Why I gave up flying for a slower way to travel

Happiest on a bike, Anna Hughes is a great advocate of slow travel and close-to-home exploration. An author and flight-free adventurer, she writes and speaks about travelling sustainably and finding authentic travel experiences without having to get on a plane. Anna has done a huge amount of adventuring within the UK and Europe including cycling and sailing around the entire British coastline, riding from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, and cycling the length of France, with a jaunt up Mont Ventoux three times for good measure. She runs the Flight Free UK campaign which asks people to take a year off flying to kick-start discovery of the many slow travel adventures just waiting to be had.

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. 

Flights were the first to go. Veganism came soon afterwards. I’d always been militant about recycling, and I’d never owned a car, but my eyes were opening to what really mattered when it came to cutting carbon.

A couple of years after watching the Age of Stupid my thoughts were turning to travel. Like many, I’d always dreamed of heading off on the adventure of a lifetime, but unlike many, I’d finally got the point where those dreams had turned into plans. The main question was where I should go. With flights off the menu, how could I inject the required excitement, freedom and discovery that we all seek?

A keen cyclist, it was a no brainer that this would be a cycling adventure. And the more I thought about which country I would like to explore, the more it came back to one choice: Britain. Despite having lived here all my life, what did I really know about it? This would be the ultimate test of my flightless life – to show that there is a whole world of discovery right under our noses. So I decided that I would cycle around the entire coast of Britain.

The day of departure arrived and over the course of the next 10 weeks I cycled around the very edge of England, Scotland and Wales. The variety of landscapes was astounding, from towering cliffs and rocky foreshores to the largest sand dunes I had ever seen. At times I was completely lost in mountains, at other times pedalling right on the seafront along the slow sweep of vast bays. The sea was cool, crisp and clear in Scotland, and turquoise and irresistible in Cornwall. We often hear of the kindness of strangers and Britain is no exception, from the lady who offered me a cup of tea as I cycled past her house, to the people who came to ride with me at various times. 

The journey made me fall in love with this island, and confirmed that you don’t have to fly to have a good time. I resolved to uncover more of Britain’s treasures, and have done plenty more cycling adventures since, mostly within Britain but occasionally venturing further afield – for example, riding 1,000 miles across France for a dip in the Med. I write books and articles about cycling, sustainability and slow travel, and take every opportunity to extol the virtues of exploring close to home.

Not flying has not restricted my life in any way. In fact, it has made my travels all the richer. But travels aside, the main point is that I am doing what is needed for the climate, which is the motivating factor in almost all my decisions.

It’s now more than 10 years since the Age of Stupid shocked me into action, yet in the grand scheme of things, little has changed. We’re heading for certain climate catastrophe if we don’t fundamentally change the way we live. Part of that is making sure our leaders have robust climate policies in order to reduce our collective emissions, and part of that is making sure our own lifestyles aren’t contributing to the problem. So two years ago I set up the campaign, Flight Free UK.

We run a pledge asking people if they could take a year off flying. The idea is not only to reduce emissions, but to encourage a change in the social narrative around aviation. One year off flights is possible for most people, and can lead to the longer-term behaviour change that we so desperately need. Our consumer power goes beyond our own personal choices, and can have a big influence on our political leaders and industry.

At this critical time for the climate, it’s vital that we take the necessary action. And as I’ve discovered, a life without flying does not have to mean an end to the adventures. So let’s come together and fight for our future. Together, we can make a difference.

Anna is director of Flight Free UK. Find out more and pledge to take a flight free year here: www.flightfree.co.uk