Well Wandered
Travel Tips & Wanderlust with Liss Connell of The Slow Lane
Have you ever fantasised about leaving your job, packing up your life and taking off in a decked out van? Spending your days on the road, listening to killer road-trip playlists and living under the stars with your four-legged furry best friend. This is exactly what Liss Connell of Life In The Slow Lane did five years ago. Liss is all about “slow travel”; enriching the travel experience beyond typical tourist traps and giving back to the communities that share the places they call home with us.
I know you worked at a travel company for a long time before you made the dive into life on the road. What was the final catalyst that made you quit and hit the road for good
Yeah, there were 2 main factors. First, I turned 30 and I realised I wasn’t really happy where I was at. I felt really low-spirited. I grew up in the Kimberley WA, which is remote and wild. On my 30th B’day I was living in Cronulla (Sydney), working a lot in an office and I felt really disengaged from nature. Then there was the second thing, a book that I bought from eBay about slow living. It made me re-evaluate where I was at and the direction that I was going. I wasn’t happy. I left Sydney shortly thereafter.
You moved from Sydney to Broome at a young age right? How did that affect your view on travel?
Oh, we moved from East Coast (Sunny Coast) to Broome at the start of high school. Our family owned a Toyota Troopy and a caravan. We travelled across Oz in it, then lived in our caravan in Roebuck Bay Caravan Park in Broome. I loved traversing Oz in the van. All of the cool landscapes, communities and swimming holes along the way. I think it was then that I first dreamt of circumnavigating Oz in my own van, one day.
Your home/caravan always looks so inviting filled with memories from your journeys. What are some of your most treasured pieces?
I sold the little blue caravan and am now living in a yellow ‘74 Kombi. My baby Taylor guitar is my favourite possession. My younger bro, Scotty, gave it to me for Chrissy last year. I did a lot of admin work for his company Kimberley Spirit and he wanted to pay me. I wouldn’t accept his money, so he gave me my dream guitar. I’m not that great at guitar, but I figure you’re never too young or old to learn something new!
In a previous interview you quoted an Aboriginal proverb, ‘our purpose here is to observe, learn, to grow, to love’. It is such a beautiful statement and I think makes perfect sense for life on the road too. How does this philosophy affect the way you travel?
It connects strongly with my preference for slow travel. As visitors to a place, what’s our purpose? If we believe that it’s to observe, learn etc then we will really involve ourselves in that community and have an enriching experience that gives back rather than just taking. Something beyond going to a place to stay in a hotel and behaving like the community is just there to serve you as a tourist. Staying in a local homestay (or parking up on a local person’s property), eating local food from someone’s kitchen, exploring by foot or bicycle, learning the local language.
What makes for an excellent road trip companion?
4 legs and fur. Haha. I love travelling with my border collie, Sandy. I also hate it at the same time, because it restricts the places I can travel to.
What three 3 things you NEVER travel without?
Re-fillable water canister (not plastic)
Chocolate
Bible
I saw recently that you and a friend ran out of petrol on a pretty scary stretch of road in Australia. Now that you’ve lived to tell the tale – what advice would you give to someone else in that situation?
Oh yeah. It actually wasn’t too bad, because I always have 2 jerry cans of fuel. We just pulled over and I re-filled the tank from the jerry. But, if you don’t have a jerry and there’s no phone reception, wait with your car until someone comes past.
What’s one thing about travel life that you would like to share?
The most important thing is how you personally connect with a place. It doesn’t matter what the guidebook says. If you go to Paris, you don’t ‘have’ to see the Eiffel Tower or Mona Lisa. Sitting in a little family-run restaurant down a back alley, immersed into the local experience can bring you much more personal enrichment and better stories/memories later on. Local people aren’t just there to serve you. I think that a successful trip ends with making a local friend that you’ll stay in contact with.
I imagine van life can get a little lonely at times. What do you do to keep yourself entertained/not go insane?
Sing. I sing a lot haha.
What has travel taught you?
The importance of being part of a local community where people know you, where you contribute, where you feel that you belong. The happiest people that I’ve come across during my travels have had solid communities around them, like in villages in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself before you first started out on your first van adventure?
Don’t sign up to Instagram. It’s really addictive. Hahaha.
What are your favourite “road trip” albums
I have a CD player and a few CDs that I bought at an op-shop. My favourite is Billie Holiday.
What are your top travel tips?
Go with the flow
Talk to local people as much as possible
Eat seasonal and local produce
Learn some local phrases
Pack as light as you can – just wear wardrobe staples in neutral colours so that you can wear the same thing for many days.