemic, combining these types of travel made it possible to reach many destinations around the world without flying. However, after the pandemic ended, the majority of shipping companies decided not to accept passengers on board again, which is why cargo ship travel has been severely restricted since then. We also removed the Trans-Siberian Railway from our program as a consequence of the war. As a result, our original credo of “Discover the world sustainably!” could no longer be upheld, and we began to reorient ourselves.

SLOWTRAVEL: Conscious travel—to yourself and the world, because sustainability begins with us!

At the beginning of the pandemic, I finally set out to fulfill my long-held dream of walking the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. It quickly became clear that this journey would be something very special, not only for me, but also for SLOW TRAVEL. In other words, pilgrimages were born for SLOW TRAVEL and very quickly became the new cornerstone of our passion for travel.

But how do these new types of travel fit together? What do we stand for? In the past, it was about treating the world sustainably. The pandemic taught us the importance of first treating ourselves sustainably. In line with the motto “Marry yourself!”, we understood that we can only truly be there for the world once we have learned to really take care of ourselves. Everyone knows how moody and careless we can be towards others when we are not feeling well ourselves, for example, because we have slept extremely poorly. And so today, our new credo is “Travel consciously – to yourself and the world!”

Discovering the present: What is our mission and what are our values?

We offer trips that slow down the pace of life – in tune with nature, the body, or the route. Whether on foot along ancient pilgrimage routes or by ship across vast oceans: SLOWTRAVEL turns travel into an experience, a discovery. For people who don't just want to arrive at their destination, but also want to find themselves along the way.

In summary, we stand for a spirit of adventure, justice & mindfulness (towards oneself, others, and the world), slowing down & depth instead of speed (every path has its own value and can be experienced in all its truthfulness through slowness), and sustainability & transformation (through travel itself – ecologically, economically, and socially).

For us, pilgrimages on the Camino represent, like no other type of travel, an inner (transformative) journey through which I connect with myself and the world at the same time. Our sea voyages, consisting of sailing, mail, and cargo ship trips, represent the elements of wind, water, and silence: the sea as a mirror.

Then as now, all our types of travel are an alternative for people who are afraid of flying. They are also a way to re-enter the world step by step after treatment for burnout, for example, or of course to prevent burnout in the first place. In all cases, SLOWTRAVEL experience offers building blocks for anyone who wants to take time out for their own, completely individual transformative journey as part of a sabbatical.