More slow travel, please

This September, I visited Crete, Greece. From Seattle, my partner and I flew through Frankfurt to Athens, then boarded a nine-hour, overnight ferry to the island. To combat jet lag and optimize for comfort, we booked a sleeper cabin with a shower. We hopped on, showered, enjoyed our first tastes of feta and moussaka, and then slept until our arrival.

After spending a wonderful week in Crete, we headed back to Athens, this time by air. It seemed like the most efficient decision, but it wasn’t the right one.

After a busy week shuffling between charming coastal villages and the city of Heraklion, we were spent. We spent the day of our flight lugging our suitcases across Heraklion, trying to see the sights while also keeping a close eye on the clock. When the time was right—a conservative two hours before our flight—we found our bus stop and rode the short distance to the airport. Once there, it was clear we had a long wait ahead in Heraklion’s small, overcrowded airport. We chose to sit outside for as long as possible, soaking in the last rays of Cretan sun and finishing off a bottle of homemade honey raki gifted to us by one of our hosts. The sun and alcohol dulled our senses enough to wade through security and sit like sardines for another hour until our flight boarded.

Arriving in Athens an hour later, we headed directly to the metro. Having been through this flow once before, we were grateful to avoid consulting the map once again. After a 45-minute ride to the center of Athens, we deboarded and heading straight up Lycabettus Hill toward our next stay.

So what?

This experience made me question the true cost of efficiency during our flight from Crete to Athens. It was just one of many trips I've planned that involved multiple flights between destinations that felt close, but not quite close enough. On a short ten-day trip, one hidden cost of air travel, for me, is the toll it takes on personal energy—not to mention the environmental tax!

I was relieved to discover that I wasn't alone in this realization. At the Frankfurt airport, I picked up Monocle’s The Forecast for 2024 and read a feature on the growing demand for sleeper trains across Europe. Travelers are increasingly choosing this option, which comes at roughly half the carbon cost of flying, while allowing them to arrive at their destinations comfortable and well-rested.

I’ll think differently next time. Meanwhile, operators like the Royal Scotsman keep me starry-eyed about the potential of hospitality in train travel. Experiments like France’s ban on short-haul domestic flights signal the benefits of a more sustainable alternative to air travel that’s better for the planet.