They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In my case, back in August, the journey was more like 4,000 miles, and that first step was more a metaphorical one: planning.

 

The 4,000 miles in question were between my home in Canada and my familial home in England. Those miles represented a big investment in time, money, focus and environmental cost.

 

But let’s rewind a bit. Why was I carting my family across continents, and why was I doing it at peak travel season?

 

Since playschool, I’d been part of a group of five friends. Over forty years later, they’ve all settled down within a ten-mile radius of the little English village we grew up in. I’m the odd one who has moved over fifteen times (much to their confusion each time the Christmas cards need to be sent out!), and we’re all still connected on our WhatsApp group. So when one of the girls sent out a wedding invitation for August this year, I knew I had to be there.

 

That’s where the planning comes in. I am all about traveling responsibly both professionally and personally, and I knew I needed to plan this trip to make the most out of it. I accepted we had to fly to and from the UK, with the associated costs and environmental impact. But how could I be smart with what we did in between those flights?

 

Stay longer, stay local.

 

Previous trips home have lasted around two weeks, but those tended to be rushed affairs, zooming around the country to see friends and relatives, eating out, and heading home stressed. For this trip, I planned three weeks, meaning we could take our time. This also meant we had time to lean into local living and embrace the Slow Travel movement.

 

Slow travel means fewer air miles, more money in the hands of local businesses – we made significant investments in the local bakers on an almost daily basis – and a more restful time overall.

For someone like me, who likes to fill every moment with plans and activities, this was a challenge, but I soon got into the swing of things.

 

We stayed in a local AirBnB, which meant we could do laundry and thus pack lighter; we could have family stay with us to reduce costs and impact; it even gave me time to restore my shoes at the local cobbler. The repaired shoes are, I now have learned courtesy of a marvellous TEDx Talk called Turn tourism into a force for the global Good, a ‘sustainable souvenir.’ The talk is well worth a watch for anyone looking to travel responsibly.

 

Rail is the way.

I’ve got a pen pal in Germany who I’d been promising to return for almost thirty years now, and I wanted to make this trip the one when I kept that promise. But to see her, we took the train. Yes, a flight would have been faster and cheaper, but we had created the time we needed, and the train trips were exciting, scenic, and almost hassle-free, not to mention much more environmentally friendly. I’m really inspired by trains as a better mode of travel now, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on them, too!

 

Go beyond the beaten path.

Visiting England for tourists almost always means a trip to London. But as we were intentional about living as locals, we didn’t go up to the capital. Instead, we did our research on attractions closer to our home base. We took advantage of the proper summer weather and went on lots of picnics, jumped in an outdoor pool in Bourne, and visited Burghley House. I was totally inspired by what I remembered to be a stuffy stately home, but now it offers a broader tourism product perfect for families. More on that in another blog!

 

Bleisure Centre

As much as it’s a trend in the business travel world to add a little leisure travel to one’s work trips, I wanted to flip the switch and add a little work to my leisure. It wouldn’t be an Anna trip without some sneaky research!

We took a two-day trip to Liverpool to see it with fresh visitors’ eyes, and to gain some more knowledge on an exciting project I’m working on (again, more on that soon) and because my old address was in Cambridge and I’m always keeping an eye on things in that space, I met up with the wonderful Judith Sloane and Anita MacDonald from Meet Cambridge.

We were so lucky to be joined by The Iceberg’s James Latham. The Iceberg has been set up to promote the legacy of business and professional events. I am an ambassador for them, and I am constantly learning from the incredible work they do. Work chat can get a bad rap, but this table’s talk was fantastic, and I left totally inspired and excited to be part of our industry,

 

Celebrate

Though I’ll go into detail in later blogs about how these different elements of the trip played out, the summary is this: we had a fantastic time.

 

The wedding was beautiful, the friend reunions were heartwarming, the family time was cozy and intimate, and the business discussions left me buzzing. We took our time, invested in where we stayed and returned home refreshed and renewed. Turns out, the best way to go with the flow is to do a little planning first.