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The Art of Dallying
Dally (verb): To do something slowly, to take excessive time over an activity.
To linger, dawdle, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, to aimlessly waste time.
To hang out, mooch, chill, lay like broccoli , to be purposefully idle.
To toy, trifle, act playfully, or deal with a serious matter lightly.
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For all its casual, carefree connotations, the fine art of dallying involves five strict criteria.
1. Somewhere else
Only certain places in the world warrant a full-on dally. To make the grade, they must offer a combination of visual appeal, atmosphere, history, climate, peculiarity and off-the-beaten-track-ness.
That elusive recipe excludes certain A-list places that I love, but are just too obvious. Apologies Seville, Florence, Bangkok, Barcelona and the like.
I often justify journeying to warmer climes with the need for my watercolours to dry quickly. In truth, it’s just a sublime pleasure to escape Britain’s interminable winter or cheat its dreary shoulder season in Europe’s further reaches.
Funnily enough, the words 'cheat' and 'dally' both share the same delicious, yet disreputable connotations.
2. Stay central. Stay put
Having journeyed somewhere, it’s essential you stop, stay put and soak it up.
Nothing kills the dallying spirit more than manic round of ‘what to see?’ You must conquer the niggle that there's somewhere else better than where you are.
It almost goes without saying that day tripping is anathema to the dedicated dallier. Experiencing a place decompress after sunset and slowly revive itself in the morning is a vital component of the dally.
It’s also vital to experience how a place tastes, not just how it looks. And that endeavour often requires several days serious research!
3. A good viewpoint
An interesting point of view needs somewhere to come from.
So a conducive room is obviously essential. Something spoily, ideally with a terrace, and an epic vista. And a pool, preferably one you can plop into straight from said terrace. A great breakfast is vital too. Most importantly the property must have character. No standard boxy rooms and definitely no trouser press.
Other than those paltry demands, I’m not fussy!
There’s no shortage of resources on the world-wide-interweb. Rather than give an exhaustive listing here, I simply pass on wherever I’ve struck gold.
Spoiler alert, I can get really specific.
4. Learn to look
Most of us see, but don’t look. An distinction that’s critical for travel.
Seeing happens anyway. It’s unthinking, instinctive, innate. And we rely on this to release brain space for other things, like whatever our phone’s urgently telling us.
By allowing our brain to short-cut, we miss stuff. We only see what things are, not what they're like.
Looking, on the other hand, is deliberate, judicious and interrogative. It’s about correlating and processing, actively posing questions and relating yourself to your surroundings. Not literally, via a selfie stick, but figuratively with your opinions, predilections, interpretations and filters.
The phone-camera exacerbates ‘See-but-don’t-look Syndrome’. I watch so many people experiencing places via their screen. They arrive, snap and go. Those snaps have a brief shelf life and serve the sole purpose of showing you were there.
Alongside my sketchbook and my stool, I use my camera as a tool to help me look. Aided by a large dollop of curiosity. My three trusty props slow me down, force me off-piste and help me compose my thoughts.
5. Purposely aimless wandering
In ‘normal life’, we’re always going somewhere, doing something, achieving some end and being someone. Leaving all that back home gives licence to meander and invite serendipity.
However, utter aimlessness rarely satisfies for long. So, you need to be purposefully aimless. Maybe that’s why my rant on actively looking is pertinent. It’s certainly a key motivation behind this blog.
Wherever I go, my foolproof ‘formula’ is to set off with some destination in mind; a sight, gallery, area of town or whatever. Success for me would be making it there by mid-afternoon. What I uncover on the way, by way of random turns, unscheduled stops, dead ends and following my nose, is all part of the plan. My camera leads, my sketchbook follows
Without question, wandering is a top three travel pleasure.
So, here are two dozen dally-worthy places. A selection of destinations that reward dawdling, shilly-shallying and lingering. That show how time can be the most delicious of things. And expose travelling in haste as a monumental waste.
Whether or not you’re lucky enough to dally in some of these places, my 'views' aim to help you feel their spirit.
Enjoy!
* The first recorded use of 'veg out' was by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman:
"Be still like vegetables. Lay like broccoli".
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