Slow travel and solo travel both hit record search interest this year, but the numbers describe a practice, not a mood: fewer places, more days, going alone.
Staying put lowers the footprint because the flight is the whole carbon story. A 2024 Leeds study found trips over 50 miles are under 3 percent of all journeys yet roughly 70 percent of travel's emissions. Sprinting five cities just stacks more long flights on the one that got you there.
And alone is not lonely: of the solo travelers looking to meet people, only 3.7 percent met no one. For women it is not symmetric, though: 68 percent name safety as a top concern.
Not five countries in a story. One broth, and the week it takes to be charged the local price.
