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You are browsing the archives of 2008 May.

Until this week, the closest I’d come to the inside of a cruise ship is the Titanic via a movie theater screen - which isn’t exactly what you want to associate with your cruising experience. So I wasn’t sure what to expect when I boarded Holland America’s ms Ryndam.
Now that I’ve been aboard for nearly [...]

We’re traveling around Alaska and Western Canada, so our posts for the next few weeks will focus on environmentally-friendly travel, food, and activities in those areas.
I had high expectations for Vancouver. I’d never been to British Columbia, but I had heard great things about it; it’s green (literally - tons of trees), the people are [...]

There’s nothing I enjoy more than getting an email like this in my inbox:
I’ve been lurking Go Green Travel for some time and love it. We share many of the same ideals. Also, as a side note. Your blog saved me nearly $400. My partner and I were booking airfare [...]

The 25 Days to Green Travel Series is now complete. We hope you enjoyed reading the series as much as we enjoyed writing it. For those who want the series in an easy reference format, here it is:
Intro: 25 Days to Green Travel: Intro to the Series

31 Reasons to Travel Green: In Pictures
Defining [...]

Tell them what was easy about being a responsible traveler and tell them what was challenging about sustainable traveling…. Tell them what a challenge it was to get from one side of the town to the other via public transportation, but in the end it was worth it because of the kind locals you met.

For the next 3 weeks, we’ll be traveling across Western Canada and Alaska for our wedding, honeymoon, and a cruise…. If you have a recommended activity or favorite restaurant in any of those places, please pass it along!

You’ve dined on native food, sampled local wine, and explored more museums and parks that you can count. Now your trip is over and it’s time to head home, but your job as a green traveler isn’t quite finished.
As you pack your bags and map your route, here are 6 things to remember to make [...]

Ecobunga is a really cool site with green giveaways and coupons for everything from organic coffee to eco-friendly accommodations.
Eco-worrier gives you 9 things to think about to green your holiday.
Intelligent Travel reviews Fodor’s new Green Travel book.
Just in time for Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., Allie’s Answers gives us home remedies for sunburn.
Oprah goes [...]

Now we’re moving into the homestretch of our 25 Days to Green Travel series with tips for traveling green on the way home.
At the end of my study abroad trip to Russia, I found myself scrambling to find souvenirs for family and friends back home. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a market and found awesome locally-made [...]

Being a green traveler means more than just taking public transportation, sleeping in a eco hotel, and using a water bottle; it also means being respectful and responsible when taking pictures.
Every traveler who takes photos and every photographer who travels needs to be sensitive to the local culture. Here are some tips to help [...]

Thanks to our friends at Intelligent Travel for selecting my entry as a winner of their Indy Adventure Contest. I wrote about one of Elizabeth’s and my many (mis)adventures - this one in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Head over to IT and check it out.
As a prize I’ll get a box set of Indiana Jones DVDs, which [...]

If environmental reasons (on top of United, US Airways, Northwest Airlines and all the others charging for more than 1 checked bag) aren’t enough to convince you to pack light, try this:
American Airlines will now charge for any piece of checked luggage.
That’s right, even one checked bag will likely cost you. $30 round-trip. [...]

As a lover of nature, especially animals, I set out to learn everything I could about being respectful while watching wildlife.
You know what I found out?
Everything I need to know about watching wildlife I learned in kindergarten.
Keep your hands to yourself. Don’t touch animals, their nests, babies, etc.

photo credit: Chalky Lives
Don’t feed the animals. [...]

Yesterday, in Volunteering Abroad: 10 Things to Know Before You Go we discussed everything you should think about before you sign up. Today we’ll cover why you should volunteer abroad and 21 resources for finding a good program.
5 Reasons to Volunteer Abroad
Help Others. Whether you’re cleaning up a polluted river or volunteering in a [...]

Volunteering abroad can be an incredibly rewarding experience. You get to spend a few weeks or months saving the rain forest or building houses for people who can’t afford them. Every program is not a good fit for everyone. But there are so many different places and types of work to choose from, you’ll definitely [...]

The great thing about traveling is once you’re at your destination, it’s much easier to be green. Most of your carbon consumption comes from the actual travel itself. That’s not to say that if you’ve done your best to be a green traveler getting there (who says you can’t bike around the world?) [...]

Gadling tells us how to get one of a million free seats on flights in Southeast Asia this summer through the winter.
Intelligent Travel launches their Indiana Jones DVD Giveaway Contest and hashes out paperless phrasebook options.
Brave New Traveler grapples with facing one’s own nationality abroad.
Ecorazzi tells us that environmentalist Beatle Paul McCartney was not happy [...]

[A] person who rides public transportation instead of driving reduces his or her carbon dioxide output, a harmful greenhouse gas, by more than 20 lbs a day and 4,800 lbs annually. That saves more than weatherizing a home, adjusting a thermostat, switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs and replacing older appliances with higher efficiency models, [...]

[A] person who rides public transportation instead of driving reduces his or her carbon dioxide output, a harmful greenhouse gas, by more than 20 lbs a day and 4,800 lbs annually. That saves more than weatherizing a home, adjusting a thermostat, switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs and replacing older appliances with higher efficiency models, [...]

Let’s face it, as much as we love camping, hostels, and eco-lodges sometimes a hotel is the most reasonable option. Luckily, even when staying at the least environmentally-friendly hotel you have a lot of control over your environmental impact. Here are 11 of our favorite tips and tricks for being a little friendlier [...]

I didn’t want to get married. They would find a husband, throw a party and send me away. I ran away many times. I refused to go back, but my father kept beating me. I was about 10 or 11 years old. I kept running away until I finally stayed with the fourth one because [...]

Don’t worry - I’m not going to get all PETA on you and condemn you for torturing baby cows by eating meat. I’ve been an on-again off-again vegan/vegetarian (currently in an on-again phase) for the past 8 years, so I’m obviously not one to talk about permanently committing to being meat and dairy-free.
That said, with [...]

We have a winner from our CamelBak Water Bottle giveaway!
Bill, who commented on 11 Best Tips for Packing Light, we’ll email you for shipping. You can now ditch your old bottle (or turn it into a solar-powered lantern…).
Thanks for all your comments.

Bottled water destroys the earth, but I might be drinking someone else’s leftover Viagra in my tap water? If recent news of hormone disrupting BPA in water bottles, pharmaceuticals in U.S. tap water, and the environmental impact of bottled water has got you down, you’re not alone.
In the U.S., drinking filtered tap water is the [...]

Remember that when you comment on any of this week’s posts, you’ll be eligible to for our BPA-free water bottle giveaway.
Here’s what’s happening this week in the world of green travel:
Do your products contain bisphenol A? Find out with the BPA texting service and check out the Green Guide’s Purging Your Pantry of Bisphenol [...]

We’ve concluded the Before You Go section of 25 Days to Green Travel so now we can get into the really fun stuff: When You’re There. Whether you’re currently traveling, planning a trip, or just day-dreaming at your desk, the rest posts in the series will be about how to be a green traveler once [...]

As our last post in the “before you go” section of 25 Days to Green Travel, we’ve chosen to write about finding green accommodations. As greenwashing becomes ever more popular, it’s critical that we are cautious when searching for environmentally-friendly lodging. There are 5 basic types of accommodations to consider when you are looking to [...]

I was skeptical when I first heard about carbon offsets, just as I would be about anything where you merely check a box, cough up a few dollars, and miraculously save the Rain Forest.
As I navigated the world of carbon offsets, I began to think that maybe it would have been easier to [...]

The key to traveling green is consuming less. But when you’re packing for your next trip, there are some things you should buy new - either because they’re hard to find used (safe water bottles) or you wouldn’t want to buy them used (underwear). In the end the investment will pay off.
Microfiber Towel
If you’ve ever [...]

To be a green traveler there is one true “must”: You must pack light.
A while back we posted the Ultimate Guide to Packing Light: 45 Tips to Lighten Your Load. Some of you might have found that post a little long and detailed, so for our 25 Days to Green Travel series we’re [...]

Last month, we reviewed the new BPA-free CamelBak Better Bottle. And with the recent news about the potential dangers of bisphenol A, even die-hard Nalgene fans are turning away from their old polycarbonate bottles.
Now you can, too. We have one BPA-free CamelBak bottle to giveaway to a lucky reader.
To be entered in the contest, just [...]

I’m a bit of an airfare search engine geek. I love searching websites and flight aggregators to try to find the cheapest plane ticket possible. As I’ve become more conscious of my environmental impact, this also means searching for nonstop flights. Unfortunately, I’ve found that many websites don’t make this easy.
As a green [...]

Riding a bus or train in a foreign country can be daunting, especially for Americans (like us) who have limited non-car ground transportation options at home.
But I hope my post yesterday convinced you that you should at least consider alternatives to flying for your next trip. Buses and trains are obviously the more environmentally-friendly options, [...]