World Travel Zone: Travel Green and Save Big

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Essential Travel provides three solutions to how you can make your travels more environmentally friendly and reduce your carbon foot print.

Written by Essential Travel

Going green has never been more important or more relevant. But for many us, finding an affordable way of crossing over is often not as easy, especially when it comes to making our travels more environmentally friendly. To help make the switch easier, we’ve discovered some great tips on how to reduce your carbon foot print and your travel bills.

Train travel through Europe.

How You Get There

Often overlooked, air travel has grown to become a significant and ever-increasing contributor to global carbon emissions, which is not surprising if you consider that there are over 90,000 flights worldwide per day. Now add to that the 1 tonne of carbon gas the average aeroplane dumps into our atmosphere every 4,000 miles, and the problem becomes quite serious.

The Solution:

Take the train in stead of short haul flights. It might take you slightly longer, but this is a major money saver and, at the same time, possibly the most environmentally friendly way to travel. Trains run on electricity which means no carbon emissions. In fact, substituting a London to Paris flight for a train ride reduces the carbon emissions over 90%.

Guest houses © Kashfia Rahman

Where You Live

Hotels are springing up everywhere to cater to the ever expanding global tourism market. What most people don’t realise is that they require a lot of energy and water to run. Laundry is a huge expense for most of them, as bedding gets washed everyday to ensure guests have clean sheets every night they nod off. Now when you consider that globally we’ve already surpassed our freshwater supply, it becomes quite the problem.

The Solution:

In stead of a hotel, get yourself into self-catering accommodation. Not only will this be much friendlier on your wallet, but you’ll have more control over how much power and water gets used compared to living in a hotel. And to really give your carbon footprint the axe (and your budget a rest), why not try camping on your next holiday?

Tram in Bordeaux.

How You Get Around

It’s no surprise that along with industry, the car is one of the leading sources of global carbon emissions. In fact, the average car is responsible for more than 2.5 tonnes of carbon gas per year, and with over 600 million of them worldwide, that amount becomes staggering.

The Solution:

Where possible, we’d suggest using public transport to explore your surroundings, especially for longer distances. However, if a car is the only viable method of getting around your destination, always hire a smaller car. They use less fuel which makes them more environmentally friendly and easier on the pocket.

Lastly, don’t forget to do all your travel planning online. From your accommodation to your travel insurance and even hiring a small car. You’ll not only save more money doing so, but you’ll be reducing the administration needed, which equals less paper being used. And we all know where paper comes from.

This green guide was brought to you by Essential Travel, the award-winning travel add-ons provider.

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