Why settle for 5 stars when you can sleep under quintillions of them?

Notice nature. Go back to basics.

There are over 700 quintillion planets in the universe, that is 7 with TWENTY ZEROES behind it. It is a curiosity that Earth is just perfect for us; Earth is exactly where and when she needs to be from the Sun to have the atmosphere that protects us and helps us thrive. Whether or not we humans want to admit it, nature was here before and will be here long after we are gone. Whilst we are here, though, we should always take a moment to notice nature; to admire the magic in the little things.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

For those of us lucky enough to live in Singapore, there is greenery all around us and we need to remember to take a moment rushing from one thing to the other to look up at the blue skies, stare at the tropical canopy and even step under the rain or the heat of the sun to feel a little bit alive from nature’s daily gifts. We literally live in a jungle, a “Wild City” - David Attenborough made a documentary series about exactly this.

The founders of Chickenfeet Travels fundamentally believe that nature heals. In Nature Fix, a book published in 2017, American journalist Florence Williams writes “distilling what I learned, I came up with a kind of ultrasimple coda: Go outside, often, sometimes in wild places. Bring friends or not. Breathe.”

The author summarises her book simply in the linked article but we do recommend that you take the time to read or listen to Nature Fix in its entirety - in Singapore it can be found on Libby for free. And once you listen to it, pass it on. We highly recommend you pass it on to your boss!

If you are stuck, mentally, psychologically, existentially, cognitively, physiologically, everything and anything-ly, just turn to nature. “When we’re outside our task-oriented brain, our frontal cortex, is getting a little bit of break. Just like an overused muscle… and then when we go back to these cognitive tasks, we’re just refreshed and we’re sharper.”

There is one important condition to this which, as explained here by respected scientist Professor David Strayer, is that to get the restorative benefits of nature you have to put your phone away. Experiments clearly show that, even though you are out in nature, if you are using your phone at the same time your brain activity remains too high to benefit.

In order to speed up, you need to slow down. In order to find solutions to problems and puzzles, you need perspective. It can seem counterintuitive, but Jin can attest to it as her go-to solution. It took her a while to put two and two together, but now that she knows, you will find her shoes off on the grass, in the sun, pacing on a phone call in the middle of the CBD. If you want to take it even further (and also start to understand the weird that Jin embodies) you can also find out more about Earthing and Grounding.

Three Days. That is all it takes for magic to work.

If done correctly, all it takes is three days. The Three Day Effect is what people call it because that is how long it takes nature to work her magic.

Chickenfeet Travels was started because of and for nature and the people who help protect it. Pre-pandemic, with low cost carriers, Chickenfeet Travels identified more than 20 unique 3-day adventures that can be done from Singapore in 10 cities accessible under 2.5hr flight time. 2020 was the year we launched a “weekend warrior” (we are working on a better name for 2023) travel plan. You do not need to take precious time off, you do not need to drop a lot of money on these short escapes to nature when you plan ahead and book early. In just 3 days, you can surf, climb a volcano, trek with orangutans, trek with elephants, kitesurf, trek to and swim in waterfalls, visit UNESCO sites, eat all the good local food and learn how to cook it, learn how to make jewelry…the options are endless.