I attempted sluggish journey and heres what I learnt in regards to the artwork of doing much less

Every 4 to 6 months, 32-year-old freelance graphic designer Salvita Rozario shuts her laptop computer in Delhi and takes off — not for journey, however to maneuver slower than town permits. “When you freelance, time can really feel elastic,” she says. “Slow journey helps me stretch it with intention.”

Her first actual experiment with this was Jaipur in 2022. She stayed for 2 weeks with a university good friend in Civil Lines — biking to cafés like Curious Life and Tapri Tea House, sketching the peeling façades alongside MI Road, and wandering by way of Johri Bazaar on languid afternoons. “Jaipur taught me that slowing down doesn’t imply being idle,” she says. “It means noticing the textures of a spot.”

At Aramness Gir in Gujarat, the place she spent 4 days in late November final yr, she learnt stillness. Mornings started with tender safaris by way of dew-drenched scrub; afternoons have been for studying by the pool. Evenings ended with a sattvic thali beneath the celebrities — easy millets, leafy greens and buttermilk — eaten in silence underneath lantern mild, telephones left behind within the room. “That quiet was uncomfortable at first,” she admits, “nevertheless it’s the sort that rearranges your ideas.”

Her most up-to-date pause was at The Postcard Mandalay Hall in Fort Kochi in March. Days slipped by simply — sketching at Qissa Café, watching the fishermen on the Chinese nets earlier than nightfall, and catching Kathakali rehearsals at Greenix Village. “It’s the in-between moments I journey for,” she smiles. “Slow journey doesn’t change your life in a single day — it seeps in, quietly, like tidewater.”

The sluggish life

Salvita isn’t alone. Many millennials and Gen Z travellers now worth presence over itineraries, preferring to really feel a spot quite than conquer it. “You shouldn’t come again from a vacation exhausted,” she says.

It is that this shift that platforms like Mumbai-based journey firm TealFeel are tapping into. Founded in 2023 as an offshoot of TravelK (established in 2018 by Karen Mulla, Karl Vazifdar and Mallika Sheth), TealFeel curates journeys that prioritise depth over distance — from community-run lodges to artist residencies and nature retreats. The model encourages travellers to linger, work together with native communities, and journey with a lighter footprint.

Unlike typical reserving websites, TealFeel focuses on intentional discovery: unhurried itineraries, sluggish meals, heritage stays and artistic exchanges. “The concept is to show journey into restoration quite than consumption,” says co-founder Mallika Sheth. “People might not use the time period sluggish journey, however that’s what they need — fewer stops, extra that means, and the liberty to easily breathe.”

Mallika explains that TealFeel now guides purchasers to unfold issues out and keep away from crowds. “We lately deliberate a six-day journey to Bali for a household celebrating a good friend’s fiftieth. We informed them — simply do two locations. Enjoy the property, take a biking tour, go for a river cruise, discover nature, eat effectively. That’s all you want.”

In India, TealFeel’s itineraries typically embrace visits to craft clusters and native markets — pottery in Rajasthan, block-printing workshops, or textile trails in Tamil Nadu. “The suggestions is all the time amazement — individuals say, ‘I didn’t realize it was performed like this!’ We actually have a group of girls from South Mumbai who journey purely for material trails. They’ve been to Chettinad a number of instances, assembly weavers and exploring looms. Experiences like these join travellers to India in essentially the most real manner.”

The highway to discovery

In August, TealFeel crafted a slow-travel itinerary for me to Six Senses Fort Barwara, close to Sawāi Mādhopur in japanese Rajasthan. It was not a visit full of actions, it was designed to make me pause.

Housed inside a restored 14th-century fort, Six Senses Fort Barwara is steeped within the quiet rhythms of the area. Around 85 p.c of its components are sourced regionally, inside a 50-kilometre radius — from farms that develop hardy desert produce similar to kair (wild berries), sangri (bean pods) and kachri (wild melon), to close by gardens full of root greens, edible flowers and herbs in winter. Meals are cooked the previous manner — over light flames in clay and copper vessels — and eaten slowly, generally outside, the place the scent of woodsmoke mingles with turmeric and ghee.

But what I discovered went past meals. Six Senses operates underneath a world sustainability mandate, embedded by way of its Earth Lab programme and Sustainability Fund, which reinvests in conservation and group initiatives at every property. Fort Barwara’s restoration drew on conventional Rajasthani craftsmanship and launched photo voltaic vitality and rain-water harvesting techniques to maintain the encircling Barwara village.

“Many of the employees are usually not initially from Rajasthan however are inspired to be taught in regards to the land, its ecology and its crafts. When they lead visitors on walks by way of the village, the connection feels lived-in,” Mallika informs me. One afternoon, a information identified a century-old tannery nonetheless making hand-tooled leather-based sneakers; one other day we watched artisans trend lac bangles, their fingers shifting with the practised grace of generations. These visits weren’t about voyeurism — they have been quiet exchanges of information and respect.

Rather than pushing safaris to Ranthambhore or packing the day with actions, I used to be urged to decelerate — to wander the fort’s courtyards, linger in its backyard, and return typically to stillness. Even the village excursions have been saved quick, in order that curiosity by no means tipped into intrusion.

The resort’s ethos of conscious luxurious has not gone unnoticed. In 2025, Six Senses Fort Barwara was awarded Two MICHELIN Keys, a brand new distinction recognising motels that display distinctive character, service and sustainability. The honour locations it amongst India’s most thoughtfully run properties.

What struck me most was the dimensions and sincerity of intent. Six Senses doesn’t deal with sustainability as a advertising slogan — it’s audited, measurable and ingrained. At Fort Barwara, it interprets into seasonal consuming, respectful village engagement, and a mode of restoration that honours the previous whereas sustaining the current.

I left Barwara with the sense that slowness isn’t about doing much less, it’s about doing issues with care. About figuring out the place your meals grows, who makes your meal, and the way each pause provides one thing again to the place you’re privileged to go to.

The author travelled to Six Senses Fort Barwara on the invitation of TealFeel.