Slow Travel Experience: My Week In Atlantic City

I spent a week in Atlantic City, in a little beach-side studio apartment. It was enjoyable, relaxing, and totally unlike my previous vacations. At 33 years old, I experienced slow travel for the first time.

Probably because of the amount of money spent on flight and accommodation, and the limited vacation days available, I’ve always stuffed itineraries with cities and attractions. I once did 4 American cities in two weeks, and 3 French cities in 8 days.

Lazy vacation days weren’t a thing in my life.

Those trips were fun and eye-opening. This one has a different quality. This trip was centered around the beach and spending quality time with Anth and my self, not around activities.

Traveling slow

So, what does one do on a slow travel? Typically, slow traveling involves soaking in local cultures, cooking your own meals with local ingredients, eating local food, and exploring a small area by foot or bike. However, it’s different for everyone. Here’s what we did.

Walk, and rescue butterflies

We took a walk at the beach twice a day.

On the first morning, we found a damp Monarch butterfly on the beach. It was such an unlikely find that we thought it was some ornament that fell off a hat. So I nudged it gently, and it fluttered onto my shorts! Then it began to crawl upwards onto my shirt. I laughed, amazed by the incident. I’ve never had a butterfly land on me.

To prevent it from crawling onto my face, I guided it onto my finger, and brought it to a bush away from the ocean and the breeze. Nature is amazing. Somehow, the butterfly sensed that we were a way to safety and hitched a ride on me. Needless to say, we felt special that morning.

Thank you, beautiful butterfly.

Do a lot of shell-searching / soul-searching

I joke with Anth that we can’t leave Atlantic City without developing some kind of addiction, and guess what? We did. We got a little addicted to shell-searching. Better that than gambling, right?

We both love the beach, and shell-searching was a bonus. There’s something about finding a pretty shell on the beach, and knowing that it once sheltered a living thing that felt special.

Naturally, I thought a lot about the state of the ocean (soul-searching), and wondered if we’d still be able to find seashells on the seashore in a few decades.

With the ocean acidifying, seawater is getting more corrosive to them. It’s become harder for shellfishes to form their shells, and their survival rate is decreasing. Our actions are impacting the plankton, shellfishes, and fishes. It’s only a matter of time until the adorable seabirds get noticeably affected.

Please pick trash up on a beach

Guilty, I made it a point to pick up trash that floated my way. And I urge you to do so, if you aren’t doing so already. Even if it’s not our trash, picking it up and disposing it properly up can potentially save a marine animal’s life. After what we did to the ocean, it’s really the least we can do.

Read

Apart from mulling over the state of the ocean, I also spent some time devouring a John Saul novel. It’s been a while since I did that. Ever since I started being serious with the blog, reading felt like skiving! So this vacation provided me with an awesome chance to read.

Sometimes I read in a chair in the corridor with a view of the Atlantic Ocean with the sea breeze ruffling my hair. When it got too hot, I read in bed. Talk about enjoying life. I wouldn’t have been reading if I wasn’t slow traveling. I’d have been rushing from attraction to attraction!

Do a little touristy activity

Anth wasn’t interested in the boardwalk. It took me several days to coax myself to get out there to take a look. Thanks, social anxiety. Even though I wasn’t afraid to venture out alone, old habits die hard so I don’t go out when I don’t have to. It bothered me a great deal, but I’ve to accept that that’s just how I am.

Regardless, I enjoyed spending the time with myself. I love spotting the older spots along the boardwalk. It makes me nostalgic, even though I’ve never seen a boardwalk growing up.

We also gave the slot machines a go – we’re in Atlantic City after all! Honestly, I only wanted to pull the lever thing. The machines were surprisingly hard to understand. I didn’t figure out how the probability works but I figured out how to bet.

The Chinese have a saying “if you gamble, you’ll lose 9 out of 10 times”. They’re right. I lost $5 quickly, and that’s all I was about to toss at the casinos. If every gambler were like me, every casino will end up like this.

Ironically, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel was one of my favorite landmarks in what I’ve seen of Atlantic City, apart from the older parts of the boardwalk. There’s just something about abandoned places that captivates me.

Enjoy the beach

If you’re traveling slow, a beach vacation is a great way to do it. The beach provides the ideal setting and mood to do nothing and yet be entertained in a natural environment.

I love the soft sand sinking beneath my feet, and I love watching the little clams wriggle their way to safety after a wave hit them. I enjoyed the breeze on my skin, perfectly balanced with the warmth of the sun. My eyes got scratchy from the sand and salt, but they indulged in the brilliant colors of the sky and the ocean.

Nature paints a slightly different portrait of the sky each day, and it’s always beautiful.

In conclusion

If you’re like me and have always traveled like you’re on a timed mission, maybe it’s time to slow things down. Though you don’t get to see as many places and do as many things, slow travel is more rejuvenating. It gives you a chance to slow down and reflect on your life. I think most of us can benefit from that.

Besides, it’s more affordable too. I cooked most of our meals, and Anth’s relatives graciously allowed us to live rent-free at their apartment for a week. But you can definitely pull a slow travel off at a lower cost. After all, you’re visiting lesser places, so you don’t have to pay so much for transportation and various admission fees. Moreover, longer rentals are often cheaper.

From what I see, life is better if you have a mix of both types of travels.

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Do you enjoy traveling? How do you travel? I hope you’ve enjoyed my little slow travel experience. Do share yours in the comments!