Today, we celebrate our first birthday here at Byway. What a year it’s been! We were born in the first lockdown, and are celebrating our birthday virtually in the third - but this time with a clear travel timeline, with slow travel surging, and with spring in the air ☀️

Slow travel is surging! Since lockdown easing was announced we've planned more post-lockdown holidays than you can shake a stick at; below you'll find the most popular trips, grounded in joyful journeys by train, boat and bus.

This guest blog post is written by Joe Timothy, business analyst from Leeds, slow travel enthusiast and friend of Byway, who is sharing with us the story of his slow travel honeymoon through Norway.

Following the latest government announcements, here's our summary of what's likely to be possible travel-wise as we walk the path out of lockdown, and when.

On Valentine’s Day 2021, many of us spent the day away from many of those we love. We asked our community, ‘when we can travel again, who would you travel with and where would you go?’ Here are a few of the answers ❤️

We totally disagree with Grant Shapps’ latest; the advice should not be ‘don’t book a holiday,’ but ‘don’t book a holiday unless it has package protection and a 100% Covid refund guarantee.’ We have both.

It was back in 2009 that I made the decision to stop flying. The Age of Stupid had just come out at the local cinema, and I went to watch it with some greenie friends. Seeing Pete Postlethwaite ask humanity why we didn’t save ourselves when we had a chance was the prompt I needed to add even more environmental rigour to my lifestyle.

As the weather warms and vaccinations accelerate, it's likely many of us will be holidaying close to home this year, away from the crowds. Perfect for a Byway! Last year summer staycations sold out in a flash when restrictions lifted, and we're already seeing a similar rush on bookings for summer 2021.

The many dazzling towns scattered along the Mediterranean coast are among the top spots on our list once travel to Europe becomes possible again. There are a number of ways you can take the train to the Mediterranean from the UK. Here are some of our chosen favourites to ponder as you map out your meanderings for 2021.

It’s the moving that we all miss. And to rekindle that affair post-COVID, there are few better places than the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean oozes slow, with sultry scenes of apertifs in Marseille’s vieux port or a paddle and pique-nique on Nice’s Castel beach filling our dreams. Such reverie will, hopefully, become a reality by summer 2021 but, as we sit patiently and wait, there is no harm in planning.

As most of us begin another stretch of weeks at home, we are thinking of all of you facing big challenges with limited support. We'd like to bring some slow travel colour to your winter lockdown. Here are our three commitments to you.

Travel has undoubtedly become something we will never again take for granted. At Byway, we believe that post-Covid travel should be sustainable and slow, with no zooming at all. Here are our 2021 travel resolutions to inspire and invite you to travel safely, slowly and sustainably.

2020 was a year of travel restrictions. 2021 brings the hope of the vaccine, and with it, the opening of internal and external borders and an opportunity to travel cleaner and greener on the other side. As we head into the year of the vaccine, let’s travel better. Here are some of our top green tips to keep your journeys squeaky carbon-clean.

2020. A year like no other, and the one in which Byway was born. We founded Byway this year to help more people discover the joys of travelling through the world rather than flying over it. As the year of the pandemic draws to a close and a year of large-scale vaccine rollouts dawns, here are our reflections on our founding year.

This is the time of year when the French city and Alsacian capital of Strasbourg is starting to glisten and glow, as Strasbourg boasts one of the largest Christmas markets in Europe and spring and summer will light up this most underrated French region with some much needed post-lockdown sparkles. Here are our tips for the best things to do in Strasbourg and Alsace.

We’ve joined over 140 other travel businesses in declaring a climate emergency and are committed to reducing the impact of travel on the planet. That’s why we’ve worked hard to build delightful journeys that don’t rely on flights, and we stand by the principle that travelling through the world is better than flying over it.

With plenty of the UK in tiers 1 and 2 and strong encouragement from all corners to keep Christmas interactions to outdoor meetups wherever possible, some of us are able to think about getting out of town on an off peak train to blow off the corona cobwebs in the Great Outdoors. Here are some of our favourite day trips to make by train, from national parks to nature reserves and canals to the coast. We don’t advise travel from Very High risk areas even during the Christmas easing, since trains are likely to be busy.

This year, between the UK’s two lockdowns, Frankie Dewar had two months off work and decided to dive into a slow travel adventure by bike, cycling a 3,175km loop around England, Wales and Scotland. With no previous experience, Frankie snapped up a £75 second hand bike, donned her helmet and headed out into the countryside. 71 days later she had completed her loop, exploring some of England, Wales and Scotland’s most stunning areas.

This October, Emma and Nicky, from London, went on a weekend break to the Scottish Highlands. Enjoying slow travel, they stopped in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oban and Loch Lomond on the way, before spending three nights tucked away in a yurt on the Isle of Mull. Here, they’re sharing their adventure by train, bus and ferry.

Bikepacking is booming with more travellers opting for our favourite two-wheel transport on their UK holidays and enjoying the joys of slow travel whilst drastically cutting their carbon footprint. But what actually is bikepacking? Find out here.