Years after a childhood Amtrak ride, I discovered the Empire Builder, the long-haul line from Chicago to Seattle and Portland. I decided the adventure of traveling all those miles was just too good to miss.

It didn't take long before we saw amazing vistas where land and sky meet at a faraway horizon and mountains in green, pink, blue or beige depending on their geologic time of formation.

Travel is a strong catalyst for change. Sustainable tourism, at its best, "provides hard currency, jobs, and connects people to really understand the needs of a community."

It is in community gatherings and traditions that I look to understand how we might be better at bringing communities together -- not just as part of a distant past, but in order to forge a new kind of future.

Like Slow Food, Slow Travel offers an alternative to global tourism, one that promotes the pleasure of travel, while making commitments to protect local communities and the environment.