Saturday, February 17, 2007

Slow Travel & Long Tail

Beer & Fireworks Sign near Huntsville, Alabama
My husband just asked me what the subtitle of this blog means. Here's the answer:

Slow travel? You've heard of fast food. Have you heard of its antithesis--slow food? Here's a quote from Answers.com:
The Slow Food movement was begun by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a resistance movement to fast food.
So slow travel is like slow food. No freeways, stopping at every historic marker, talking to the guy in the gift shop.

Long tail? Here's another quote from Answers.com:
Developed by Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson, who turned the notion into a book in 2006 entitled "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More," the title refers to a graph showing fewer products selling in large quantities versus many more products that sell in low quantities. The low-quantity items stretch out on the x-axis of the graph, creating a very long tail that generates more revenue overall. Even though a smaller quantity of each item is sold, there is a much greater variety of these items to sell.
The long tail is all of those interesting spots on the map that only a few people want to visit and don't get featured in the travel magazines.