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When I travel, I walk a lot. Last time I was out of Australia I went to the island of Mull, (Scotland for those unfamiliar) and went on two or three very long cross-country off-road hikes with a small group. Not a lot of forest on Mull, but travelling slowly on foot means to do get to see, smell (and inadvertently put your foot in) all sort of interesting things.
Later I was in Rome, and then later again on the Amalfi coast. Practically went everywhere on foot. Ditto Manhattan years ago (among other things I walked Broadway from Battery point to the Lincoln Centre.) .
One of my favourite memories from urban walking was in the London suburb of Hornsey, where I was searching for the Lotus racing car company's first factory, and I walked past the open door of an Indian spice shop. Wow! The fantastic smells that blasted out of that door, absolutely without warning, were unforgettable. Every exotic spice you could imagine, at full strength! Marvellous.
Funny thing is, at home I seldom walk far. Age has something to do with it. Also of course I know my own neighbourhood extremely well, and am never likely to get that spice-shop surprise here.
But as soon as I'm away from my own stamping ground, walking is my travel mode of choice.
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