Traveling Green – It’s not that hard!

Are you a green traveler? Well, I’ve always tried to be, but this time, I made a very conscious effort. It wasn’t hard at all. 

We recently drove to Seattle for little family vacation. My main goal was to try and be as GREEN as possible. With nutritious ready made snacks from home and reuseable coffee mugs and water bottles in the car, we were on our way.

Our first challenge was the border. We were lucky. It was only an hour wait. We did not idle the car while waiting. We shut off the engine so we didn’t emit carbon dioxide into the air. Every little bit helps our planet. Now if every car did that….

Next we checked into our hotel and unpacked. After deciding what our day’s itinerary was going to be, we filled our reuseable bags with our reusable water bottles,  reusable coffee mugs, camera, walking map, my trusty Norwex Travel Pack (4 small microfiber cloths with silver that destroys bacteria. I use these instead of wet wipes or hand sanitizer) and sunglasses.

After a day of sight seeing, we headed back to the hotel. By this time we had started to create “garbage” or at least recycling. To my surprise, the hotel DID NOT have recycling boxes in the room! So I gathered what could be recycled and created my own recycling bucket making sure I made a sign to let housekeeping know that it wasn’t garbage. If the hotel wasn’t going to recycle it, then I would take it home to Canada and recycle it.

Another way to go green when traveling is to NOT use those very cute little shampoo bottles. I know, I know, this is a tough one. But if you don’t use them, you aren’t creating more waste. Bring your own shampoo, body lotion etc.

Oh and don’t use those bottles of water in your room. Free or not, you are creating more waste by opening that bottle. Plus so many plastic bottle leach plastic poisons into our water now. Use your reusable bottle for water.

When shopping, we didn’t need any plastic bags as had our reusable ones. I gave the stores back their shoes boxes and over excessive packing to recycle. If they didn’t recycle it, I it took it with me to recycle it.

Another thing we did a few months ago to help with our green travelling is to purchase a vehicle that uses less gas and omits less carbon dioxide. What a saving on gas this has been for us. As soon as the Smart Car puts a 4 seater with storage on the market, we’ll be the first in line.

Our family had fun finding green ways to travel. We all know, in these little changes, we are making a difference.

So, the next time you go a family trip, designate everyone in the family a “green” task for the trip. You’ll be surprised how much fun it can be and how good it feels.