Sustainability gives off the impression of sacrifice. Generally, taking a sustainable approach means sacrificing convenience. But this isn’t always true. Sustainable travel tactics are worthwhile even if your motivations are purely self-interested, because these habits tend to make trips easier and cheaper.
Here are some of the biggest sustainable travel habits worth building.
Switch to Refillable Toiletries
Miniature travel-sized toiletries are convenient, but they’re also wasteful. Small plastic toiletry bottles are made of environmentally unfriendly plastic, and they rarely end up getting recycled. Refillable silicone bottles solve two problems at once. You only carry with you what you need, and you can stay under the cabin limit for air travel easily.
There are also such things as solid shampoo and conditioner bars, which might not be an everyday item, but they’re usable enough that you don’t need to worry about liquid rules.
Go Digital With Documents
A digital boarding pass on your phone is usually more than enough. Going paperless means there’s nothing to misplace, and you don’t need to scramble to get tickets printed at the gate. These days, airlines and rail operators push live travel updates on the same app, so this sustainable habit can also keep you in the loop much better than if you rely on physical tickets.
Pack a Foldable Tote Bag
An eco-friendly foldable tote bag is one of the most versatile and useful carry-on items, and it weighs close to nothing when it’s folded down. Any kind of foldable tote bag tucks into the pocket of a suitcase until you need it, and it’s always available whether you need to carry home souvenirs, groceries, or anything else that you decide to purchase.
A reusable tote can also be used as a laundry basket on the way home. Keeping one on you at all times means you’re never stuck paying for a flimsy plastic bag at the store.
Get Around Like a Local
Public transport is one of the simplest ways to lower your impact and your costs at the same time. Taxis and airport transfers are where a travel budget gets eaten alive, and they are rarely the cleanest way to get around.
- A metro card or local bus ticket usually costs a fraction of a cab, and you avoid the inflated fares that cluster around stations and airports.
- Walking the short hops costs nothing and shows you far more of a place, so you tend to stumble on the spots the guidebooks never mention.
- Renting a bike for the day is cheap and covers more ground than your feet, and it doubles as the day’s sightseeing rather than a separate expense.
Getting around the way locals do tends to be cheaper and lower-impact, and you see far more of the place while you do it.
Eat and Shop off the Tourist Trail
The travel habits that save you the most money often cut the most waste too, and eating where the locals eat is near the top of the list. Tourist trap cafes mark up everything and tend to hand it to you wrapped in single-use plastic.
- Local markets sell fruit and snacks loose and cheap, so you dodge the packaging and the tourist markup in one go.
- A small reusable container and a spork let you take street food or leftovers away without grabbing throwaway cutlery you will bin an hour later.
- Plenty of cafes knock a little off the price when you bring a refillable cup, and you spare yourself the lined paper cups that almost never get recycled.
Shopping and eating like a local keeps your spending down and your waste lighter, and the food is usually fresher and more interesting than anything on the tourist strip.
Reusable Water Bottles
A reusable water bottle is one of the high-value sustainable practices, particularly if you’re flying, because reusable water bottles can easily be refilled once you’re past security, and you don’t need to pay the inflated airport prices.
The scale of pollution from plastic drinking bottles is staggering. Around 1 million plastic drinking bottles are bought worldwide every minute, and half of all plastic produced is designed to be disposable.
Buying a decent quality insulated steel water bottle means you have a robust reusable drinking container that could last a lifetime, and the insulated steel also keeps water cool. Many airports and transport hubs offer free water refill fountains, making it much easier to keep up this sustainable habit. Always having fresh, cool drinking water available serves you well, because you no longer need to rely on pricey bottled water.
Try These Sustainable Travel Habits
Why these habits add up is that every reused item you carry is one less thing to overpay for during that airport layover. These sustainable habits don’t just help save the planet, they also help save your money, protecting you from tourist trap economics where you can pay up to 4 times the normal price for essentials like drinking water.
Adopt even a few of these sustainable and you’ll be surprised at just how much you save. If you’re interested in learning more about efficiency, have a comfortable trip, see our other articles.
