How old-fashioned transport services are proving that it’s not the destination but how you get there that counts.
The hire car service. The speed jet. It seems we spend our lives chasing the faster, better and more. We no longer want to take the scenic route. The destination, the finish line and the time we make it in seems to be what counts.
However, an emerging trend among travellers has seen us opt out of the race and step into alternative transport. Man-powered and animal-powered transportation has become a new old love in 2014.
Marsh!
The first on our list of renewed trends is the dog-sled. Think snow, old-world Europe and an army of dogs whizzing you over the slopes. The lure of the dog sled has become so great that Norway’s Kirkness Snowhotel launched the world’s first taxi sled service. Offering transfers from the airport to hotel, passengers are given thermal suits and are whisked through the Norwegian landscape by eight huskies.
How long it tuk?
The clustered streets of Bangkok are no friend to drivers, pedestrians, or anyone who respects road rules. That is why the tuk tuk has become the flavour du jour for many international visitors hoping to avoid the ugly, and incessant, bumper-to-bumper traffic. The good? The tuk tuk is compact so it has the ability to weave through traffic (well, in some places at least). The bad? You need to learn how to haggle. And I mean haggle. Many a tuk tuk driver knows how to spot a weary face dying to get to their destination.
Canal canoe?
An alternative transport list is just not complete without the curved hulls of a beautiful gondola sailing you through the canals of Venice. The romantic city has picked up on the boat trend and now provides packages to make the trip the actual attraction, as opposed to the destination itself. Picture a tour of Venice on a gondola, or a romantic dinner and serenade as you cruise the canals of this picturesque city. Sure beats sitting in peak-hour traffic in the back of a cab, ammiright?