5 Ways to Travel More Sustainably
Travel opens our minds to new perspectives and our hearts to new people and destinations. At its best, travel is a catalyst for cultural exchange, global awareness, and personal humility. But that enlightenment does come at a cost: at its worst, travel can be actively destructive to host destinations, culture, and the environment.
As the owner of Doorways Villa Vacations and a frequent traveler myself, I think a lot about the impact of my own travel and my responsibility as a global citizen. While we certainly don’t have all the answers, we’ve developed some basic principles for traveling more sustainably. Following are five ways to help neutralize your impact, and—in some cases—contribute to the solution.
Support Small Business
Cappuccino Over Frappuccino
Traveling in Italy, and in fact throughout many places in the world, you will come across chain restaurants like McDonald’s and more recently, Starbucks. While it may be tempting to grab a quick and familiar bite from a place you frequent at home, it is worth seeking out local options instead. If the world becomes a repetition of the same fifty restaurants there will be nothing special about eating abroad. By supporting small, local businesses, you are directly helping the local population to sustain itself and protecting what makes each country and region so special and unique. If you find a restaurant or local shop that you love, take note of the name and write an online review for them.
2. Frequent the road less traveled
Hidden Gems over Tourist Traps
Almost all of us have felt the familiar pull of fomo (fear of missing out). When visiting a new destination, there is an unspoken pull to cross popular tourist destinations off our travel bucket list. After all, can you really say you’ve visited Paris, if you haven’t seen the Eiffel tower? This is reasonable to a point, but selecting sites bears some thought.
Ask yourself, what is the reason I’m motivated to visit this particular spot? Is it stemming from a lifetime dream, a personal interest or hobby or some form of external or societal pressure?
There are truly so many wonderful hidden gems on the road less traveled. Ask us for recommendations on unconvential tours that are small, educational, and thought provoking.
3. Minimize Air Travel
Train over Planes
The ease and affordability of air travel is frequently credited for the huge increase in international travel, which reached 1.4 billion arrivals in 2018, two years ahead of predictions. With air travel and the emissions of planes currently accounting for 2-2.5% of world-wide carbon emission, travel’s role in our current climate crisis is also increasingly top of mind, particularly against the backdrop of the UN Climate Action Summit and Greta Thurnberg’s incredible efforts. While airplane travel is often necessary to reach international destinations, it can be minimized with a thoughtful approach. Consider utilizing the well-connected high speed trains throughout Europe. As with many big changes, reducing carbon from flying could start with a series of small tweaks.
4. Travel Slow and Deep
Longer over Shorter
In the United States, the majority of our workforce is given a mere two weeks vacation. This limited time coupled with pressure from social media and a culture of mass consumption leads us to believe we must squeeze in as many destinations as possible.
One brief encounter is etched in my mind and forever changed the way I view travel. When I visited Greece for the first time, I had plans to island hop. There were simply so many islands- one more beautiful than that next, that I had to see as much beauty as possible. I made an aggressive schedule- planning to spend 2 days each on several islands. But then something stopped me. It was Naxos- a rugged, peaceful island with fresh Greek salad, sparkling Mediterranean water and the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen. I extended my stay day by day, until I found that it was suddenly two weeks. What about Santorini? What about Crete? Suddenly all that mattered was enjoying the destination I was already in.
On my way home at the tiny Mykonos airport, I ran into some fellow Americans- a couple in their fifties. They looked absolutely exhausted. As we chatted, the wife told me that they just completed a 10 day trip spanning 4 countries and 5 cities. Their kids had given them an itinerary packed with restaurants spotted on Instagram. They looked defeated and exhausted at the end of their trip. Something about this encounter clicked for me. You can truly have a much better time and a more meaningful experience when you travel slow and deep. This is why Doorways offers a minimum stay of one week. We want you to settle into your new home. Get to know the locals. Make time to do nothing and soak in the experience.
5. Come Prepared
Stainless Steel over Plastic
Thinking ahead to your trip can save plastic. We recommend a steel water bottle, and stainless steel straws. These small tweaks can and do make a difference. Together, we can travel mindfully and protect the destinations that make the world so beautiful.
Read more about Doorways’ philosophy on sustainable travel.
