How I Found My Peeps

Shannon Essa

The following is a little history on how I discovered the Slowtravel website and how through this venue, met others, who enjoy the benefits of travelling slow. It all began with planning a trip to Italy summer 2005. Thinking about and planning an itinerary are as rewarding for me as the trip itself. It's really part of the whole journey. I knew I wanted to be based in Florence where my daughter was living at the time but I also wanted to explore a few other key places since I was taking my younger daughter who had never been to Italy before. I knew I wanted to rent an apartment but where to begin? The AOL travel boards that I had used in the late 1990's was not very active so I just started blindly searching the internet. This method was unpredictable and I questioned how reliable. For every apartment that had nice descriptions and photos I wondered about the authenticity. The apartment in Florence was a bit easier as I could always ask my daughter to go in person to check but what about other cities? I was fortunate to find a beautiful looking apartment in Venice, overlooking a main canal just a couple of bridges away from the Bridge of Sighs but I needed a recommendation from a previous renter. I wrote to the apartment owner who lived in Austria. Though he normally did not do this he said he had a previous renter who had offered to be a reference. That person turned out to be a lovely correspondant from San Diego. She vouched wholeheartedly for the apartment and further, asked me if I had a copy of a book called, "Chow Venice" (a guide to restaurants and bars in Venice). She swore by this book and said she had met one of the two authors, Shannon Essa who really knew what she was writing about. She then impressed upon me that if I couldn't get the book she would send me "her" copy. It was "a must have item", she stated. So I bought the book (devoured the book) and earmarked all the places we should eat at. In reading this, there were various mentions about the slowtravel website. One day I clicked http://www.slowtrav.com/ and gave it a look. Immediately I felt like I had found a home. At long last, here was a "one stop shop" for all my travel needs and I don't mean a place to buy things. I started reading trip reports that others had written about their journeys, recommendation for restaurants, hotels, and yes, even apartment reviews from people that had just rented places. Though you can read about trips around the world I focused on Italy and found a wealth of information. Too late for this trip as I had already booked apartments in each of the cities I was going to, but here were recommendations on things "not to miss", great places and things to do from first hand visitors that had just come back from their trips. How to's of all sorts from renting cars to finding a specialty item. If you are planning a trip anywhere or even if you are not planning but just dreaming, take a look at this website. If you can tear yourself away from the trip reports or if you have any questions on travel you can go to the community "forums and message boards". Here you can ask away about any travel question. The catagories are divided into all areas of the globe. There are people on the boards that can give you tips on every aspect of travel. Since that initial introduction I have become an active participant on the message board and have been able to "pay it forward", if you will, by offering my little bits of travel experience with others. In the process of frequenting these boards I've discovered a grand community of people. In other words: " I have found my PEEPS!" Of course their love of travel and exploration are common threads. I have come to enjoy their thought processes and discoveries of places around the world and their adventurous spirits. Often these slowtravellers will meet up at impromptu or planned get-togethers around the world. These are referred to as "GTG's". The SlowBowl in Paso Robles was one of those GTG's.

Here's a little Post Script: Slowtravellers: "How did you discover the slowtrav website?"