What’s a carbon food-print? Who else gets enormous eco-anxiety about taking long-haul flights? What can we do to have a more positive environmental and social impact on the countries we visit?

After The Modern Traveller Sustainability Session I’m full of ideas and motivation to travel even more responsibly. Here are 10 ways to help you travel in a more green way:

1. Minimise your carbon food-print.
Research what’s in season where you’re going so you can consciously choose locally grown produce where possible. Think about minimising your own food waste at the buffet table (no need to over-heap!) or avoiding hotels that offer all-you-can-eat buffets altogether! 

2. Curb your single-use plastic from the get-go.
Rather than buying a plastic water bottle in the departure lounge, bring an empty bottle that you can refill and reuse. More airports have refill stations or ask at a café at the airport to fill up your bottle for you. Making your own snacks at home is also a good way to avoid plastic-wrapped foods when on the go. 

3. Plan a staycation.
Avoid multiple planes and embrace all the incredible coastlines, national parks and wild nature the UK has to offer. We have so much on our doorstep. Shout out to the Irish Aran Islands and the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast. Or plan a staycation around one of my favourite sustainable restaurants in the UK and check out where I love 

4. Eat at locally run restaurants.
This is a great way to make sure your money is going straight back into the local economy and helping those communities that rely on tourism to thrive. Plus, it’s a great way to experience the authentic food and culture of the place you’re visiting. 

5. Travel overland or fly direct.
Rather than taking multiple flights, take direct flights or take trains, buses or look up car-sharing initiatives, like Bla Bla Car. 

6. Stay at locally run hostels, hotels, or homestays to ensure your money is going to local families and individuals rather than into the back pocket of a multinational hotel chain. 

7. Offset responsibly.
If you’re going to take a long-haul flight, offsetting your carbon is a good thing to do. Rather than donating to just any old offsetting company, do your research so you know that your money is making a difference, says eco-hospitality expert, Judith Kinsman. She recommends donating to Tree Sisters – a global network of women who fund the restoration of our tropical forests as a way to sequester carbon from our atmosphere.  Or I like Hometree who plant native trees on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland. 

8. Volunteer!
There are tonnes of projects out there that need your help. Spend your holiday learning something new, connecting to the local community and doing something meaningful.  Volunteer at conservation projects, with food waste charities like The Felix Project, spend your holiday helping on an organic farm or do something that helps local communities to thrive. Which leads me onto…

9. Support education projects with your time or money.
Charity Surf champion and environmentalist Sophie Hellyer is an ambassador for Get Out – an outdoor education charity that gets inner-city kids out of London and into nature. Education is key for young people. “How is the next generation going to care about the environment if they’ve never left the city?” says Sophie. 

10. Question your need to travel.
“Let’s unpack why we’re trying to escape in the first place,” was a great point made by fitness expert Shona Vertue. Is our craving to travel just a means to escape our ‘normal’ lives? Before your next escape, question how you could spend that money making your life fuller and more content at home. 

Pics below are from ‘The Modern Traveller’ Sustainability Session evening.