Keep taking beautiful trips, but also live greener. It is a familiar split for travel enthusiasts who are also doing their utmost to deal with the planet in a conscious way. Saskia Griep, founder of travel organisation Better Places, knows the dilemma all too well. Fortunately, sacrificing on travel pleasure does not have to be. Where you go and how you organise your trip already makes a big difference. What does that look like? Saskia shares her tips!
Travelling more sustainably with Better Places
In partnership with Better Places
In a world full of climate issues, how do you still travel with a good feeling? This is exactly what Saskia founded a decade ago Better Places on. Not a traditional travel agency, but a platform on which the traveller is directly connected to a travel expert at the destination. So you get a tailor-made round trip, mapped out according to your wishes and with attention to the destination itself. Always personal, small-scale and full of local experiences. Because that's where making a trip with positive impact starts.
Travelling with Better Places: a homestay in Georgia, sleeping with the Masai.
The Fair Travel Guide
But, living and travelling more sustainably is sometimes just downright complicated. Because where are you doing the right thing? This is why Better Places came up with the Fair Travel Guide. Saskia: ‘Making more sustainable choices should become easier. That's why we measure the impacts of all the trips we organise. For the positive impact, we look, for example, at the type of accommodation and how many guides and drivers are employed. The higher the score, the greater the positive impact of the trip. In this, we also include the negative impact. For example, a return flight to Peru causes over six times more CO2 emissions than to northern Spain. On our website, we display this Fair Travel Guide for each destination, thus helping travellers make conscious choices for the destination, the inhabitants and the climate, without losing sight of your own travel pleasure.’
Those choices are secretly also a lot of fun to make. After all, a conscious journey also means a journey full of special activities, beautiful encounters and new discoveries:
1. Be surprised by Europe
Did you know that as much as 95% of a trip's total CO2 emissions are caused by the flight to and from the destination? So that's where the biggest difference can be made. Saskia: ‘We like to travel to see new things but we sometimes forget that you can also find that closer to home.’ From traditional villages in the Romanian countryside to wildlife spotting in pristine Sweden and hiking among the mountain peaks of Spain's Picos de Europa. Our own continent is full of travel delights, so be surprised by those adventure tour in Europe.’
A nice bonus of staying closer to home: your holiday is generally cheaper, you get to see a lot in few holiday days AND you skip that pesky jet lag!
2. Take the car or train
If you do stay within Europe, leave the plane if at all possible. After all, your own car is more comfortable than that plane trip and you save on a pricey rental car at your destination. Want to make your trip sustainable and special? Take the train! Few people know that many European destinations are very be easily accessible by train. ’It's adventurous and also easier and quicker than you think,‘ Saskia explains. ’For example, you get on the train in Amsterdam in the morning and that same evening you are having tapas in San Sebastian, Spain. Many Eastern European destinations are also easily accessible by train, such as Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Travelling couldn't be more sustainable!
3. The more local the better
As much of your travel budget as possible should go to the people at the destination, who often need it most. That is Better Places‘ approach. Saskia: ’We call this travelling with positive impact. The key is in small-scale and local. While visiting a special location, take a local guide with you. This way, you have a wealth of knowledge with you and you contribute to a fair income for him or her. When choosing your accommodation, it is best to skip large-scale hotels and international chains. Opt for a locally run B&B, boutique hotel or add a few nights in a homestay to your (distant) trip. This often produces the best memories.'
Make even more of a difference? Eat local, choose no or less meat and reduce plastic waste by bringing your own water bottle.
4. Make your long-distance trip extra long
If you do take that faraway trip, make it a once in a lifetime-experience of it, suggests Saskia. ‘Really save up for it, live towards it and go extra long. That way, you make it worth the plane ride and can make a lot of positive impact on the destination along the way.’ It is also called slow travel mentioned, and not only do the people benefit from this, but also you. By travelling more leisurely, you have plenty of time to really experience the places you visit.
5. Fly anyway? Fly consciously!
For many destinations, air travel is now unavoidable. So how do you make sure you make the most sustainable choice possible? ‘Sustainable flying is unfortunately still a pipe dream,’ Saskia explains, ‘but you can make smart choices when booking your air travel. Within Europe, a direct flight is always the most sustainable choice. For flights over six thousand kilometres, this is more complicated.’ Fortunately, there is a simple tool to choose the flight with the least CO2 emissions. When you use Google Flights, you will automatically see the CO2 emissions. So you can see right away that it can vary quite a bit from one flight to another. You can also make a big difference by avoiding domestic flights during your trip. Bridge long distances by train or bus and save a lot of CO2 emissions while experiencing local life at your destination‘.’
Making your next trip as sustainable and special as possible too? Get inspired on betterplaces.nl and contact the travel expert at the destination of your choice directly.
More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Also see: list of better compensation projects.
- Also see: First aid for trains in Europe.
- Also see: the list for the best holiday on Terschelling.
Photo credits: Better Places.
