Slow Routes
Why I Take the Long Way, When I Do
At the ticket window I asked for the branch line instead of the direct train, and the woman asked if I was…
August 13, 2026Places the guidebooks skipped.
Roads Less Mapped
Written by Priya Raghavan
Latest
How Near Is Near
Somebody told me it was very close and it was nine kilometres. Somebody else told me it was far and it was twenty minutes. Distance is a report…
Unlisted Places
I Stopped Chasing Places Nobody Goes
I noticed I was standing in the rain enjoying a sentence I had not written yet, about a place I had not…
August 12, 2026What to Expect
All What to Expect ›
Going Alone Versus Going With Someone
I did roughly the same route twice, once by myself and once with a friend, and they were…
July 8, 2026
How I Decide When to Turn Around
I kept walking for about forty minutes past the point where I knew I should stop, and the…
June 28, 2026
Cash, Signal, and Going Quiet Without Meaning To
The cash machine was a metal box with a padlock on it and had been out of service…
June 13, 2026Getting There
All Getting There ›
Arriving Is Part Of The Place
Twice I have reached somewhere quickly and easily and felt almost nothing when I got there. This is…
August 11, 2026
How To Ask For Directions
I have been sent confidently the wrong way more times than I can count, usually by people trying…
July 14, 2026
The Last Connection of the Day
I have spent whole afternoons unable to enjoy anything because I was watching the light and counting backwards…
June 18, 2026Slow Routes
All Slow Routes ›
What Slowing Down Actually Shows You
Over about an hour the fences outside the window changed from wire to stone, and I watched it…
July 21, 2026
Sometimes Slow Is Just Inefficient
Three buses and five hours to reach a village where I looked at a closed shop, drank a…
June 14, 2026
How Far to Move in a Day
Four connections in one day and the only thing I remember is a station cafe with the chairs…
May 18, 2026Local Word
All Local Word ›
The Favours I Cannot Repay
I tried to count the people who have solved a problem for me and vanished before I could…
July 6, 2026
When to Stop Asking
I asked a fourth person the same question and watched her face do something I did not want…
July 5, 2026
Sent Where I Should Not Have Been
A shopkeeper drew me a map to a courtyard, and I turned up and realised within thirty seconds…
June 10, 2026Unlisted Places
All Unlisted Places ›
The People Who Live There Do Not Think It Is Special
The word I hear most often about places I drove four hours to reach is nice. It took…
July 24, 2026
How I Prepare For A Place With No Information
There is no website, no opening hours, no reviews, and no confirmation the road still goes through. What…
July 4, 2026
The Village That Was Not Worth The Drive
Two hours of gravel for eleven houses, a locked church, and a bus shelter with nothing pinned inside…
April 7, 2026
About
Priya Raghavan
Roads Less Mapped is written by Priya Raghavan. Everything here comes from actual use, written up honestly, including the things that did not work.
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