My Eco Travel Experiment
So last Tuesday morning I spilled coffee all over my regular travel notebook. While cleaning up, I kept staring at those flight receipts stuck to the pages. Man, I fly a lot. Felt kinda guilty honestly. That afternoon I saw “Eco Travel” popping up everywhere online. Time to try this myself.
First thing I did was grab my worn-out backpack instead of that giant suitcase. Started shoving only what I absolutely needed: three basic tee shirts, one hoodie, quick-dry pants, reusable water bottle, and my old power bank. Funny enough the backpack wasn’t even full!
Next morning I walked down to the bus station carrying that light backpack. Felt weird not dragging wheeled luggage clacking on pavement. Hopped on the bus headed to Mountain Creek town. The ride took longer sure – nearly four hours compared to one hour flight – but man, seeing actual landscapes roll by felt nicer than staring at airplane seatbacks.
Got super hungry around noon. Instead of hitting some chain burger joint near the station, I asked this lady selling peaches from her farm stand where locals eat. She pointed me to this little family cafe two blocks away. Had the most amazing veggie soup served in actual ceramic bowls! No plastic containers to throw away later.
Took another bus to the trailhead around 1pm. My Airbnb was literally an old renovated barn owned by this hippie couple. They showed me their rainwater collection system and composting toilets. Wasn’t gross at all! Actually smelled like pine needles. Slept like a baby listening to owls instead of hotel AC units buzzing.
Did stupid stuff too! Forgot my reusable coffee cup on day two. Almost bought bottled tea at a convenience store but walked two extra blocks to a place using real cups. Felt proud dumping that zero waste lunch packaging into the compost bin they had outside the visitor center.
Biggest surprise? My stupid phone died while hiking Wednesday afternoon. No charger port anywhere on the trail. Instead of panicking, I just sat watching squirrels for two hours. Best afternoon that week! Traveling light forced me to actually see things.
Some learnings:
- Stop overpacking: You wear 20% of what you carry 80% of the time
- Eat local: Family spots waste less food packaging than big chains
- Slow down: Land journeys beat air travel stress any day
- Power down: Dead devices make better memories sometimes
Honestly I’ll never travel the old way again. Saving money was nice too – didn’t pay for extra luggage or overpriced airport sandwiches once! Eco travel isn’t about being perfect. Just doing something better than last time. Still got baby steps to take but wow, my backpack feels lighter in more ways than one.
