Earth-Friendly Vacation Tips

Let’s Cut Down On The Consumerism of Travel for the Sake of the Planet

One of the best parts about traveling the world is that it’s an activity based on the accumulation of experiences rather than the accumulation of stuff. While objects can bring us joy, experiences can last a lifetime in our minds without taking up any physical real estate. However, traveling can have an impact on the planet, especially when factoring in the energy requirements of international flights and faraway travel.

If you’re wary about traveling the planet because you’re concerned about the environmental impact of activities like flying and driving, there are some steps you can take to reduce your personal contribution to energy use during your vacation. While it’s not truly possible to travel with zero waste (well, maybe if you walk your way across the planet?), there are a few things you can do to make less waste along the way.

In a world where it’s become commonplace to replace items every few years rather than fix them or use them for a decade, traveling represents an activity that can offer you the experiences you crave without the harmful contribution to landfills that rampant consumerism can lead to. Sure, getting a new piece of electronics or a new pair of shoes is fun, but so is staring at the highest peak in Europe or gazing across an ancient temple city in Cambodia.

As human beings in a technologically advanced world, it’s tough to exist without producing some waste every day. And it’s so easy to fall into the habit of buying all sorts of things that we think we need for traveling. However, it’s often the case that you can travel quite easily without making any purchases at all before, during, or after your trip.

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

Focus on the Experiences Over the Purchases

At one time, I always tried to get a t-shirt from every major location I visited. I often also picked up a souvenir like a magnet or some sort of item for display. I’d also get gifts for people back home, so they’d have something fun from my travels, too. As I’ve traveled to more places, however, I’ve really cut back on purchasing and have sometimes come back from international vacations with nothing but the pictures on my smartphone.

Many of the little items and souvenirs you’d typically get would just end up sitting in a drawer somewhere anyway at some point. You really only have so much room for miniature gold busts of Julius Caesar from Rome, tiny Eiffel Tower sculptures from Paris, and magnets printed with the Union Jack from London.

I will admit that I have a weakness for magnets, and I have a fair number covering my refrigerator from my travels. But I’ve learned that I don’t need to pick up a magnet from absolutely every place I’ve traveled. Rather than buying tons of magnets in the past year (I traveled internationally on three separate trips in 2024, so there was a lot of potential magnet-buying), I purchased a single Christmas ornament printed with all the places my traveling partner and I visited during the year.

Other than that magnet and a small watercolor painting I picked up for my mom when we were visiting Palermo, I didn’t buy anything souvenir-related (well, other than about ten tons of chocolate while in Belgium) on my trips. And I wouldn’t consider food as a wasteful purchase on a trip anyway. If you think about it, food isn’t going to end up in a landfill (well, not in the same way a piece of plastic might).

Opt for Train Travel When Possible, & Always Use Your Feet

If you’re visiting the United States, there’s a decent chance you’ll have to rent a car or spend a fortune hailing Ubers or taxis because our public transportation is sorely lacking outside of New York City. As a resident of Los Angeles, I rarely take any sort of public transportation and really only ever use a bicycle or my feet when I’m not in my (electric) car. I wish the situation was better for public transport here, but the United States is just huge, and our public transport just isn’t what it should be.

However, the rest of the world really does have some great options for public transport. When I visited Belgium recently, I conducted a little research on the bus system and was able to take my credit card and swipe it when getting on the bus, which would charge my card a flat rate for a ride. We used the system for rides in Bruges and Ghent and easily traveled all over town without driving or using taxis.

We also used the trains throughout Belgium and the Netherlands, which were mostly on time and relatively easy to use. Yes, you can certainly rent a car and drive all over Europe if you want, but why not reduce your carbon footprint and take advantage of the public transport in your destination country?

In addition to focusing on public transport, my traveling partner and I also try to walk everywhere when we can. We usually get up to around 20,000 steps a day while traveling, and we’ll generally walk any distance of about 30 minutes to our destination unless there’s something stopping us (like a lack of walkable roads or severe weather). Walking everywhere means you can eat as much Belgian chocolate as you want without worrying about your waistline.

Avoid Unnecessary Purchases Before Your Trip

If you travel infrequently and save up for a long time before each trip, you probably put a lot of effort into making sure that each thing you bring with you is just perfect. You want the perfectly sized backpack, the ideal luggage, the jacket that’s perfect for the temperatures in your destination country, and the shoes that will perfectly suit the terrain where you’re traveling.

While it might make sense to make some of these purchases in advance of your first-ever major trip, it’s important to avoid getting sucked into the habit of buying a whole bevy of new travel items every time you book a vacation. There’s always an awesome new bag or some sort of cool toy that you can bring with you on your travels, but do you really need it, or is it just another piece of waste that will end up in a drawer and eventually a landfill?

Not only is lugging around a bunch of stuff on your vacation a hassle sometimes (especially if you’re traveling to several cities or locations on your trip) but buying things repeatedly for every trip is expensive, too. While I did need to buy some stuff initially when I started traveling frequently, I’ve gotten to the point where I really don’t purchase anything unless I’ve broken something beyond repair.

The only things I’ve bought very recently were a replacement travel pillow (I left mine on a train in Morocco because I’m an idiot) and a big fuzzy hat because I was traveling to Europe in the late fall/winter and needed something with more heft than my beanie or baseball cap (the only hats I owned). So, now I have a big, fuzzy hat that makes me look like I just got off a train in Moscow. But at least it keeps my head warm in frigid weather.

---

---