The Quiet, Everlasting Benefits of Travel

Why seeing the world is still the best experience you can give yourself

When I travelled for work, shooting garden and design books all over the world many years ago, I often became burned out. I couldn’t figure out why?

But then I realised: This is not travel. A view out a plane window. A quick photo shoot in a house or garden, a nondescript meal in a nondescript diner, then a long drive back to an airport to drop off the hire car and head on to the next place.

Fleeting glimpses.

That is not how you should experience the world.

Then, in my late thirties and early forties (it took that long to wise up!), I started to slow down, spend longer in places. I remember spending a wondrous week on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard one year, in simple guesthouses near the sea. I think one of these cost just US$60/night?

One day, I hired a bike for $10, tucked my camera in the bike basket, and rode across Martha’s Vineyard to the Haven to shoot a house (top left) for a book, called Coast. When I arrived, the owners greeted me with equal parts joy and alarm. “Where is the rest of the crew?”, they said. “Everyone else who comes here from New York shoots comes with a truck of furniture and a team of 50!”

I leaned my bike against their white picket fence and laughed and said: “This is the way we travel now”.

(BTW I am still friends with this wonderful couple. See their funny review Amazon below.)

The next day I took my camera, hopped on the little local bus and went to Edgartown, on the far end of Martha’s Vineyard, to photograph another house. This one was grander. The lawns unfurled down to the sea, lined by beds of blue hydrangeas, and there was a personal note from Lee Radziwill on the table.

It was a world away from my $60/night room. But these people were just as kind as the last hosts: they wore crumpled linen and garden shoes from weeding the garden, and after they showed me their flower room they came to the gate to wave goodbye while I walked down the drive, past their old ‘Woody’ station wagon and their beautiful dogs. Their beautiful lives.

An another island, in another year, this time off the coast of Savannah, my host, the inimitable interior designer Jane Coslick (still a dear friend), kindly loaned me her own bike – pink this time, to match the cottage she also loaned me – and I rode around the island’s sandy paths for three days, shooting beach cottages in shades of chartreuse and faded watermelon.

One night Jane threw a party for me, and invited all her neighbours. Now I don’t drink much but I did that night. It was late-summer and everyone was celebrating, dancing, riding bikes, calling out to each other as if characters in a Nicholas Sparks novel, their smiles as wide as the island.

After the party, I rode Jane’s bike home at midnight, in a clearly drunk state, singing Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline at the top of my voice.

It is still one of the most blissful weeks I can remember.

This, to me, is what travel is all about.

Unrestrained. Joyful. Companionable. Memorable.

Life enhancing.

I am now preparing to embark on another adventure. This one is personal, a pilgrimage of sorts. (NB: I know I’ve mentioned this, so feel free to scroll on.) It includes a week or more hiking the legendary Camino, walking across the top of Spain and its whimsical guesthouses (above) to the great cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in time for Easter Friday and the city’s famous processions. Then I’m flying to Rome in time for Mass on Easter Sunday. Then another hike, the legendary Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast.

I’m not Catholic but I’m doing it for my father and my grandmother, who were Catholic. It’s a Holy Year, a special year. I will be remembering them in all the churches, in all the landscapes, in all the skies, in all the gardens and city squares, and especially in the quiet moments.

There will be gardens, too. The grand garden of Pazo de Oca in Spain (the ‘Versailles’ of Spain). The gardens of Ninfa (the most romantic garden in the world, according to Monty Don). The Iris Garden in Florence. Rome’s Rose Garden. Hotel de Ruisse (above) and the Boboli Gardens.

Afterwards, there will be work. But for one slow month, there will be flowers, good food and friends.

The best kind of travel.

I hope you find your own pilgrimage this year, whether it’s to see gardens you’ve always wanted to see, cities you’ve always wanted to explore, UNESCO sights you’ve always wanted to experience, oceans you’ve always wanted to swim in, hikes you’ve always wanted to walk.

Here are a few affordable ways to do it.

STAY IN CHEAP PLACES

If you’re going to expensive destinations, such as Harbour Island (above) or Capri, find the cheapest hotels. It’s much nicer to spend your hard-earned money on experiences, I think. You can always experience a famous hotel by having lunch or dinner there. And sometimes the simplest hotels can be the most charming. I often find hotels by looking on Google Maps. I find a neighbourhood I want to stay in, then search for hotels on Google Maps. I then check Google Images, Street View, and reviews if there are any. I also use The Telegraph (newspaper), which has the best hotels for affordable prices. (Note: It has a paywall.)

Here are some fabulous but cheap hotels to bookmark.

On Capri, try The Canasta. In Rome, try The Bloom. In London, try The Coach and Horses in Kew (recently renovated) or The Orange Tree in Richmond. In Lisbon, try Casa do Principe or H10 Duque de Loulé. In Paris, try Maison Malasherbes. In New York, try The Marlton.

You can also stay in convents for as little as 40 Euros / night. The rooms are simple but lovely, and the nuns will even give you a free breakfast. There are convents that rent rooms to travellers in Rome, Florence and even the Amalfi Coast. (Google convents and rooms for guests for details.)

FIND UNUSUAL PLACE TO SEE

One of the most remarkable hotels I’ve ever seen was Playa Grande, on the island of the Dominican Republic (above). Everything was designed like a garden. Even the beds. But there are wondrous places like this everywhere. Bill Benson’s hotels are incredible. So, too, are the hotels designed by Lázaro Rosa-Violán in Spain and Portugal. (Only You, in Madrid). And look up in Triana House in Seville – amazing!

The same goes for UNESCO sights. I keep a list of UNESCO sights I want to see – the Appia Antica is one. You could build entire travel itineraries around these extraordinary places.

GET AWAY FROM THE CROWDS

Travel out of season. It’s the only way to travel now. The world has become so crowded. So chaotic. And so dangerous, with petty crime everywhere, especially in peak tourist season.

I’ve started travelling in April and October. I used to travel in May and September, but even those months are becoming expensive and intolerable. Plus, travel is SO much cheaper out of season.

AND FINALLY… TAKE PHOTOS! LOTS OF THEM!

I often forget to take photos. It’s the modern ‘thing’ – to put the camera down; remember the moment in your head and your heart. But the danger is, you can forget to capture the moment electronically. So I now take an special iPad and take photos on it. The iPad has become like my photo album. I have a small camera too, a Canon. But the iPad seems easier? I can scroll through it while waiting at airports.

My mother always took photos of all their trips around the world, and I cherish the ones she has given me (above), especially those of my father doing funny things. She has hundreds of these photo albums. Thick with memories.

I’ve asked her if I can have them in her Will.

Those funny old travel photos are more precious than anything else she could give me. I will treasure them forever.