Fifty years ago, aside from a handful of intrepid travelers who were determined to see the world no matter the hardships, only the very wealthy went on vacations abroad. Now, with budget travel, package holidays and no frills airlines, mass tourism is available for virtually all who hanker to travel. If it's sun, sea and some ethnic food you want, you've no end of possibilities.

Yet this mass tourism, for all its ability to take us to places and peoples that we only previously read about, has been a mixed blessing. Many once beautiful tranquil fishing villages in Spain, Portugal, Goa and Greece are now filled with row after row of hotels and tourist bungalows, junk trinket stalls and pubs or fast food restaurants serving food that is a poor and expensive replica of the worst fare we get at home. In many areas, the summer tourists outnumber the locals, many of whom have abandoned their traditional livelihoods and crafts to work in the tourist “industry”. What were once quaint picturesque villages and towns with individual characters are now overrun with holiday makers. Indigenous culture in these blighted places has virtually vanished.

Though millions appear satisfied with such ersatz holidays, many are not. Some seek “something deeper than a suntan” and turn to adventure holidays like white water rafting, safaris, trekking and mountain climbing. More recently ecotourism has emerged —destinations where the traveler willing to stay in a tent or forest hut can find nature, pristine and unspoilt. Others go to work on organic farms, some pick fruit and a few live in with families on an exchange.

These and other alternative holidays are what are called special interest vacations, which include holistic holidays where you can find yoga, Tai Chi and self-development workshops that offer both a holiday and a meaningful experience.

In the Mediterranean area alone there are dozens of such holistic Centres offe ring an alternative holiday. Nearly all encourage like- minded people to come together for a week or two to enjoy convivial company, share meals and to return home revived and energised from a meaningful vacation.

An Alternative Holiday is More Than a Holiday

Bringing together people of similar values, like-minded idealists who are concerned for the health and sustainability of our planet, means that an alternative holiday is an opportunity to build a temporary but authentic community in which to practice living a life that demonstrates the possibility of a new culture of peace, partnership and sustainability.

We can travel to Thailand or Israel or Greece to learn permaculture, to experience living in an ecovillage, to attend workshops in arts and crafts, to join retreats with spiritual teachers, or to be part of conferences bringing together people with mutual interests in Gaia and sustainability. Green people need sun, sea and the spirit of community like everyone.

Use Your Vacation to Save the Earth

An alternative holiday offers the potential to be a powerful force for networking and for consciousness raising. It can be for each one of us a chance to practice living our truth and making it count toward building a new nonviolent world of peace and partnership. This kind of holiday counteracts the alienation that so many feel living isolated lives in cities, doing jobs that pay well, but give little inner fulfillment. Through sharing together, learning together, playing together, and working together— yes, we work on an alternative holiday, cooking our own meals, harvesting vegetables, maintaining the venue—we return home invigorated, refreshed and re- inspirited from a holiday that is truly alternative!

Jock Millenson lives in the Findhorn Community in Scotland and runs the Kalikalos Holistic Centre in Greece.

Email: info@kalikalos.com, Website: www.kalikalos.com

2009 ProgrammePelion, Greece Kalikalos Holistic Holidays

Healing, Self Enquiry, Relationship Science, Mediation, Tai Chi, Permaculture, Path of Love, Music week, Painting & Drawing, Vipassaña Meditation, Vegetarian Cookery