With warmer weather and peak travel times for so many destinations swiftly approaching, we’re celebrating the first day of Spring by sharing some simple tips for making your upcoming travel more sustainable, brought to you by our friends at Scott Dunn. For the second year in a row, Scott Dunn has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation to protect clean water and healthy beaches, and to raise awareness for our mission throughout their vast network of luxury resorts and global clientele. Whether you’re travelling internationally or just taking a weekend road trip, these eco-friendly travel tips will help reduce your environmental footprint, wherever your journey takes you!
- Avoid the travel-sized personal care products aisle. Without advance planning, it’s easy to choose disposable miniature bottles of familiar products when shopping and packing for a trip. Offset this problem by purchasing reusable travel-sized jars or bottles and decant any products you’ll need into these before your next trip. Not only will you have the freedom to choose the exact products you’d like to bring with you, but you’ll be reducing your plastic footprint for this and future adventures.
- When on the beach or wherever you’re out enjoying nature: pack in, pack out. Plan ahead and pack reusable items to prevent the risk of improperly recycling or disposing of single-use items in an unfamiliar place. This applies to purchasing single-use foam coolers and $5 chairs or umbrellas that are not built to last, as well. Alternatively investing in reusable items that are built to endure time and use reduces waste through longevity.
- Observe drought rules, wherever you are. This means being respectful of local resources: in hotels, reuse towels instead of having them changed daily, turn off the tap while you shave, brush your teeth, or wash dishes, and aim for reducing your shower time to five minutes or less. As always, refrain from flushing any chemicals, pharmaceuticals or products containing plastics or microbeads down the drain, toilet or sink.
- Choose reusable. Rather than purchasing single-use water bottles and accepting single-use cups for coffee or smoothies, bring your own reusable one! Choosing reusable items over single-use ones is an easy change to make, and can significantly reduce your environmental footprint over time. (This applies to cups, bottles, straws, utensils, bags and beyond!)
- Skip the straw. When dining out, skip the plastic straw! With all of the attention to plastic straw pollution currently making its way around the world, depending on where you travel, these may have already been outlawed. If you prefer to use a straw, bring your own reusable one.
- Visit an Ocean Friendly Restaurant! While traveling within the United States, check out Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Restaurants app (go.surfrider.org/ofr-app) to find restaurants committed to conducting their business sustainably near you.
- Avoid excessively packaged products. One of the best parts of traveling can be experiencing local produce and cuisines! Opt for fresh fruits and veggies, and choose restaurants that utilize reusable onsite dining items rather than single-use ones.
- Choose a reef-friendly sunscreen to bring with you. Not all destinations will have oxybenzone- and octinoxate-free sunscreens widely available. If you choose to bring one full-sized personal care product with you, let this be it. Choose a mineral (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) based lotion sunscreen to reduce your impact on coral reefs, fish and other marine life, even if you won’t be traveling near the ocean!
If you’re interested in crafting a private journey, you can reach out to Scott Dunn, where the team will customize every detail of your trip based on your interests, likes, dislikes and dreams for the perfect vacation. They have been designing journeys around the world for more than 30 years and understand how different people like (or need) to travel. To start planning your luxury vacation, inquire online or by phone: Scottdunn.com/about/why-scott-dunn or (858) 703-4748.
For more information on how you can make a difference, check out the Surfrider Foundation at Surfrider.org.