For anyone who knows me, I love to travel.  I have since I was a little girl. It’s probably inspired by my first solo trip somewhere around 6 or 7 when I flew to California from Cleveland to visit my dad.  The feeling of going somewhere, exploring a new place, seeing and meeting new people, eating different food… it’s an excitement that runs deep.

My family shares my love of travel and adventure.  Earlier this week, my five-year old daughter said, “we need to go somewhere mom. To sleep somewhere new, ride in the plane and have an adventure.” Oh, yes we do, I said.

Now though, as I’m taking off in a fuel-consuming airplane, my excitement has begun to be challenged by concern for the environmental impact of my love.  It used to make me feel sad, guilty.  But through a refocus of this energy, I decided to find ways to lessen my impact and encourage others to do the same, starting with my family. This keeps us moving forward, doing what we love and what brings us joy – enjoying our mainstream activities with a mindful touch.

Here are three changes I made when traveling:

1. Bring your own water bottle! Almost everywhere you go, you can find a fountain to get drinking water. It will save you so much money to not purchase those $6 water bottles in your hotel, plus the water bottles on the plane weigh something, and weight is a key factor in airplane fuel consumption. Lastly, most water bottles don’t end up getting recycled. According to Earth911, a mere 23% of water bottles are recycled.
2. Pack less! It’s freeing to not have to worry about bringing so many bags and as noted less weight on the plane = less fuel used*.
3. Rent an economical car or take public transportation. Economical cars are smaller, but comfort matters less when you are enjoying vacation and the fuel savings is worth it.

Will you try one or all three of these? Share your ideas with us on Instagram and Facebook!

* https://www.wired.com/2015/06/planes-get-efficient-heres/