Ready to take a vacation with the whole family, but want to do it in a sustainable way? You can. In the past, going green in your travels meant extremely expensive hotels and often lower quality products. Today, that’s just not the case.
In numerous studies, travelers have responded that when given the choice they’d take a sustainable hotel or plane ride over one that wasn’t if they had the choice.
Because demand has been so high, sustainable travel as an industry has really taken off. Today, you can find sustainable hotels all throughout the price spectrum, including guesthouses and hotels that are perfect for the whole family.
==> Planning for Eco-Friendly Travel
Traveling with the whole family requires a lot more planning than traveling solo.
If you were traveling solo, it’s not all that difficult to just plan one city at a time. All you need to do is find an eco-friendly hotel in the next city and you’re off.
When you’re with a big family, however, you’ll probably want to plan your whole trip before you leave. This allows you to ensure you have a sustainable hotel and sustainable activities planned throughout the whole trip.
==> Teaching Your Kids about Sustainability
One of the best things about eco-friendly travel is that it gives you the perfect experiential opportunity to teach your kids about sustainability.
Back home, eco-friendliness can be just a concept to kids. They haven’t seen the impact of environmentalism first hand, nor have they seen the difference between being sustainable and unsustainable.
While traveling, however, kids can get a very different perspective. They get to see a very different culture and can often see the costs of unsustainability first hand, depending on what countries you visit.
This can be a perfect time to teach them about helping their planet and being sustainable in general.
==> Planning Eco-Friendly Activities for the Whole Family
The best way to plan eco-friendly activities for the whole family is to involve your kids in the decision process.
Instead of making the decision yourself, ask your kids: Would they like to ride elephants? Learn to scuba dive or snorkel? Would they like to see monkeys or go on a safari?
Sometimes kids will be naturally excited about certain prospects and sometimes they’ll be just terrified. The only way you’ll know for sure is to make sure you get their input before planning.
If you’ve never taken your kids hiking or camping before, this could be the perfect opportunity to try.
Going on an eco-friendly family trip can be the perfect time to educate your kids on sustainability. It can be an incredible bonding experience for the whole family and it can be great fun for everyone involved.
Adryenn Ashley is a globetrotting social influencer out to change the world for the better. She loves Jozu’s mission to make travel safer for women and longs to visit Mecca, the Pyramids, and the Rain Forrest.