Keys to a Successful
Eco-Holiday
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A good holiday starts with knowing what you need. Are you looking for rest, recreation, time with family and friends, sunshine, or discovery and adventure? You may be looking for more than one of these. And of course the season will influence your choice too. Once you know this, you’re a step forward towards the holiday of your dreams.
Rest & Recuperation
Retreats, yoga holidays, Butlins, rural B&Bs, camping and shepherd’s huts could all fit the bill, with much smaller footprints than a flight abroad. To minimise stressful travel, stay as close to home as possible with just enough distance to leave your routines behind - an hour away is often enough to get that change of scene. Minimising travel not only saves carbon, but also wasted time, travel delays and hassle, ensuring more of your holiday is spent relaxing.
Sunshine
In summer UK holidays can be the best, since southern Europe is often too hot. In spring and autumn, you can reach warm sunny beaches within a day by fast train. For example, London to Barcelona is just 10 hours by train, and travellers report the journey as much less stressful than flying. See www.seat61.com for advice on train travel to anywhere in the world.
Discovery & Adventure
If you are looking for these, then the journey is as important as the destination. The thrill of seeing Europe by train and ferry, and absorbing culture and gradual changes along the way, can be a highlight of the trip, and far more romantic. To reach other continents, the Trans-Siberian express goes from Moscow to Beijing in 5 days, and from here you can get to anywhere in SE Asia.
Whilst it is more expensive, there are now passenger berths on cargo ships to every continent. Going by sea gives a true taste of the vast oceans. If flying is essential, can you take the train part way? London to Beijing by train, and then flying to Thailand, would have around 1/4 of the emissions of flying all the way.
If a flight is the only way, can you take your long haul adventures half as often, and stay twice as long? Even better, if you fly once every 5 years and stay for 10 weeks, it will have one fifth of the carbon footprint of traveling every year for two weeks, and the experience will be much deeper.
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Peter Owen Jones
Known as the BBC’s “Extreme Pilgrim” for his series on travel, Peter joins the Carbon Ambassadors course next Friday 18th June, to talk about the origins and meaning of holidays and share some of his own experiences.
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With best wishes from
Mukti Mitchell and the Carbon Savvy team
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