Stephanie Moram

Episode 11: Eco-Friendly Travel Tips

Eco-Friendly Travel· Sustainable Holidays

Hey, Green Junkie!

The earth is a beautiful place and we have the privilege of being able to get in a car or a plane and go anywhere we want to capture its never-ending beauty. However, you might be wondering how to do that and still take care of the earth that you’re spending time and money to appreciate.

With travel season upon us, it comes with a lot of confusion about how to travel without completely blowing off your sustainable practices.

So today, I wanted to share some of my favourites (don’t break the bank) travel tips with you that you can use no matter where you are going in the world.

Here’s what to expect:

  • What to pack in your car or in your carry on while travelling
  • How to keep your road trip meals eco-friendly
  • Ways to save money on vacation
  • How you can support the local economies during your travels and why it’s important  
  • Should you travel by plane or automobile

You’ll discover that and so much more in this episode.

By the end of this episode, Green Junkie, you’ll be a much more informed traveler and be able to confidently make green decisions this traveling season.

If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks. 

Thanks for listening and being here.

Your green bestie,

Xoxo Stephanie

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LISTEN BELOW

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 11

0:08 Hi, Green Junkie. I'm your host Stephanie Moram. Today, I'm going to focus on simple ways to adjust your travel to reduce your carbon footprint, and perhaps save you some money.

0:20 Travel is a magical thing. I get it. We all love to travel, it can help us grow and experience new cultures. But if we're not careful, we could ironically ruin the environment we travel so far to see.

0:33 But it doesn't have to be this way. By the end of this episode, Green Junkie, you'll have the sustainable travel tips you need to avoid being destructive to the environment, and instead preserve it for generations to come.

0:48 Make sure you're subscribed to the green junkie podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcast. That way you'll never miss another episode. Get ready to make an eco friendly difference, Green Junkie!

1:03 Let's dive into how to travel sustainably. So tip number one, invest in a reusable water bottle. So if you have a reusable water bottle nearby when you need to quench your thirst, this is an easy way to keep yourself hydrated, as well as avoiding plastic water bottles, right?!

1:23 We don't want to be using plastic water bottles. We want to try to avoid them as much as possible. So having your reusable water bottle with you, whether you're going on a plane, or you're jumping in a car to travel is a perfect way to avoid those plastic water bottles. My favorite water bottle is a Hydro Flask.

1:43 Next up number two, we have reusable coffee mug, or tea mug. Again, my favorite is the Hydroflask. So if you're craving that chai latte, or that coffee, remember to have your reusable coffee mug with you and bring it everywhere you go. Again, whether you're jumping on a plane or you're jumping in the car, having it with you allows you to get that coffee, get that tea and not have to take the disposable cup that often comes along with getting something on the go.

2:14 Number three, so we're on the topic of reusables. So why not have a reusable little travel bag with you. You can have things like straws, cloth napkins, wooden utensils. So if you decide to stop at a fast food restaurant, or some sort of restaurant along your travels, now you have some cutlery you can use instead of grabbing disposable cutlery. It's so easy to do. It'll help you reduce your waste and divert so much plastic from the landfill.

2:45 While you're on the road trip pack this reusable gear with you to help you replace those throw away items. Think of it as your eco travel kit with essential items that can go a long way in reducing waste while you're away from home. A few of my favorite items I like to pack in my Eco travel kit are cloth napkins. So either I cut up old T shirts and I use those or I go to a thrift store and get some napkins those are some options. Or if you have some at home, bring them with you. I always have some sort of container with me – a stainless steel container.

3:25 I also like to use lunch boxes. And I have this with me just in case when I go to a restaurant and I have too much food. Well I can bring my leftovers back to the hotel with me or back to the Airbnb with me and I can eat it that way. Or if say you're going to a coffee shop and you want to get some cookies or you want to get a snack, you can have a container with you. So you can fill that up instead of taking the bag that that food would come in.

3:51 Wooden cutlery. I mentioned having cutlery with you to avoid using disposable cutlery. I also like to have straws with me just in case I grab a smoothie. This way I can avoid taking a plastic straw. My favorite straw is the Strawsome glass straw. And don't forget to bring a container to protect it because it is made of glass.

4:16 And lastly, I like to have Stasher silicone bags with me. Just again kind of like the lunchbox containers is just so I have something to put things in if I decide to do any sort of takeout and want to avoid any sort of takeout containers.

4:30 Next up number four, when you're traveling, have you ever thought about going to the grocery store to buy some food to get some snacks. This way you're saving some money because you're buying your food at a grocery store versus going to a restaurant all the time. So you can grab some snacks that you know you're going to enjoy if you're staying at Airbnb, you can maybe get some food that you can cook – again to save money and you're also going to reduce your waste at the same time.

5:00 You're not buying unnecessary food, right. So if you go to a restaurant, a lot of the time, they give you way too much food this way, you just make what you want to eat. And when you're at the grocery store, don't forget to bring your own grocery bags with you to avoid taking plastic bags.

5:21 When you're traveling, find some local restaurants find some really cool places that you can have a great meal and maybe have some sustainable practices as well. You know, the farm to table type of restaurants. These are great options. Instead of going the conventional route and going to like fast food restaurants or going to like big chain restaurants try to look for restaurants that are local, and that way you're supporting the local economy at the same time.

5:50 And since I'm on the topic of food waste, if you go to episode three, that's where I talk about food waste, so you can have a listen over there.

5:58 Number five, make sure to bring things that you need to avoid buying new. So bring your deodorant make sure you have your wooden toothbrushes your toothpaste, body wash all those things. Because then you avoid (if you are staying at a hotel) taking the little sample size stuff. And you're also avoiding having to buy things when you're traveling. You could get some small containers at a thrift store that you can reuse. Or maybe you have some small containers at home already that you can fill your shampoo with and your deodorant and this way you're reducing your waste by not buying unnecessary things while you're on your travels.

6:39 Next up number six packing light. This may seem insignificant to some people, but packing light can have an environmental impact. If your bag is lighter, let's say you pack just one suitcase instead of two. That mean the plane will weigh 50 pounds less. The bus you ride or the car you drive will be just as light. And each of these changes means the fuel consumption will also be less. We all pack less stuff. When we decide to travel whether we're in a plane a train or in our car, we will end up using less fuel.

7:17 Number seven, stay at a sustainable hotel or an Airbnb. Choose a place to stay that is respectful of the environment, and your budget, of course. Many hotels now are really trying to implement sustainable practices into their business and are LEED certified. Some restaurants are starting to compost and have accessibility to recycling. I've been to hotels where they use organic sheets and organic products in their hotel. So look for those hotels.

7:48 Also, you can stay in Airbnb. And the reason I personally love to stay at Airbnb is because I can make my own food. I don't love going to restaurants all the time. And this way, like I mentioned in number four (way back in tip number four about grocery shopping) this way you can buy your own food and you will save money in doing so. And if you want to eat a healthier diet, this way you can get the foods that you want to eat versus having to eat certain foods in a restaurant.

8:18 I'm going to link in the show notes a link called Eco Friendly hotels.org. This is where you can discover eco vacation rentals and eco hotels on that website.

8:28 Number eight using reef friendly sunscreen. So if you're heading to the sun, and there's water, look for better sunscreens, stick with lotions, avoid sprays or misting sunscreens because when you use sprays and misting sunscreens the sunscreen doesn't always end up on your body. When you're using a lotion – you're just rubbing it on your body so it's staying where it needs to. You can find sunscreen lotions that are in biodegradable compostable materials or plant based materials and I just wanted to touch on the topic of reef safe or reef friendly and what exactly that means.

9:06 What that typically means is it contains reef friendly and typically does not contain ingredients like oxybenzoyl or I hopefully going to say this correctly. Oxygenates which are two common UV blocking chemicals that is used in sunscreen. And what these two chemicals do is cause coral bleaching- literally the coral will turn white. Even though the coral doesn't die from these chemicals, it can be placed under significant stress and is subject to increase rates of disease and death. So let's avoid those two chemicals in our sunscreens as much as possible, especially if we're going to be out at the ocean.

9:46 My favorite brands are green Beaver, badger and Goddess garden organics. Again, I'm going to link this on the show notes for you so you will have access to it.

9:58 Number nine leave no trace. And what do I mean by that? It's when you're out and about, leave no trace that you were there. Compost. If you can compost. Recycle. If you can recycle, pick up your trash, don't just throw it on the ground. I often look for stores, or like different grocery stores that offer composting. If my hotel or Airbnb doesn't compost, and then partway through my stay, depending how long I'm away, or at the end of my stay, I go to that store and I dropped my compost off in their compost bin.

10:35 And also when you're shopping, where we talked about number four, go grocery shopping, try to refuse the receipt for many reasons. One, it's wasteful to take a receipt and second covered in BPA most of the time, which is harmful to you. We can save that discussion for another podcast episode. But skip the receipt if you can.

10:56 And lastly, should you drive or should you fly to your destination? That's the question. Before we discuss this, I just wanted to mention that in the show notes, I am going to list two websites that have gone in depth on this topic of flying versus driving, when you should fly and when you shouldn't fly. So instead of regurgitating everything that they say in their research, I'm going to leave those links below but I'm going to touch on it a little bit.

11:26 So obviously flying versus driving, it depends where you're going, you obviously cannot drive across the water. So you will need to fly to certain locations. According to Go Green Travel Green, aside from the time and the convenience of non stop flights, they're better for the environment than direct flights with a stopover. It's not just because you're traveling fewer miles. It's because as much as 50% of carbon emissions comes from the takeoff and landing. So let me say that again. So 50% of carbon emissions come from the takeoff and landing. So if you have a direct flight, a nonstop flight to your destination, that means you're only taking off and landing once versus if you have multiple stops in between you're taking off and landing more frequently.

12:16 So if you decide to fly to location, try your very best to get non stop flights. Yes, driving can be better than flying when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint, especially when you're sharing the ride with others and or driving fuel efficient cars. There's no hard and fast rule when deciphering the greenness of flying versus driving. While flying could be better for long distance travel, short road trips shared between several people may result in lower per capita emissions. And like I mentioned, I've linked both of this research in the show notes just for you.

12:57 Traveling is a beautiful thing. We don't have to ruin the environment to see new parts of it. I hope a few of these sustainable travel tips stick in your mind the next time you walk out the door on your next adventure.

13:10 Make sure you subscribe to the green junkie podcast to get notified when new episodes are released every Tuesday. Follow at Green junkie podcasts on Instagram and please leave a five star review if you found the sustainable travel tips helpful. Lots of green goodness is happening behind the scenes here at Green Junkie and you won't want to miss what I have in store for you. So please do something today to live a little more green while you're organizing your travels and adventures. Thank you for tuning in. And I'll see you next week green junkie

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