Have yourself a Walking Holiday
Have yourself a Walking Holiday
The most sensuous way to travel
Hark! The days are finally getting cooler. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like a whole person again. Yesterday, after doing some work from Downtown Boston, I walked all the way back home in the glow of the late afternoon. Just for the hell of it. And as I approached the north shore of Jamaica Pond, just in time to catch the local muskrat emerging from his nest, tears formed in my eyes. And I’m honestly not sure whether it was the ragweed pollen or the elation of early fall that made me go misty. These next two-to-three months may just be the most glorious time to be outside in New England; it’s a special season when being outside for a long time feels intuitive.
And this fall, I want to encourage each of you to have yourselves a Walking Holiday.
It’s a term and an activity borrowed from our UK neighbors, who’ve been at the heart of the modern resurgence of walking, with their cross-country rambling routes and their social walking groups. And while the most literal definition of “Walking Holiday” is “a holiday that’s built around walking,” the more common interpretation is something that most Americans aren’t familiar with. Lots of us have spent vacations picking off trails in the White Mountains or logging impressive mileage in pedestrian-centric cities like New York or Paris. Then, of course, there’s overnight backpacking and camping. The Walking Holiday is a cousin of backpacking; the fun cousin who introduces you to cannabis, dirt bikes, and house parties that climax at 3AM with everyone standing on the couch, air-drumming the timeless drum solo from Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight.”
