I’m completely conflicted when it comes to travel, air travel in particular. My favourite thing to spend my money on is a trip somewhere new or somewhere I’ve been many times before but love (looking at you Norway), it’s always been this way for me. When I got my teenage partying days out of the way & hit 20 without consciously realising it, I was stopping spending all of my cash on nights out, new outfits & meals & I was saving to pay for holidays. This is the way I’ve lived my entire twenties & I love it that way, my husband & I got married on a cruise ship (he also proposed on a cruise ship!) & having our first child has made us want to cram even more travel into our lives so that he can experience these places too. Now with a house renovation project in Spain starting imminently, we’re going to be back & forth between Spain & the UK until our move date later this year, this doesn’t sit well as someone who has long considered the environmental impact of my life.
I know without stopping or cutting back drastically on flying that I can’t make a huge difference but I try and make travelling as sustainable as possible for me & my family. Here are the small & simple changes I’ve made when travelling that could eventually make a difference.
- Reusables! – Bring along your reusable water bottle & coffee cup to avoid buying a throw away bottle of water & take away coffee cup before the flight. They have to be empty & out of your rucksack as you pass through security but there are water fountains as soon as you’re through at our local airports. Here are some ideas for stylish & sustainable reusables.
- Pack Snacks – Especially if you’re travelling with permanently hungry kids. All of the plastic pots of fruit & snacks can be avoided with your regular snack boxes.
- Plastic Bags – Those little bags they hand out at security for your liquids infuriate me! I’ve tried using clear make up bags that will get used elsewhere too but no, British airports say no every time! The only solution I’ve come up with is to keep their naff little bag in my carry on case & reuse it as many times as I can before it inevitably tears.
- Travel by train – If possible for your trip book the Eurostar or a train journey instead of flying, we’ve done this for our trips to Disneyland Paris over the last few years & a plus is it’s way more pleasant than air travel!
- Offset Carbon – If flying is inevitable for your trip then offset your carbon, it’s surprisingly cheap enough to do when flying short haul & the money goes towards protecting the planet & replanting the rainforests. Easyjet have recently started offsetting all of their flights so if possible book with them for your route.
How do you try and be as sustainable as you can when travelling? I’d love some new tips to implement!
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