Go green travelling? Doesn’t that sound rather oxymoron?
I know. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying not to fly because if we travel to places that are far, we have to catch a flight. But that doesn’t stop us from looking at different ways to go green while we travel, even in small ways.
Bring Your Own
When I travel, I bring along my water bottle. I will ask the flight attendant to fill up my water bottle when I am on the flight that is more than four hours. Keeping myself hydrated on the flight especially on long haul flight and reducing usage of plastic cups. I will also fill up my water bottle at the breakfast area before I leave the hotel to explore the city of destination instead of buying bottled water. I save money and reduce plastic consumption.
As we travel, we can also play our part by bringing our own toiletries. I recommend using reusable bottles that we can decant things like shampoo and body wash into the small bottles. You could either buy the 100 ml travel bottles or reuse the travel size bottles and containers that you have.
Take Public Transport
When I explore the city, be it overseas or back home, I prefer to take public transport or walk when possible. By doing that, I get to see more of the city and the people.
Bring And/Or Borrow What You Need
I used to think that it is alright not to bring certain items when I travel, I can always buy it on the road. Not anymore. Why should I buy on the road when I have it or I can borrow it.
It’s one thing to outright forget to bring something another to intentionally not bring. This reminds me of one of my trips to Korea for a ski holiday. I was so consumed by my work that I forgot to pack my jeans into my luggage. On my way to the airport, I sensed something was amiss. Initially, I thought I left my passport at home. Then it dawned on me that I forgot to pack my jeans. So I ended up buying two pairs of jeans at the airport.
Invest in Items of Good Quality
Next, if you are planning to buy a new luggage or backpack for your travel, invest in an item of good quality that can last you for years and not one that disintegrates after a couple of trips. My cabin size luggage has accompanied me to more than 180 business and leisure trips in the past nine years and it is still serving me well. The luggage may cost ten times more than any ordinary cabin size luggage but it is very durable and light.
Let’s Keep Clean – Leave No Trace
Finally, let’s clean up after ourselves, leaving the place looking the same or better before we were there. Let’s not leave waste lying around, drop them either into the trash bin or recycle bin. Keep the environment clean and reduce waste wherever we travel to.
When we are visiting the nature reserve, parks, gardens and beaches, take nothing with us except photographs, leave nothing behind except your footprints.
The above are just some suggestions and small tweaks we could make to begin to travel responsibly. Small tweaks and little things we do matter. When we give back to the environment, we make it a better place to live in.
Would love to hear ideas and suggestions from you on how to go green while you travel.
Thank you for stopping by, Happy Living for Experiences!
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Living for Experiences 
That’s a fine list, Audrey!
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Great tips! I never thought of filling my water bottle at breakfast! I will definitely be doing that from now on.
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Spot on, maybe a few trash bags/bin-liners for your owns use or even clearing other peoples trash, especially if trekking. They also come in handy if your taken short and you don’t have trowel, hasten to add trekking only.
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Yeah, that’s what I did back home, clearing other people’s trash while I do my morning walks at the parks.
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Fly tipping aside, why do people think it doesn’t matter, makes one wonder what their homes are like?
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Check out my earlier post on my experience – https://audreysimplicity.com/2017/02/25/keep-clean/
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on my way ———–> w o o s h
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A simple but a good post…
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Thank you 😊
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I love your ideas for green traveling. I recently returned from Scotland and our hotel rooms even had options for separating out our recyclable materials, which I appreciated. I agree in investing in items that you will get many years usage from.
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I find hotels are the places where people generate the most recyclable waste like plastic bottles and packaging of the toiletries. Great to see that more and more hotels starting the Green journey.
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Hi Audrey 🙂 thanks for the posts, always a pleasure to read. Is travelling your side hobby or have you succeeded in making this a career? You lifestyle intrigues me a lot. Have you written a post about this at all?
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I enjoy exploring new places, be it in Singapore or overseas. Check out My Story page to know more about me. 😊
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Thank for visiting my page! I agree with everything you’ve listed in here. I try to stay green on my trips as well. 🙂
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Great to know 😀
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Great ideas 😀 I love to go walking and try to do my bit. It keeps me fit and the most beautiful places in the world (mountains etc) can only be seen on foot anyway ☺
Just letting you know as well, I have nominated you for an award. There is no obligation to accept it 🙂
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Great list. I love taking public transport around a new place. It allows me to get a layout of the place.
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Exactly and we get to see more of the place and experience the city like a local. 🙂
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Great advice I have lived by but nice to see it listed so clearly for those that may not, thanks Audrey 🙂
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Thank you 😊 Great to know you too live by them
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the more the merrier 🙂
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