Traveling Eco Friendly
The more we travel, the more we see how destructive the human race truly is. Straws, toothbrushes, shampoo & conditioner bottles, plastic bags and so much more. It is in our oceans, on our streets and even in the food we are eating! When we decided to travel, we knew that we needed to make a commitment to traveling sustainably; recycling, reducing our carbon footprint with modes of transportation, eating vegan whenever possible, volunteering with organizations that work for the greater common good.
We began just before we left by just making small changes to our everyday life. We bought a Lush shampoo bar, conditioner bar, toothpaste and shaving butter. These were very easy changes. Lush does a great job helping you in the store, figuring out what product is best for your hair/body! The fact that we don’t have to lug large bottles of products across the world is a bonus, but eliminating the bottles all together is even better. Better for us, better for the environment. Not to mention, going all natural is great for your hair!
After getting toothpaste from Lush, we decided to go eco-friendly with our toothbrushes while we traveled. We went with The Bamboo Brush Society. We got a pack of 4 for only $12. These toothbrushes are biodegradable and do not end up in our oceans for the next 400 years (yes, it really takes 400 years)! At home we use electric toothbrushes, but we use dental-grade toothbrushes that only require that you replace the heads.
For any women who choose to travel, a super simple change to make is to start using a Diva Cup. We switched over and it has changed both of our experiences for the better, and we are creating less waste every month and it’s extremely convenient not to have to buy new products every month.
Before we left for Asia we knew we would be spending a ton of money on bug spray and sunscreen. In fact, sunscreen on the Thai islands runs around $25 per bottle. We also knew that the bug spray would contain deet and even though deet helps keep the bugs away, deet is not good for our bodies, especially if you are female. We also knew that sunscreen is bad for our reef and with the amount of swimming we planned to do, we needed something that was safe for our underwater world and our bodies. So for bug spray, we found a “Deet Free Bug Repellent” made by Greenerways. It has organically grown ingredients, repels all the insects we were concerned about, and it is safe for our bodies! For sunscreen, we had to research a bit more than what we did for the bug spray. We needed something safe for our reefs but also not $30 for 3 ounces of sunscreen. So, we decided to go with “thinksport” because it’s free of biologically harmful chemicals, does not contain chemicals that will hurt coral reef and is water resistant up to 80 minutes. In the end, we are helping our own bodies and the world around us!
With the world we live in, it is almost impossible to go entirely plastic free. When we are in countries where we can drink tap water, we make sure to use our large Yeti water bottle. We take this water bottle almost everywhere we go! But when we’re in a country like Thailand, where you have to buy bottled water, it gets a bit tough to be plastic free. So, when we can, we buy a 2 gallon water jug and fill the Yeti we already have. We do this as often as we can during our travels.
Even though what we have done can seem so small to some and so big to others, we always make sure to recycle and do as much as we can. We only have one Earth and it is so incredibly important we do everything we can to save it from what we have already done. Remember, individually we do not need to do everything, but everyone needs to do something to save this earth! There is no planet B!