Ditch plane – Go train (if that’s a reasonable option for your destination)
Pack light. When you get the hang of packing smart, you’ll realise you never need as much as you bring. And more luggage means more fuel. So be kind to the earth and bring only what you’ll actually use.
Refill water bottles. To drink a lot of water when you travel (especially when you fly!) is crucial. Instead of buying new bottles each time, refill them at water fountains on the airports. Most airports have drinking fountains with clean, filtered water. Much better for the planet and much better for your wallet.
Keep your cup. Once onboard an airplane the flight attendants will take your empty plastic cup only to give you a new one with a new beverage minutes later. But don’t let them! Hold on to your plastic cup for the duration of your flight and have them refill that. There is really no reason to throw away one plastic cup each time you have some water or a beer.
Choose your travel partner wisely. Every serious company in the travel industry today work with minimising their carbon foot prints. That gives you as a consumer a great selection of companies to choose between when planning your trip. Make sure to ask them what they do for the environment. What are their efforts and plans to prevent global warming from getting worse? Many hotels, airlines, car rental companies etc work actively on a daily basis with these questions. You have a great opportunity here to make a good choices.
Eco-clothing. When you’re shopping for that perfect holiday wear – do it consciously. Today there are tons of brands that work in environmentally friendly ways. Check out nauclothing.com for awesome recycled outdoorsy wear. It’s one of our favourites! You can read more about our work with NAU here.
Uber Pop – or public transportation. We know it’s not always the smoothest thing to hop on a bus with a lot of luggage, tired after your travels. And that’s ok. What you can do however, is to choose Uber pop or similar where one vehicle takes more people than just the driver plus one. Later, when you’re not carrying heavy bags or feel exhausted – try public transportation! It’s a brilliant way to get an authentic vibe of a place and its locals. Plus it usually costs little or nothing. A total maximise experience – minimise wallet impact – option.
Hang up your towels. Sure, it’s nice to have crisp, clean sheets and towels everyday in your hotel room. But here’s the thing. Most people don’t realise that many hotels don’t do their own laundry but have a laundry service truck come to pick up towels and sheets to transport them somewhere, where they are washed and then returned to the hotels. It’s a much bigger process than you’d think. A process that requires a bigger use of gas, electricity and chemicals than what’s actually needed. Look for the little sign hanging in the hotel bathroom encouraging you as a guest to hang up your towels if you’re happy with using them again. If not, they ask you to place them on the floor as a sign to for the service staff to pick them up and replace with new ones. And let’s be honest, how often to do you change your towels and sheets at home? You probably use them at least a few times before throwing them into the washer. Get a greener approach to your hotel stay.
Local food. Part of exploring a new place when traveling is to discover the culinary arts. Pick restaurants and cafés that focuses on locally sourced and organic food and beverages. Good for the environment – and good for you.
There are many more ways to be travel savvy when it comes to environmental friendliness. If you have some useful tips and ideas to add, we’d love to hear them. Check out our Instagram post and discussions in the comments!
