SLOW-Travel: Adelaide, along the Torrens river

Good morning from Adelaide.

I’m here for one of my likely last stays at the Intercontinental Adelaide before it goes into a multi-million dollar makeover in September 2021. The hotel has been seriously losing ground against new competitors like the Indigo Adelaide Markets, the EOS at Skycity (full reviews are in the works) the Mayfair and the new Sofitel to be opened later this year.

Slow Travel

I spent this wintery morning jogging around the Torrens River to the western edge of the city, listening to the NPR podcast ‘Invisibilia’. The episode was about slow TV in Norway, which comes as a bit of a revelation to USA viewers. America being the home of fast TV, so that isn’t much of a surprise.

Anyway, as I was jogging, which is to say walking a bit, and then jogging a bit. I thought about the idea of ‘slow travel’, given that some of the examples outlined in the program were a cruise along the Norwegian fjord ridden coastline, and a rail trip from the bottom to the top of the long thin country – going through Tromso, which I have actually visited to see the Northern Lights.

The Torrens River

In the peaceful morning, I was surprised by how beautiful some of the Torrens was despite the cold, other joggers, cyclists, people on their mobile phones on loudspeaker (you guys know who you are!), and all, almost in the centre of the City of Adelaide. So I started taking some images. I would have looked too much of a dork filming with my mobile, which would have also defeated my purpose of getting a little exercise and calming my mind.

Anyway – the images in this post are of that slow journey.

2PAXfly Takeout

The aviation industry has a difficult road ahead when it comes to sustainability. It’s going to require a relative revolution in technology, with ‘electric planes’ or hydrogen planes, or some form of jet engine that doesn’t require a carbon based fuel. And that is going to require the development of an alternative to jet engines probably.

It’s a big ask. It will take time to develop.

This move to home grown and manufactured SAF is a first step – maybe even a baby step in a very long road of innovation. In the long run, US$200 million won’t even touch the sides.

Sometimes it is easy to concentrate on getting to the destination efficiently, rather than just enjoying the journey.

After all, isn’t that why we strive for the comfort of airport lounges and cabin upgrades and great hotels through being smart with points and status credits and good airline and hotel deals?

Note to self: Remember to enjoy the journey.