Green travel ideas from two environmentally conscious travelers

Well the family vacation is over and of course, I need to start planning another one.  I am thinking of a beach vacation this winter that is eco-friendly and offers some soothing sun rays and great food.  Here are four of my top choices based on reviews (some from UpTake) and each resort’s website:

1. Villa Montana, Caribbean–I have never been to the Caribbean and the web site looks enticing.  I like smaller resorts with a personal vibe about them.  This looks like it can do the trick.

2. Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, Fiji– Anything with the Cousteau name must be nice to the environment. Plus, just the name “Fiji” sounds exotic, distant and offers the possibility of a real getaway to me.This is a five star resort offering luxury accommodations.  I can only dream, but it sounds wonderful. It was also given the Australasia Leading Green Hotel award by World Travel. Luxe and green–don’t you love it already.

3. Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Florida–A golf course that co habits with marshlands and savannahs.  I never thought it possible to do that and keep those greens, well green.  Amelia Island has achieved this and offers world class golf.

4. Barton Creek Resort & Spa, Austin, Texas–a golf course and an Audubon sanctuary, gives new meaning to the term ‘birdie.’  Plus, the reviews from UpTake were all positive and that does not always happen, does it?

I think after this short bit of research that eco-friendly lodging can be found at the more expensive end of the pricing spectrum.  Next time, I will be looking for lodging in the $50 to $100 range.  Can cheap also be green? And offer the niceties I look for when I travel?  We will see, till next week.

My family and I are traveling to Washington, D.C and may take that well known side trip to Monticello.  I heard it is a 2.5 hour drive and if we decide to take the trip, I wanted to spend only one night in the area, make it eco-friendly and keep the budget below $200 a night.  I was surprised at the bountiful results, first I found this site, Virginia.org with a go green logo that presented many options.

Searching a bit further, I found just the thing,  Montfair Resort Farm.  It offers air conditioned cabins, hiking and fishing on over a hundred acres, plus it has all sorts of credentials attesting to its eco-friendly stature.  And I thought it would be hard.  Nope, it wasn’t.

Speaking of green, while I rest by their lake, I will be reading a good book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  With measured prose and a persuasive manner, she has convinced me to compost, only buy organic and plant my own vegetable garden next spring. She is presents hard facts in a light-hearted manner and  despite the heaviness of the subject matter, very readable.  I feel better already.  Virginia is green and I am too (almost).

I am somewhat new to the world of green travel, unlike the founders of this blog.  Today, I decided find a few other resources to educate myself and maybe help others find out more about green travel.  These are direct from Google, of course, page 1.  I know I will find more as I look and become more informed about the travel world.  If you have a favorite blog or resource for truly green travel information, please let me know.

Casa Poniente, El Remanso Wildlife Lodge, Costa Rica: Photograph: Daniel Beltra

1.  A resource for green travel lodges from other green travel bloggers
I think I want to stay at every single one of the lodges listed here. Oh…to travel all the time. I could go green, volunteer, and just hang out in all these wonderful places.

2.  The Greening of Hotels or is it just marketing…
As a marketer and a member of the travel industry, I hope the effots of hotels are real and not just “spin.”

3. Travel and your carbon footprint (plus a site that give green and volunteer travel tips)–
Discusses the concept of travel and the carbon footprint it cause.

4.  Offsetting your travel carbon footprint by what you do at home
This suggests you can travel, be green and then lessen your carbon footprint from your own back yard.

5.  Green Travel Carnival–if you want to meet other people who care about green travel, this will do it. Of course, you can participate too, if you wish. I love carnivals for connecting to like-minded individuals.

The “Rich Coast” of Costa Rica is famed for its cloud-wreathed rain forests, unspoiled beaches, volcanic hot springs, and incredible biodiversity. It was the first country I visited that had embraced eco-tourism and as a result, it is a great place for a green vacation.

Recommendations

The Villa Blanca Cloud Hotel, Spa and Nature Reserve showcases it all in splendid style, with impeccable green credentials. Head outside to learn more about your surroundings with some hands-on education about Costa Rican nature: bats, frogs, chocolate, and birds are all the topics of green tours. Visit sloths, howler monkeys, and macaws in Manuel Antonio Park, which also has beaches for snorkeling and observing sea turtles. If you want to stay at a true eco-tourism project, try Lapa Rios Rainforest Ecolodge, which is built on a 1000-acre nature preserve to show that “a forest left standing is worth more than one cut down.” Then head up into the treetops for a canopy tour among the clouds!

Great for family vacations

I highly recommend Costa Rica as a destination to take your elementary school aged children. They will be fascinated by the howler monkeys, which seem to be everywhere, especially when you want to sleep in a little later than usual. If you get a chance to see the scarlet macaws in flight at sunset, they will never want to cage a bird again. Plus, they are sure to see a sloth or two and maybe even that fabulous bird, the Resplendent Quetzal–it is on the list of every birder I know as a must see. (o.k I only know two, but they are really into birdwatching.) If you are lucky you can check out a real exploding volcano, take in a hot spring and maybe see that other amazing bird made famous by Fruit Loops, the toucan. If you do go to see the volcano, you must stay at the lodge and if sounds like a semi-truck is driving by, leap out of bed and run to your window. It is the sound of a volcano spewing. I slept through it….

Tip

The roads are really bad–two lane country roads with deep potholes all over (I mean every few feet!) If you are prone to motion sickness, find a place with well-paved, straight roads. The alternative is very small aircrafts that hop from town to town, but that can also be bad for the motion sickness prone. Other than that, I could visit this country every year and still find new places to discover. Go, it is the ultimate wildlife destination and did I mention the beaches, warm, clean and empty!

Keep Tahoe Blue! This ubiquitous sticker shows Tahoe’s green pride and the need to protect this environmentally sensitive area. The classic Northern California combination of a forest-ringed lake with frosty white slopes invites green travel activities such camping, hiking, and alpine skiing.

For eco-conscious winter-sports, I suggest you check out Sugar Bowl, the first ski resort to utilize 100% green power in their operations and with some beautiful back bowls. The secluded acreage of Granlibakken Resort will appeal to some, while others will prefer to be closer to the action at the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe, which participates in

In the summer, kayak along the 72-mile Lake Tahoe Water Trail, or enjoy a naturalist-led tour of the Lake Tahoe Basin. If you like to mountain bike ride, I suggest the Flume trail for a terrific view of the lake or Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for a wildly technical ride. If you are just visiting, rent a bike on Thursday and participate in the Pedal There program–a biking program designed to decrease traffic in Tahoe City.

Outdoor activities that are people-powered (such as camping and kayaking) are naturally green. You can expand your environmental horizons when you visit other places by planning activities around the area’s natural resources or learning about the local ecosystem and how to conserve it. Here are five of my top green oudoor activities that I plan on doing in the next few years:

Volunteer to teach English and eco-consciousness in Thailand or Laos

Horseback riding and interpretive nature hikes in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona

View endangered sea turtles in St. Croix

A professional birding and wildlife holiday in East Africa

Dive with sharks and learn about conservation efforts in Fiji

These are my destinations of choice–where would you go? What kind of activities do you consider “green. Let me know.

As we have discussed before, green travel allows the eco-conscious to reduce their impact on the place they’re visiting – usually by patronizing environmentally friendly hotels or purchasing carbon-offset vouchers for flights or lodging. (Vacation is considered a time to splurge, but the A/C, jet fuel, and fresh towels add up!) In the past few years, thousands of green lodging choices have materialized in the US — from eco-camps on a wilderness preserve, to a Marriott that recycles and saves water, to a resort with solar panels. Countries with unspoiled natural beauty (New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Belize) offer green travel and sustainable eco-tourism in pristine jungles and rain forests.

When planning green travel:

• Check out green lodging from outdoorsy to upscale.
• Explore green camping and hiking in your home state.
• Choose an area that fascinates you, and learn about preserving its biodiversity.

Ways to offset your carbon footprint when traveling:

• Choose not to have towels and sheets washed every day.
• Eat food grown by local farmers.
• Use trains over planes, public transport instead of a car.
• Plant an indigenous tree.

They say, “Take only pictures, and leave only footprints.” When you travel green, you tread much more lightly.

Here are few eco-friendly lodging suggestions to get you started on planning your next green trip:

Post Ranch Inn Big Sur, California

Sadie Cove Wilderness Lodge Alaska

Habitat Suites Austin, Texas

CESiaK, Mexico

Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa Napa Valley, California

FireSky Resort and Spa Scottsdale, Arizona

duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge Belize

The Ambrose Santa Monica, California

Alma Del Monte Taos, New Mexico

Finca Esperanza Verde Nicaragua

Have fun and stay green!