[Editor's Note: This is the second part of our interview with Lara Lockwood and Tom Fewins, who are traveling the world in slow motion, without stepping onto airplanes. Read part 1 of the interview here, and find out more about their journey on their blog.]

BNT: What differences-other than the length of time traveling-do you see between this trip and other trips you have taken? How has going overland (or across the oceans) changed your perception of places, people, and the connections between them?

Tom contemplates the Pacific crossing

LL: By traveling over the earth’s surface you get a true idea of just what a huge place this world is. The distances in China and Russia, for example, are huge, and the Pacific is larger than the whole of the earth’s landmass put together. By crossing it in a boat you really get a sense of that.

As well as a sense of scale you also get more cultural insight. It is fascinating to see how one country turns into another.

Overland transport in Cambodia

Of course, some border crossings can show quite stark contrasts between countries (like between Thailand and Cambodia), but often countries really do merge into each other and you realise quite how fickle some borders are, often stemming from political necessity rather than reflect the ethnic makeup of the region they straddle.

The differences between the south of the [United] States and the north of Mexico are very blurred: The U.S. influence is strong in the north of Mexico and the Mexican influence is strong in the south of the U.S. Then there are some peoples for whom borders mean little, like the nomadic Hmong, who came from China and now live in northern Laos and Vietnam.

If you just dash between places in a plane boundaries are defined for you. It is much more interesting to see them for yourself and gives a much greater depth into the history. Unlike Tom, I’m not a great one for reading history, but seeing the differences and mergers between countries made me want to seek out more information and learn more.

You also get to go to some places that plane tourists would never see. Planes tend to take you from tourist centre to tourist centre, but by using the local transport you can get to some really far out places. Like the south of China and the north of Laos.

Chinese alternative to strollers.

It’s about as wild as it gets, and looking through the bus window as we bounced along a tiny dusty road for hour after hour, crossing from China into northern Laos I saw how totally different people’s lives are compared to mine – it fills me with awe.

BNT: Can you identify any insights or realizations made possible by choosing to travel this way? Things that plane travelers miss, and that you feel are crucial, or at least helpful, to understanding particular places?

LL: I have definitely gained a greater understanding of the places I have traveled through. When you have a few days on a train cooped together with the locals you can’t help but become curious about each other and start a conversation, even when you don’t speak the language.

Like in Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, people kept popping into our berth to say hello. It transpired that most of the men worked for the armed forces in some capacity. What with seeing their photos and videos of bomber planes and the like and watching the wagons of military machines go past in the opposite direction on the railway, I could see what an enormous military power Russia is, and was scared. I’m not sure I would have found that out if we’d traveled by plane from one side to the other.

The long journeys really are like living in the same house as the locals. You get to know their daily patterns – when they get up, what they eat, what they drink and other bizarre habits.

Like on the ferry from Japan to China. The Chinese passengers would always get up a couple of hours before everyone else and do their laundry (it was a two night crossing so why they had to do so much washing remains a mystery), they would be the first to all meals, wolfing it down in ten minutes and moving on, and they were so noisy! If you traveled on a plane you would be fed the same food at the same time and there would be no chance to wash your dirty pants! It was a great insight into the country that we were about to arrive in.

There are other side-benefits too. For example, we haven’t been as ill as we have been on other trips abroad to exotic places. I think this must be in part due to our bodies becoming more gradually used to local bacteria as we travel slowly, as well as being damn lucky!

Traveling by boat

Traveling by boat was also a great time to recoup. Traveling takes it out of you and after five months I really welcomed having two weeks to sort myself out: To eat regular meals, exercise daily and wash everything in and including my rucksack inside and out.

You rarely take time to stop and do nothing when traveling, so it was a blessing to have that enforced upon us on the ship.

BNT: What sorts of reactions have you received when you say, “We’re traveling around the world without flying.”? Do you see any marked differences between the way people react in different countries?

LL: Most people say “Wow” and are really interested, especially in how we cross the oceans. Lots of people do some of their trip overland, between countries, and enjoy it, and often say how next time they’d like to do a trip like ours.

The differences in reactions between countries: In Europe people weren’t that fazed, partly because it was the beginning of our trip, but also because traveling around by public transport is so easy there. Also in Russia people weren’t so impressed because there a lot of people who travel across the length of the country on the Trans-Siberian Railway, so eight days on a train aren‘t a big deal.

The Japanese, being an island nation, seemed a little confused as to how we had arrived and were surprised to know about the ferry between their country and Russia, but the slow boat to China is pretty well established (although most can afford the more expensive option of flying, and do).

In poorer countries like China and Mexico the reactions have been mixed. Some wonder why we are taking the slow route (by train or bus) when we could afford to fly, and others aren’t surprised at all because using public transport to cover big distances is quite normal to them.

Climate change also isn’t high on the agenda in many of the countries we’ve been to (e.g. Cambodia, Guatemala), so the environmental reasons for traveling as we do don’t translate.

In richer countries like the States and Japan people did seem more confused as to why we don’t fly when we can afford to. Using public transport in the States has a real social stigma attached; the attitude is that only poor people take the bus.

Tom taking his morning tea.

Others can see the potential for adventure it offers and some have been so interested in our trip that they have offered to give us lifts and beds just to be a part of it.

The further we get into the journey, the more impressed people are. Now that we are in the Americas, people are intrigued to know how we got here from England without flying and are amazed when we mention that we came the long way round across Asia and the Pacific. The Pacific crossing seems to spark people’s imaginations the most.

We’ve also had a lot of interest in our blog from people we’ve met along the way. They’ve been able to look up what we’re doing and some have even used it for information for their own trip.

BNT: It is evident… that both of you are interested in sustainable development and environmental causes. How do you feel travel can aide these causes? What do you identify as the benefits and the risks of this huge boom in travel in the past several decades?

LL: Travel makes a massive contribution to carbon emissions and tourism can be very harmful to the environment. However, it’s human nature to wander and people aren’t going to stop traveling.

We want to show how you can travel lightly, in a way that minimises environmental damage (by taking less carbon intensive modes of travel, refilling water bottles, etc.) and contributes to the local communities and economies.

There is no doubt that tourism is good for the economy. Talking to locals….they all acknowledge the money and jobs it generates, which helps improve the standard of living…. The important thing is to be able to contribute in this way without causing environmental damage.

The local economy in Guatemala

We have seen some very good examples of tourism done well, like in Laos, where the tourist industry is in its early days and is being developed with [sustainability] in mind. Tourism can also help preserve natural environments. For example, on the Mexican Pacific Coast parts of the mangrove swamps are being preserved as a tourist attraction instead of being destroyed to make way for a shrimp farm.

You can also use your time as a traveler to contribute to the country you are visiting by volunteering. We’ve done this in a few places – be it talking to Chinese students in their ‘English Corner’ or building a path around a lake in Siberia – you get so much more out of the country and give something back as well.

There are of course risks to poorly planned tourism booms. We’ve heard how other mangrove swamps in Mexico have been destroyed to make way for hotels, how sex tourists come to Cambodia to take advantage of the poor and have seen great swathes of land being concreted over to accommodate more tourist facilities.

Volunteering in Siberia

Even when we were building the Great Baikal Trail around Lake Baikal in Siberia I did at times wonder whether opening up the lake and promoting ‘ecotourism’ is a good thing, as the Russians who came to use the path, camp and enjoy the lake left behind huge piles of rubbish.

So even if the intentions are good, if the culture of the country is not mindful of the environment it can cause problems.

“Ecotourism” seems to be a massively abused word worldwide with no guarantee that an eco-hotel or ecotourism tour is any better than a standard one. So really it is up to the individual traveler to make sure that the journey they take and the decisions they make not only enhance the adventure and fun, but also benefit the locals and don’t inadvertently harm the environment.

BNT: What are your goals during and after this trip?

LL: Goals during the trip: To be nosy really. To have a look at how other people live their lives, eat different foods, gain conclusive evidence that English beer is the best and spend time on a paradise beach.

I also wanted to prove that you can travel lightly and have a good time. I’ve also been interested to see what’s happening across the world in terms of climate change, in actual climatic changes and people’s attitudes to tackling it. The blog has also been an ongoing goal, and has really helped focus my mind on what’s happening around me.

My goals after the trip – to publish a book about our adventures and demonstrate how you can travel around the world without such negative environmental consequences. It would be great if, as a result, some people were inspired to take the train instead of the plane on some of their journeys. I’d also like to try and grow an avocado tree.

TF: Back home, I seem to have an [voracious] appetite for books, magazines and television programmes about the various peoples and places of this planet and I’m always itching to get out there and meet them. I love to learn about other people’s lives and cultures, and perhaps also tell them a bit about my own.

I also fully believe the world’s problems cannot be resolved without education and the best way of doing this is to go out there and learn for yourself. Perhaps we’ve given some people a different perspective on things (we’ve met some people with incredibly misinformed views of the world/the UK) and likewise, it’s helped me to understand the mentality behind counties such as China and Russia.

We’ve made friends all along the way and these will be people we hope to stay in contact with, and perhaps see, in the UK or abroad, in the future.

Yes, the book is the big, immediate goal once we get home. We also got engaged, as I mentioned earlier, so there will be wedding bells next year.

A friend back home, on telling him about our trip, said to me: “Traveling? Haven’t you grown out of that?”. Likewise, my parents are hoping that this trip will slake my wanderlust and salve my itchy feet. I think they’re going to be disappointed.

Lara’s always accusing me of planning the next trip whilst not paying enough attention to the current one. I disagree, but I am harbouring ambitions to visit the Middle East – an area which has always fascinated me – so why not a smaller circumnavigation – of the Mediterranean? We’ll wait and see…

BNT: Any parting thoughts/insights/memories you’d like to share?

TF: Can I quote the world’s wisest teenager, Ferris Bueller?

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

From a long, long list, highlights I have to include:

Russia: Encounters with drunken Russian soldiers on the Trans-Siberian railway and discussing the finer points of Russia-West relations with airforce pilots using a picture book and hand gestures; taking a naked dip after a long hot day’s work in the chilly waters of Lake Baikal, whilst the sun sinks over the horizon and the moon and Venus come out to greet us.

Japan: Pruning large branches off trees with a rusty saw from the precarious platform of a tractor bucket; soaking in steaming hot onsen hot baths fed by volcanic waters in Hokkaido; meeting the many bizarre, eccentric folk of Tokyo and witnessing the phenomenon of the ‘salary man’, the motor of the Japanese economy; visiting Hiroshima, site of the world’s first nuclear bomb attack.

China: Staying in a traditional old hutong neighbourhood, cycling around the tiny streets, visiting markets and eating steamed dumplings.

Laos: Driving an elephant across a river, perched atop its neck, and visiting the phenomenal falls springing up from underground in the jungle during the rainy season.

Thailand: Spotting Giant Hornbills in a national park and hearing the incredible rush of their wing feathers as they flew over.

Cambodia: Coming face-to-face with, er, the faces at the famous temple of the Bayon.

Crew of the CMA CGM Hugo

Pacific crossing: The entire voyage, the sense of immensity, the sunrises and sunsets, the whales and flying fish, the companionship of the Filipino crew, learning about navigation, international trade and the utterly different living people make at sea, and witnessing the changing shifts in economic power in the world as we visited Chinese and American ports.

USA: Staying in Liz Taylor’s old house in Hollywood, having fun with five young chaps who’d left Chicago/Des Moines to come and ‘make it in the movies’; hitching rides across the spectacular, lonely scenery of southern California, Arizona and New .

Mexico: Spending Christmas with a Mexican family and 30 of their relatives, smashing piñatas and taking part in a traditional celebration.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION: For tips on planning a round-the-world journey by land and water, check out Lara’s and Tom’s tips here.

All photos courtesy of World in Slow Motion.

Feature photo by davitydave.

Pauline Frommer might be The First Daughter Of Budget Travel, having grown up around her father’s guidebook dynasty. She is currently the editor of her own series (The Pauline Frommer’s Guides), a CNN travel regular and voices a weekly radio show, which she co-hosts with her dad, Arthur.

As I recall, you’ve just spent quite a time researching Las Vegas. How much time have you spent there?

I was there for about a month. I spent two months there for the first edition of my book and I was updating it. The problem with Vegas is that it changes every minute. Especially in this current economic crisis. Prices there are plummeting, mostly because the city has lost about a quarter of the flights that used to serve it.

I can see how it would be hard hit. In 2009, what happens to the five star hotel that relied on steady flow of $500 a night, rack-rate clients?

They are very, very quietly discounting. If you go to their websites they will still quote you that $500 per night rate. If you go through a discounter, you’ll find that you get them for $150 or $200 per night.

The truth is that every part of the travel industry – budget and luxury – is in huge trouble right now. I think that the luxury operators are trying desperately to hold onto their pricing, hoping that some suckers won’t recognize that things have changed.

You seem intent on helping people be at home in new places, whether it be a apartment rental vs hotel, or a neighborhood restaurant versus a bistro with three forks and four knives per place setting. How did that end up becoming a mission for you?

My father and I have always approached travel politically, in a certain way. We both believe that we wouldn’t be electing the leaders that we do if we were a better-traveled people.

I know that there are much more helpful things I could be doing but within travel, I would never do luxury because I love to open doors for people who think those doors are closed to them. That’s part of it.

The other part is that I think the best experience one has when one is traveling is meeting actual folks in the places that you’re going to, rather than just the concierge at your hotel.

Photo above by Caitlinator.

I love a term that I read amongst your writing. “Complain Effectively.” What kind of things do people do incorrectly when trying to sort out a dicey situation?

Nobody gets anywhere by screaming and shouting. You have to ask very calmly to speak with someone who actually has power – usually that’s not the person right in front of you. You catch more flies with honey, as they say.

People have created careers around travel problems. They make it sound if it’s incredibly important if you are delayed, that you make sure that you get on the next plane out. That might give you a little bit more vacation but you also might take years off of your life with the stress you are causing to your heart, by screaming at the person, “I have my rights!”

Sometimes things are going to go wrong. That’s the nature of travel. Travel is about exploration. It’s not about what your rights are, in my mind. I think that it’s an ugly way to approach travel.

It was fascinating to watch print guidebooks try to integrate a web component. Frommer’s was one of the first to really start digging into how this might be done. As the founding editor of that site, can you tell me a bit what that was like to figure it all out?

There was no blueprint whatsoever. We really were trying all kinds of things. It was a very exciting time. It felt like the gold rush and the immediacy of being able to talk to readers, to hear directly what their questions were.

I would spend 90 minutes a day just answering emails and giving travel advice. I still go onto the Frommers.com message boards and answer questions for people because I find it incredibly helpful to see what the questions are.

With print, a trusted name generally leads you to solid reviews and information. Online, you might be getting a cloak and dagger review from a hotel manager. How can you spot good advice on the internet?

My father keeps posting blogs about how you have to be careful with user-generated reviews. Everybody writes back, “I can tell when they’re fixed.” I don’t think you can. There are people hired by these hotels – it’s called ‘buzz marketing.’ They understand that a great review on Tripadvisor leads to a huge uptake in business. I think it’s important to read the trusted names.

Yes, you can look at Tripadvisor and the like. They can be helpful with trips like if there is construction nearby, but I think you really need to take it with a grain of salt.

Photo by digitaljournal.com.

I have friends that can’t find a bathroom without locating it on their iPhone first. Everything seems to be moving between two fingers…where do you think travel print will be in five years?

I think print will all be online, probably. It just seems to be going in that direction. As a web editor it was very interesting to learn how to edit on the web.

A lot of it was about how difficult it is to read things online – it’s just hard on the eyes. So you had to write in a different way, you really had to nugget-ize the information. I became very conscious of where I placed photos and things like that.

I think that those concerns seem to be going away with this next wave of technology. The Kindle is very easy on the eyes…as the technology gets better for reading these things, I think that paper books may go the way of the dodo bird.

You have two kids under ten…what did you learn from your parents about traveling with children?

If you talk to my father about traveling with children he will give you one word; ‘don’t.’ He thinks it’s a waste of time and money.

I do not. I think what I’ve learned is that you try to make things fun, that as they get older you integrate them into the planning of the trip, so that they have some kind of feeling of ownership, so that it’s not just something that is happening to them, that they have a say.

You’ve got to be willing to take some time off from the usual tourist things and just go sit in the park. I have to say, that can be the most fun part of the vacation because you meet local parents.

You’ve seen your share of must-go destinations come and go over the years. Is there one place that has stayed tried and true for you?

I think that a lot of travel writers have this idea that if it’s not discovered, it’s not worth going to anymore. I think that there is a reason that certain destinations – like Paris, New York, The Grand Canyon – are on the perennial must-do list. It’s because they have incredible riches and wonders.

Yes, you might have to see them in a crowd of tourists…but quite honestly, the must-go-to’s haven’t changed that much in the past 20 years.

[Editor's Note: This is the first part of a two part interview with Lara Lockwood and Tom Fewins, who are traveling around the world without ever stepping foot onto an airplane. Part two will appear on BNT tomorrow.]

Photo: Tanya Dropbear

BNT: When did the idea for this trip start to form? How long did it take you to put the whole trip together? Any particular reasons for choosing the route you did?

TF: We can’t recall the exact moment when we came up with the idea but it was definitely in a pub somewhere in London when I suggested it to Lara. I’ve been keen on doing a long trip overland for quite some time, entertaining various ridiculous ideas such as driving from London to Cape Town in a London taxi.

Photo: orphanjonesr

More recently, as we’ve grown more aware of quite how acute the whole climate change problem is, and how aviation is linked to it, we’ve become more interested in other forms of transport. We thought… we could link these two interests together and maybe even help persuade a few other people of the joys of surface travel….

It obviously is a massive commitment, entailing leaving our houses, jobs, families, friends and indeed country, in order to undertake the trip, so we had to mull it over for a while – at least a year or so – before firmly committing ourselves. Plus there were, of course, our jobs to think about, and a lot of money to save up!

We set a date by when we had to decide for sure and as the day arrived – a cold Saturday morning in November – we looked out the window and said: “What are we doing, we can’t pass up an opportunity like this?” and went for it. Seven months later we were on the Eurostar to Brussels, day one of our trip.

The six months preceding this were busy with organising everything – booking tickets, finding a boat for the Pacific, finding specialist insurance, finding volunteer placements, sketching out a rough route…. Millions of things to think about!

There was so much information we needed…and it took a long time sniffing this all out (particularly with full-time jobs and busy social lives) – libraries, bookshops, websites, friends and contacts. That’s why we designed a website that offered more than simply an account of our adventures, providing useful information for other travellers as well, and that‘s why we’re… writing a book….

Photo: caveman_92223

There were several reasons for choosing the route we picked: visiting friends and family en route; particular interest in those countries; particular interest in places. The key principle behind the route was heading east, gradually, giving us time to take in and appreciate many of the changes en route – countries and places had to fit in with this.

Plus we set ourselves a limit of 10 months away (financial and family reasons) so our ideal route – south down through Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore-Australia-New Zealand-Panama and up to the US – had to be ditched. Far too much for 10 months; we had to be realistic. After all, this was in slow motion!

BNT:

Photo: Thirteen of Clubs

A lot of the negatives you list about plane travel–foul food, snoring adults, screaming babies– can be found on buses, trains and other forms of transportation as well. And to a certain extent, all forms of transportation… accelerate the amount of time it would take a human being to move between places….

What is it about the airplane that you particularly dislike, and that encouraged you to forgo plane travel? What makes airplane travel so different from travel on other types of transportation?

TF: I would say that travelling by train is far more comfortable and enjoyable; for buses, well it’s a bit of a mixed bag but at least you have the chance to get out and stretch your legs and look at something other than the back of the seat in front of you for a few hours…however I think I’d like to turn your question on its head… and say what is it I like about not flying.

We are not anti-flying, and we certainly don’t anticipate that people will simply stop flying.

There are some great things about flying: I love the sensation of flying, looking down at the planet passing below you.

But we wanted to do things that flying simply doesn’t give you enough opportunity to do, such as… watch the world change gradually around us. We have the opportunity to notice and appreciate the differences, large and small between towns, cities, regions, countries. We can watch the people change, the landscape change, the food, the climate.

It’s different. It’s less predictable. Possibly more adventurous and certainly more fun. We’re not always sure what lies ahead….

We follow a route less trodden, where we hope to happen across the new and unexpected. We’re not saying that we’re the 21st century equivalent of David Livingstone or Vasco de Gama, but it’s nice to try something different.

Of course, people travelled like this in the ‘olden days’ and it seemed more of an adventure then – think of all the wonderful travel accounts…are out there from such times. So there’s a bit of a romantic element about it as well.

Or perhaps that’s because I proposed to Lara on the container ship in the middle of the Pacific…(she said yes!)

Photo: tanvach

The same could go for train stations – they are often wonderful places, full of life. I love to visit them in Europe and look at all the different destinations on the departures board – you can just buy a ticket and saunter on. No long queues, no long, intrusive security check. Possibilities.

And who wants to hang around in an airport?

There’s always… the environmental aspect: Climate change is the greatest threat facing this planet, or at least our own existence as a species, and we all need to play a part in averting its more extreme effects.

Aircraft emissions are responsible for a considerable amount of CO2 and – perhaps more importantly – its proportion to overall CO2 emissions is growing rapidly. Factor in… the ‘warming’ effect of CO2, [which produces] far greater damage when pumped into the atmosphere at 30,000 ft, and you can see that the current trends of aviation are simply not environmentally sustainable.

We’re not saying that we’re never going to tread on a plane ever again, but we would only do this as long as it fits into our own personal carbon budget (a concept that many government and corporations are already moving towards).

LL: I personally don’t enjoy flying at all. I don’t like the check-in queues, the cabin air, the fact that your joints swell up when flying, the tightly packed rows of seats, and being fed bad food…all at the same time.

Being on a plane makes me feel like a commodity, not a person. Trains, buses, and boats seem to have more space and you can decide when and what you eat.

Before I left I was working in the field of sustainable development and for my own integrity I decided to significantly cut down the amount I fly.

BNT: How do you think airplane travel, and the huge increase in airplane travel in the past 30 years, has changed the nature of travel? How does it change the way people think about and experience travel?

TF: [P]erhaps it makes people take things a bit more for granted. You can just jump on a plane and be in Cairo or Sydney within a few hours.

But I wonder whether we lose something because of this as well as gain something. While planes massively reduce the effort you have to expend in getting to a place, perhaps they also reduce your appreciation of it once you’re there?

You have little time to savour the experience of getting there or noticing the changes that occur as London changes to Beijing. Instead it’s just one big culture shock – bang, you’re in China! By travelling slowly we have the opportunity to be gradually introduced to such places, noticing the first chili in our food, hearing the first Mandarin, seeing the first tuk tuk….

I guess we need to look at the question: Why travel?

Do we just want a holiday or do we want to see something different? A break from the routine, the mundane, the familiar, the predictable? Some people do, some don’t. And I fully understand worn-out parents and stressed-out executives who just want to get away from it all for a couple of weeks and lie on a beach somewhere hot.

But cheap flights and jumbo jets have certainly changed how we travel and how we think about it. They also are part of the creeping homogenisation of our world.

The world is so interconnected that some places are becoming carbon copies of others (like airports). It seems that some cities and cultures are blending into one in a great onslaught of homogenisation – I lost count of the number of Manchester United shirts I saw in Southeast Asia, the number of Coca Cola adverts I saw in Mexico.

Photo: larry&flo

And we’ve met people around the world who are keen to show us how eagerly they are embracing Western attitudes, businesses, clothing, and food, and seem almost embarrassed… to disclose the more traditional aspects of their culture.

If we are going to live in a world where we can just hop across the Prague for a night or spend five days shopping in Dubai aren’t we losing our sense of the world?

I’d rather enjoy the fantastic opportunities slow travel offers to appreciate the differences which, after all, make this world such a wonderfully diverse and endlessly fascinating place.

BNT: Do you have a particular travel philosophy, or notion of what traveling should be? How does traveling by plane fit within this philosophy?

TF: It’s different boats for different folks.

I’m not sure that what we think can be described as a philosophy and I don’t want to think that the way we see things is not so rigid that we can’t be flexible enough to give other things a try.

Photo: Sir Mervs

At present, I want to travel in a manner that allows me to interact with and appreciate the country and the culture we are passing through, not to view it from a… distance. We want to experience something different from life back home and document and celebrate these differences, whether it be a rickety old hamburger stall in West Hollywood or a Naxi matriarch in Lijiang.

These are the things that add up to make the world such a wonderful, varied, endlessly fascinating place.

Plus the act of travelling itself is important – it‘s intrinsic to our trip. Like the old adage I guess we often enjoy the journey almost as much as the destination itself….

We’re incredibly lucky to have this chance to spend months wandering around the world but most people don’t. And if you’ve only got two weeks to go on holiday most people don’t want to spend half of it on trains and buses.

Everyone should be given – and take – the opportunity to see another part of the world, but they shouldn’t do this at the expense of the environment, the life-support system that nurtures and maintains the very things we set out to see.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION: If you’re considering a round the world trip slow motion style, check out the companion article about Lara’s and Tom’s journey on The Traveler’s Notebook.