I'm going on vacation! And rest assured, it will be a green one. From my hotel stay to my activities to my flight I'll be keeping my carbon footprint as tiny as possible while I travel through the Yucatan Peninsula. Since my blogs are normally full of green travel tips, I thought I'd spend some time showing how simple it really is to plan and take a green vacation. While traveling will likely never be good for the environment, we all have the ability to lighten our load on the planet on any trip we take.
How I Planned A Green Vacation
I'm going on vacation! And rest assured, it will be a green one. From my hotel stay to my activities to my flight I'll be keeping my carbon footprint as tiny as possible while I travel through the Yucutan Peninsula. Since my blogs are normally full of green travel tips, I thought I'd spend some time showing how simple it really is to plan and take a green vacation. While traveling will likely never be good for the environment, we all have the ability to lighten our load on the planet on any trip we take.
Every vacation begins with the research stage. I spent a few weeks searching through our directory of green hotels. In my search I found some excellent eco hotels all around the world from Jamaica to Canada to Sweden. You might be surprised to learn that we now have green lodging listings in 47 countries! I decided on our Dream Green Giveaway resort – The Hacienda Tres Rios. Tres Ríos began as a nature park and has been developed to preserve that unique environment. From their planning to their construction to their daily operations, Hacienda Tres Ríos carefully works to ensure the least environmental impact on the ecosystems and environment. Details of their environmental mission can be found on their website by visiting http://www.tres-rios.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view§ionid=6&id=35. While I'm there I'll be checking out their programs and giving them their RezHub Certified Green Hotel award.
Now that my resort is all set up, it's time to look for a hybrid car rental or a green rental car. I started off using our RezHub car rental search to find the best deal. While there were no hybrid options available to me in Mexico, I was able to rent a green car. I chose an economy car because it was highlighted in green in the search results. Renting the smallest car possible helps by reducing the amount of gas you'll use which also reduces your carbon emissions.
Finally comes my flight. Everyone is looking for the best deals on airfare, and unfortunately air is one of the slowest sectors of travel to green up. It's not necessarily that the airlines don't care to make changes for the planet, but there is a lot more involved in greening up an airline. I went ahead and booked the best fare, and then purchased my carbon offset. There is a lot of controversy about how effective carbon offsets really are. I believe that while no, they are not going to immediately take the carbon out of the air from my trip, they do benefit the environment. If you're not familiar with the types of offsets out there check out our Green Flights page for more information. I linked over to Sustainable Travel International to calculate and offset my trip which took under 2 minutes. The entire offset for the two of us came to only $36.00 and this includes our flights, car rental, and hotel stay - $18 a piece, simple and affordable.
The last thing I did was research eco-friendly activities for my trip. Along with exploring the jungle surrounding the hotel via bicycle, I planned a few activities that will give back to the local community.
- I found a spider monkey sanctuary called The Jungle Place that rescues and rehabilitates injured and sick spider monkeys. For a $30 donation, we'll get to visit the sanctuary and see how the monkeys are cared for.
We found a local SCUBA operator who we'll spend the day with learning about the reefs and ocean animals of the Yucutan.
Our last trip is one exploring the jungle canopy via a zip line. The local tour operators will teach us about the different plants and animals we see on the way.
Our website is full of excellent tools that help anyone find eco travel options on any trip. If you're traveling to a city where green options are unavailable booking here ensures that your trip will still have a positive impact on the planet. 20% of the proceeds from each trip are always donated back to the environment. If you book a hotel that isn't yet Green Scored, let the management know that it is important to you. Check out our Green Travel Plan for some excellent ideas to turn any trip green.