Taking Our Time Off

Andrew Sims has a no-fly rule. As an international development expert and policy director for London's New Economics Foundation, he spends his days thinking globally. But when he travels on holiday, it's always closer to home; several years ago he decided never again to take a vacation by air. "The decision was partly driven by a concern for the environment," says Sims, "but it's also driven by a desire not to overlook what's on your doorstep, and to travel in a more leisurely way." Now, instead of hopping a cheap flight to Spain or the Côte d'Azur, Sims and his family board a sleeper train from London to the west coast of Scotland. They spend unstructured days amid the lochs and islands, hiking, cooking or just dreaming. The journey itself— made partly on a single track, which curves so that the back of the train is visible from the front—is a key part of the trip. No matter that it takes three times longer than flying; for Sims and his family, enjoying breakfast in bed while chugging past some of the world's most beautiful scenery is the end, not the means to get there.

Sims is at the vanguard of a popular new way to travel: in the slow lane. As work life becomes increasingly hectic, holidays are occupying a more important place in our lives; when we take a break, we want to truly step off the treadmill—even as (or maybe because) we cling to our BlackBerrys. Just as the slow-food movement encouraged diners to savor meals and the way they are produced, the trend toward slow travel promotes a more thoughtful style of vacationing. It refers not only to leisurely and environmentally friendly modes of transport—train, boat, bike or foot—but also to the nature of the trips: smaller in scope and more off-the-beaten-path—a custom-crafted trek through niche sites rather than a top-10 group tour. It generally entails quieter, more intimate accommodations—homey boutique hotels or upscale apartment swaps—and often requires taking more (gasp!) vacation days. With time shares and second-home ownership on the rise, many travelers are taking off for longer periods of time, enabled by the technology that allows them to connect to the office even as they paddle around the Arctic.

More and more, people are living for vacation. They are using up every single allotted day off, and bargaining with their employers for more time to savor their travels. Gone are the days when holidays were a discreet, predictable part of the year; today they are more typically considered an essential, non-negotiable part of life. We transition seamlessly from the drudgery of work and responsibilities of family to the pleasures of time off—and back again. Today's trips are more-organic narratives, and the traveler is the storyteller. "The whole idea of 'If it's Tuesday, it must be Belize' is completely over," says Navin Sawhney, senior VP of the Connecticut-based tour operator Tauck World Discovery. "Today's tourists view travel as a form of self-expression. They don't want to come back with an object, or even a picture. They want to come back with a story."

The trend toward leisurely, in-depth holidays, like so many others, stems from the baby boomers. They've worked hard—their white-collar toil has largely driven the past few years of global productivity growth—and now they have the money and the time to enjoy themselves. Travelers since they were teens, they've already seen the great museums of Europe, and probably the key monuments of Asia and the plains of Africa. Rather than zip through 20 countries in 20 days, they are more interested in hanging out in a remote corner of one, interacting with locals and sampling new customs. Quality and depth of experience matter far more than crossing hot spots off a checklist. This is reflected in the travel industry's new marketing campaigns, notes Alex Kyriakidis, managing partner of Deloitte's global tourism practice. "Greece invites people to 'Explore your senses'," he says. "Intercontinental [Hotels] asks, 'Are you living an Intercontinental life?'"

How does the spin translate into reality? Holidaymakers are getting plenty of time and space to tailor their days and delve deep into a topic rather than skim the surface. Today's tourists want to interact with locals and experts (sommeliers, artists, marine biologists) who can take them inside a particular world. The successful U.K.-based company Andante Travels, which specializes in ancient-world tours led by archeologists, focuses less on the big monuments than on unexpected treasures. Travelers might explore the rich prehistoric art of Leinster, England, or the secrets of Roman Germany. Often, they work on a guide's own dig. "The trips unfold as a kind of narrative each day," says owner Annabel Lawson, herself an archeologist. "It makes them much more interesting."

Not to mention leisurely. When you aren't competing with 50,000 other people for, say, a glimpse of Michelangelo's "David," you're much more likely to relax and settle into your holiday. Companies like Andante are adding no-fly vacations to their lineup. Lawson was shocked when a new train journey to a Roman military-history site in Cologne sold out in a few days. "I mean, it's not Pompeii," she says, laughing. "I thought we'd get a few history buffs, but what really sold the trip was the idea of a train journey."