A personal story from Cuong: Why I Started This Website

This story feels a little different from the usual articles, so let me tell it the same way I would if we were sitting together and catching up. No polished editorial tone, no structured guide. Just the real reason behind this website and why I felt it needed to exist.

The UNESCO canals of Amsterdam (Netherlands, 2025)

I have been travelling for about fifteen years now, moving around the world in all kinds of ways. Slow weekend trips, long haul adventures, last minute city breaks. And every single time, no matter the country or the season, I meet travellers who are in a constant rush.

People sprinting from one attraction to another, schedules packed to the minute, eyes glued to maps and lists, trying to squeeze as much as humanly possible into a single trip.

I see them jump on buses at the last second, stress about queues, worry if they will make it before a monument closes, and hope that somehow the day bends itself to their itinerary. And then there are the ones chasing the perfect photo. The perfect angle. The perfect moment that looks good on Instagram, even if the actual moment felt nothing like the image they will eventually post.

I never judge them for it. Truly. There are different types of travellers and everyone doing it on their own way. There's no right or wrong, and what works for me, might not work for you and the other way around.

The world is full of content telling us that this is how travel should be done. There are YouTube videos showing twenty four hour itineraries where creators try to cram in ten attractions before sundown. There are endless lists of must do activities, bars, restaurants and hotspots. There is pressure to not waste a single minute of precious leave days. And it makes sense that people follow it.

Meanwhile, I often find myself standing there, watching this rush unfold, and quietly thinking to myself: Why? Am I missing something?

For me travel has always been something else. Even when it is inconvenient. Even when it gets stressful, because stress is part of travel too. Delays happen. Plans change. Weather shifts. But at the end of the day travel should serve you. It should nourish you, open you, support you, instead of draining you to the point that you return home more exhausted than when you left.

To me the goal has always been to come back relaxed and enriched. Not just with photos but with memories you can feel again when you think of them. Moments that made you breathe differently, walk differently, pay attention differently.

The more I travelled, the more I noticed the contrast between those two worlds. The world of rushing, ticking, collecting, and the world of slowing down, observing, and being present. And at some point I realised that there must be more people out there like me. People who want to travel gently. People who want to absorb a place instead of just visiting it. People who want to feel something during a trip, not only capture it.

That is why I started this website. Not as a manifesto against fast travel, because everyone should travel in the way that makes them happy. But as a home for travellers who feel overwhelmed by the pressure to go fast. A space for anyone who wants to step out of the race and into something softer. Something calmer. Something that gives back.

It is time for the slow lane. Time to pause, notice, connect and breathe a little deeper. Time to experience travel instead of just doing it. Time to internalise what a place means to you, not what it looks like from the outside.

If you have ever felt rushed during a trip, or felt guilty for not doing enough, or wondered if you are somehow doing travel the wrong way, then this space is for you. You are not missing anything. You are simply moving differently.

And maybe that is exactly what travel needs.