Overland


adventure


As Intrepid Travel and sustainable operator Byway team up to offer flight-free trips, Diana Jarvis finds the joy is in the journey


DESTINATIONS EUROPE | SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL


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Mountains in Tragjas, Albania PICTURE: Diana Jarvis


travelweekly.co.uk


ome people just love travelling. I don’t mean sipping limoncello in an Italian backstreet cafe or soaking up the sun in Mauritius, I mean the act of travelling


– sitting on trains, buses or boats and watching the landscape roll by. As I stare out of the TGV window, marvelling at the mountainous peaks of Mont Blanc and Aiguille du Midi on day two of my five-day journey, I realise I am one of those people. I’m not the only one: heightened awareness of the climate crisis, plus a rising interest in slow travel, means the market for overland holidays is growing. Sustainably minded operators Byway and Intrepid Travel have therefore teamed up to offer clients Byway-organised flight-free routes to the starting point of Intrepid’s European tours. I’m travelling from London to Tirana for the start of Intrepid’s new Albania Expedition, launched last month, and the route that Byway has tailored for me goes through France and Italy, with overnight stops in Chambéry, Turin and Bari, before boarding the overnight boat to Durrës on the Albanian coast.


THE JOURNEY The client’s ticket comes as an Interrail pass with a QR code, which is stored in the Interrail app. Byway plans routes on high-speed train lines for convenience, but deliberately incorporates stopovers in lesser-known places rather than major transport hubs (and busy tourist destinations) such as Paris or Milan. That’s how I end up in Chambéry, with its tantalising bars and heaven-scented boulangeries. It’s only a brief taster of the ²


28 SEPTEMBER 2023


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