How to broaden one’s horizon without betraying one’s desire for ethics? Trains, micro-adventures, road trips, rare stopovers… far from mass tourism, some more planet-friendly ideas for holidays.
In the famous “World After”, we have not stopped traveling. But we have adapted our ways of doing it. More slowmore responsible, more thoughtful, more committed…
We rediscover the poetry of the rail
The train is low carbon, we know it ! Until recently, we saw this asset from a purely utilitarian perspective, when the TGV trip was worth it. For the rest, we left the rustic joys of the Interrail Pass to those under 27… Rail travel now claims to be an art of travelling, economical and meditative. The writer’s Instagram account @nicolasmathieuwho often recounts his provincial wanderings as a promotional author, is a little gem for this imperative. Holidays by train, 40 trips without a car to travel through France from station to stationof the Michelin Guide, released in the spring, is sold by wagons.
For those who are left cold by the magic of the French Intercités, the luxury train to foreign countries, with an overnight stay and an elegant dinner on board, is also on the rise. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is once again transporting, literally and figuratively, glamorous lovers of the Serenissima, Prague, Budapest or Vienna (belmond.com). Many spectacular trains roam in Spain, Scotland, the Balkans (traindeluxe.com). As for the mythical historic company East Express, Now a subsidiary of the Accor group, it will resume service in 2023 with six very chic Dolce Vita trains that will criss-cross Italy (orient-express.com). The start-up Midnight Trains plans for its part, from 2024, the launch of very neat “hotels on rail”, which will rally around ten European cities from Paris (midnight-trains.com). In short, we are on the right track…
All the information on French and European rail tourism: voyageursentrain.fr
We no longer swear by THE “plans B” (not to be disclosed!)
Flee the raging crowd of cult European cities for alternative destinations that are still (a little) unknown? Unearth in the hot spots these parcels of authenticity that are hidden there? This double aspiration is being emulated more and more, especially since the revenge trip post-pandemic has relaunched the infernal machine of mass tourism. By tracking down recommendations on the Web, we therefore play Treviso against Venice, Navarre against the Spanish Basque Country, the Azores against all the other islands… the supplement of soul, with tips of premises and “hidden” addresses (aweekabroad.com, lostin.com, editionspapier.com, julie-flamingo.com or jonglezpublishing.com). And then, when you have – finally – come across a nugget, you protect your sources, you no longer reveal your addresses to the whole world, via Instagram or your Mapster (possibly to your friends, and again…). Even if it means adopting the WWF method, which suggests using the fictitious location “I protect nature” on its posts, rather than giving the real place…
In video, the nine commandments of the eco-responsible traveler
We dream of being a nomad when we hit the road again
The old dream of the 1970s is a period fantasy again. the nomadism digital, made possible by telework and glorified by the generation Z, has it quenched the desires of the more classic traveller? Be that as it may, road trips without constraints, by van or by bike, are appealing to increasingly large audiences. The inflation of the literature devoted to van life speaks for itself: route guides in France or Europe and manuals for fitting out your van (or cooking in it like a chef) are legion. Ditto for the bike, which comes out of the radius bicycle tourisma bit old-fashioned, to become the decidedly trendier ride a bike (from the name of these modern saddlebags which allow you to carry the essentials without weighing three tons). Voyageurs du Monde – which already has a substantial offer – has just acquired the European leader in this booming market… “Cycling is without doubt the best way to travel”, exalts the Bike Café site, dedicated media, which recommends reading Nomadic bikes (Tana Editions), THE bible to get. In fact, new enthusiasts will rather rent 5-star vans, with themed decor, select recommended routes and travel angels to manage the imponderables (nomadism.com). Or will turn to cycle tour agencies with cozy accommodation and luggage transport, preferably in Austria, the paradise of the genre! But the intent is there…
We put meaning back into our engine
Jump on a plane without thinking about his CO2 balance ? Consuming exoticism like buying a mango at the market? Disregard the more or less democratic practices of the countries where you go? Without having to be totally irreproachable on all these subjects, the 2022 tourist questions and questions himself. The exhibition Do you have to travel to be happy? at the EDF Foundation (until January 29, 2023, fondation.edf.com) will help him, through the works of some thirty artists, to answer this burning question: “Infinite mobility in a finite world is possible?”
Some decide to boycott certain destinations (the site of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the UN, is very enlightening, ohchr.org); still others systematically compensate for their air travel (info: goodplanet.org). The travel writers of the past and “their praise of slowness” also once again become a reference to explore: a collection of unpublished texts by Ella Maillart, My travel philosophy (Éditions Petite Bibliothèque Payot) has just been published. The great adventurer of the beginning of the XXe century remains remarkably acute in its relationship to the “always renewed pleasure of diversity”. And the irrepressible human need to… travel!
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