My trip in my words: Subjectivities, time(s) and mobilities in slow travel blogs

Abstract

With roots in the slow movement, slow travel is an emerging trend. In slow travel, the use of clean transportation is identified by some authors as a distinguishing characteristic of the concept; however, diversity of choices and profiles seems to contradict this assessment. To date, typologies of slow travellers are still scarce and any connections with mobility and time remain to be investigated, particularly concerning slow travel literature. In this article, using a qualitative approach, we analysed the discourse of a set of slow travellers who author a travel blog to understand their experiences, the interconnection between (slow) travel and blogging and how they represent time and mobility. The results indicate that slow travel blogs are not only a robust source of information concerning the emergence of this travel mode but also a product and producer of it, in a dialectic process. The subjective perceptions and representations of slowness are a central element of the discourse framing the travel experience. Contradictions between the slowness of the travel mode and the instantaneity of the blog emerged, and an interpretation is proposed, based on the voices of the travellers/bloggers.