In the best-selling book and motion picture ‘Eat Pray Love,’ Elizabeth Gilbert spends an entire year on the road. She visits three different countries for four months each. How did she do it? Apart from having a book deal already in place to fund her journey, she also travelled smart and travelled slow, especially in her choice of lodging. From Italy to India and Indonesia, she chose longer-term apartment and lodge rental.

We’ve asked our global network of local tourism professionals about the ‘length of stay’ factor in their destinations. Answers varied, but they all agree on one thing: the average tourist isn’t a slow traveller and just doesn’t stay long enough to really appreciate a place. Here are their thoughts on how long is long enough and what the average fast traveller is missing.

We believe that the different forms of local transport are unique qualities of a place that, when experienced, are a vital part of a local travel experience. To know a place is to get around it the way local people do: cramming yourself into a chicken bus in South America, throwing caution to the wind in a tuk-tuk in Southeast Asia or boarding a ferry in Africa. We’re sure you will find these rides to be a brilliant bonding experience with locals.

Today is International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. Proclaimed by the United Nations, it’s a day on which, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said, to “celebrate and recognise the stories, cultures and unique identities of indigenous peoples around the world.” The Travel Word is very proud to salute the cultural roots from which we have all sprung, roots that remain robust but require our admiration, care and protection.

The theme “linking cultures” has been chosen for the 2011 World Tourism Day (to be celebrated on September 27). Often, in an area with indigenous populations, or people who are original to the land, one of the greatest assets is traditional culture. Through mindfully operated cultural tours, indigenous groups have something a great deal to offer – and to gain! – from exchanges with tourists. Here we share a roundup of some of our favourite indigenous culture tours.