Hannah Methven

we’re mitigating them with nature-led solutions that have real science behind them. We work with Rewilding Britain who have been restoring land for beavers and you can now see drone footage of the newly lush ecosystems that are changing our landscapes.

I also have regular catch-ups with Cool Earth, who support Indigenous communities in Peru, and Ecologi, aiming to to reduce 50% of global CO2 emissions by 2040 and plant a billion trees. We’re working with these organisations to help protect and preserve the environment, so hearing about the differences they make around the world never stops being interesting and, more importantly, inspiring.

What’s your biggest focus right now?

Meet Explore’s Sustainability

What does a morning look like in Hannah’s world?

My day starts in different ways, depending on the weather. I try to cycle into work as long as the rain holds out. Whichever way I get to the office, a double flat white en route is non-negotiable!

What does your role look like? Do you work by yourself a lot or do you work with lots of people?

For a number of years, I was one of Explore’s Product Managers and I loved it! I spent my days designing tours from scratch and improving our existing tours to help them run smoothly. It meant getting out to the destinations, being curious and uncovering the very best places, people and experiences to include in our trips.

Now I’ve moved to a role that’s all about helping to protect those experiences for the next generations. It’s rewarding in a different way, and it’s another opportunity to learn so much all the time.

I work with my product team colleagues to help protect the destinations we visit through carbon reduction. But, we can’t remove all emissions from our trips, so ne fifth of global CO2 emissions come from transport. For the travel industry, this is an alarming figure. Transport plays a vital role in enabling us to experience different places. Without transport, how can we see the world we’re all taking steps to preserve? Enter slow travel. This is a different way to explore, which involves swapping fast transport and quick ‘checklist’ tours for slower, more sustainable options. And it rewards you with a whole lot more than just picture postcard moments (though there’ll be plenty of those).

A huge project for the whole company recently has been calculating the carbon footprint of each and every one of our trips. To do this accurately we worked with our partner, ecollective, looking at everything from accommodation to activities. You can now see a carbon icon on every trip in our brochures and website. We’ve joined the Glasgow Declaration and committed to halving our carbon emissions by 2030, and so my next focus is reducing our impact where we can.

From my role as a Product Manager, I know where the potential for waste can occur and the different ways that we can tweak trips to reduce their CO2 emissions and make them more connected to communities. It could be switching out a private bus with public transport. It could be selecting a family-run eco stay. Or in places where this isn’t possible, it could be visiting a café set up by local students.

What are small wins that you cherish?

For me, travel is all about exchanging different lifestyles. Getting out there and meeting people was a part of my previous role that I loved, and I get a buzz when a colleague says they’ve found a way to connect our customers with another community or family.

And in my own day-to-day life, I feel it’s all going well when I can squeeze in a yoga class at work and eat a dosa from the South Indian restaurant across the road – my favourite!

If you go back to the first golden age of tourism, people would embark on a Grand Tour, spending three to six months in a country and really getting to know it. Then in the 1970s, there was inter-railing and hitch hiking -everyone had a Lonely Planet open! Some of the best memories we hold onto are of the journey itself; the people, places, and food you encounter along the way (no one ever shows you a photo of the inside of the plane). Getting back to that feeling of joy and wonder is so important.

A deeper understanding

Slow travel immerses us in real places and real lives. It makes exploration a richer experience. I’ve always enjoyed a slower pace of travel, and travelling by train in particular. Recently I flew into Milan and headed to

Trieste by train, which is a beautiful journey. When you visit a train station – not just in Italy, but anywhere - it’s often right in the heart of a destination, unlike an airport where you’re flown into an artificial environment, usually miles away, that’s barely distinguishable from any other. From Trieste, we headed to Venice. I maintain that the best way of arriving in Venice, one of the most fabulous cities in the world, is by train. As you approach, the train travels over the lagoon and you walk out of San Lucia train station right on to the Grand Canal. It’s a real pinch-yourself travel moment.

Travelling by train, you get to see – really see –the towns and cities you’re passing through, sitting with local people who are going about their business. Travelling with them allows you to become immersed in their day-to-day life, offering a different level of understanding of a place and the people that make it. Travelling through India by train is another experience that enriches the trip. Sure, you can fly between Delhi and Jaipur, but why not take an overnight train? It’s typical of how people there would travel themselves. You won’t get a feel of true India by flying between those places, but passing through the landscapes, seeing people get on and off at stations, meeting the Chaiwallah who travels the length of the train serving up delicious, sweet tea – it’s is a vivid and visceral thing.

Good for the planet, good for you

Our lives these days are frenetic and fast-paced. When we’re on vacation, our minds and bodies yearn to slow down. Travelling with a small group means everything is organised for you. You don’t need to rush around the station, working out the next departure to your next destination, checking the platform, hauling your bag around – the route is planned, the timings organised, the tickets booked. So, your heart rate is slow as well as your feet! Just step on board, aim for a seat by the window and relax.

The future of travel

Slow travel is on the rise. In 2022 walking trips in Europe were up 55% on 2019, and this growth shows no sign of abating. Active tours are one way to travel more slowly, but this uplift in interest shows a clear change in attitude about how we want to see the world. It’s a trend that Explore is taking steps to nurture. Our trips are slower and more immersive by nature, always staying and eating locally where possible, and we’re adapting tours and creating new ones that slow down and embrace the local. We’re trying to incorporate rail journeys into our trips, whether between cities instead of flying (like in Laos, where we’ve just changed domestic flights for the train between Vientiane and Vang Vieng, and then on to Luang Prabang) or as a way to get to your vacation in the first place, like our London2 collection which enables you to cross Europe by train. I’m excited to see what’s next.’