Green Holidays

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If it doesn’t recycle or have solar panels - is your holiday cottage still a green choice?

I think it depends on your priorites and the area in which it is situated. For example, if it is a city, I think that the emphasis should be on the inner workings of the building. Is it reducing it’s energy use, are it’s appliances A rated, are it’s suppliers doing their part too?

Whereas if it is in the countryside, then I think the priorities can shift a bit to the outside world. Why focus all your attention on the inside of the building when it is the location that is more important. What good is a totally carbon neutral, self-sufficient eco lodge that has flattened all the woodland to build the hotel in the first place and to make a car park?

New builds are very difficult to assess as well, as why build from scratch when you could improve what’s already there without changing the whole location?

I Like Old Fashioned.
It is very difficult for me as a known ‘little-spender’ to see these trendy eco lodges in forests or woodlands that have everything an eco holiday needs but cost an absolute arm and a leg!

I’m all for paying to support my ideals, but paying some of these what I consider excessively high prices, is something that I cannot bring myself to do.

I would rather have the simple holiday with no frills than pay for the luxury of all the bells and whistles that are included in some of these places. Basically I would rather go without appliances for a few days than pay to use super, eco friendly, carbon neutral, low energy fairtrade alternatives!

I recently stayed on a working farm in a renovated 150-year-old barn surrounded by wildlife. And to me, this place was totally natural and a perfect environmentally sensitive location.

The farm owner had gone completely out of his way to preserve the landscape (his hedges are about 1000 years old), protect wildlife (he has banned hunting and doesn’t use pesticides), encourage wildlife (owl boxes and restoring grasslands) and helping animals (he’s released badgers and hedgehogs, rehomed battery-farmed chickens and taken on 2 rescue dogs and 4 feral cats!).

The Location.
This farm is in a protected historic landscape and it’s a shame that their criteria aren’t as strict as his!

I often think of the perfect eco lodge in my eyes, and it’s a bit like here.

I don’t need all the trendy furniture and attractions of what appear to be the only eco lodges out there - they are more like boutiques or top-of-the-range holiday resorts.

Yes, they look totally perfect and some of the locations are amazing - but I couldn’t think of anything better than a small self-sufficient unit in amongst the landscape and the wildlife. Ideally a protected warm indoor area that had some basic amenities and was right in the thick of it.

Basically, I want a camping experience without all the other campers, and I want a place I can stand up in which has running warm and cold water. Anything more is a bonus!

This place certainly had more, (well, it was a holiday cottage) but it was away from all the other ‘campers’ and it was right in the countryside. I could - and did - go out for a walk everyday - and sometimes within less than 5 minutes from my door, there were groups of fallow deer in sight, and the sound of a tawny owl carried on the wind.

On Balance.
Well, I know he won’t win any ‘eco hotel’ awards for his cottages themselves - but that didn’t seem to be his initial intention. I think he just wanted to enjoy the land and the landscape - and he has done just that.

There are many ‘eco’ things he could do in terms of the cottages themselves, as could we all in our own homes, but I really think that he has achieved some really wonderful things in terms of restoring the land to a more natural form. The wildlife are thriving and there is surely more to come.

I’m glad we found it, and we hope that he continues to make a difference!

If you are in the south of England and are looking for a holiday cottage - why not try here. Use this link to take a look at the place.

Hello, and welcome to another great blog carnival this month!

I have just moved into a new house at the moment, so any free time is limited for the next few weeks, so listening to stories about other peoples green holidays is really making me want all these boxes to just disappear!

Anyway, lets get started with a short story about one mans adventure in the rainforest with Henry’s tale of Finding Freedom: Night Hike Through Jungle which sounds amazing - but also Tyler’s closer to home tale about his Frugally Green Weekend.

Although not strictly about green holidays, the following 2 articles touch on areas that can be applied readily to a green traveler, and so have been included today. So, first up is a few tips on green shopping with Matthew Paulson’s story on How to Become a Green Shopper.

Then there is the eco argument of whether e-books are better for the environment than paper books. It’s an interesting one and Marco Gustafsson puts his thoughts forward with: New Generation of e-Book Readers Contributes to Environmental Protection.

Kate presents Green Lodging Part I. Green hotels & Soap-on-a-Rope for the next article about some new legislation in Florida regarding green hotels and energy consumption.

And finally, there is a great story about a green adventurer who has unbelievable plans for a trip around Australia - totally different from what I would class as a trip around Down Under. Join Marjorie Morgan with a story about Freya Hoffmeister | A resource for women in Outdoor Education and Recreation.

See you next time….

Here we go again with a few more great ideas from hotels to save energy without compromising on expected standards….

Let Me In!
Your keys are another energy-saving idea.

Many places I have stayed have the same key that lets you into the main building as well as into your room. Now I know it doesn’t sound like much of a saving to you - one key, but there were about 40 rooms where I stayed and another 500 or so other hotels in the chain.

So now at least 20,000 keys have been ’saved’ just for this hotel chain. That is a lot of metal and manufacturing we can do without!

And, one step better possibly are the credit-card shaped entry cards. Not only can they be made of recycled and eco friendly materials - they can also be programmed to fit any door. Therefore the loss of a card or the replacement of a fitting need not be so wasteful as replacement locks and keys.

They can also allow you access to other private or exclusive areas. For example, if your hotel acquires additional buildings or offers the use of some other private facilities like a gym or indoor pool.

And, would you rather have 3 separate keys jangling around or just the one credit-card size ‘key’ to carry around?

Tiny Bath:
If you are lucky enough to get a room with a bath, then it is very likely that it is a funny ’shallow’ bath (where the sides are the normal height, but the bottom is half the normal depth) or a ‘half-bath’ where you can’t fit in normally, and even I at just over 5ft can’t get more than 50% of my body underwater at the same time!

Well, at least they are offering you the option - even if they are severely restricting the amount of bath water each guest can use.

However, they normally also have a really powerful shower that no doubt uses just as much water as a decent bath - except it fills the room with steam and usually has water escaping around the edges of their ill-fitting material shower curtains all over the floor!

And ignoring the bath, why do some rooms seem to have not thought about other eco-saving ideas in the bathroom, like not having the toilet paper dispenser on the wall behind you - this just encourages you to use more paper as it is so far away. Or not having anywhere to hang up your towels - therefore you are forced to hang them over chairs or wherever, bringing dampness into the main rooms.

Even silly things like having the light pull too close to the wall and/or with a giant piece of wood or plastic on the end. This only encourages damage to the wall surface behind it and so increasing the number of times the room has to be re-decorated.

The number of times I have missed the pull and it’s smacked into the paintwork, or I’ve scraped the wall with my fingernail and chipped off some paint…..

Anyway - if you have seen any more green inventions on your travels - or could think of a new one - let us know right here!

Have you ever wondered why your hotel or guest-house does the oddest things?

I was recently staying overnight in a well known UK hotel chain and noticed that they had a tiny kettle. My partner thought it was a space-saving ploy - but when you think of it - it makes perfect ‘green’ sense. You only ever need to boil the kettle for 2 cups of coffee max in a 2 person room, so why offer the chance to boil far too much water every time.

It’s nice when somewhere offers you the chance to be green without having to think about it or be too put out. And I cover a few of them here - and a few ideas for the future…….

As Standard:
Nearly all hotel rooms now come with the obligatory notice about towels - saying if you don’t want them washed needlessly then leave them on the rails or wherever. But, some places go that little bit further - and in places you may not have noticed or that aren’t so preached about - like the kettle.

Some things are forced on you though - and are not always appreciated. One classic example is the key to your room being the trigger for the power to work in your room. This way you cannot accidentally leave any lights on while you are out adventuring. However - it also means that you won’t be returning to an air-conditioned room even if you are only heading out for a few minutes.

It also means that if one of your party is heading out, they can’t take the key otherwise you are plunged into darkness and/or tremedous heat! Meaning that you have you be awake or not in the shower when they want to return so you can let them back in.

One way to counter the hot room is to make full use of the thick curtains that most hotels have over the giant windows. Keeping them closed all the time will prevent the sun from shining into your room and heating it up like a furnace! However, some would say ‘what is the point of going somewhere hot if you shut out the sun!’. But it saves on air-con and therefore energy. If you want to be hot - go outside!

Lights Everywhere!
Many hotel rooms also seem to have light switches all over the place. One main light, one either side of the bed, a few over the desk and sometimes another in the small ‘hallway’ area. Why?

Well, it would make sense to give you the opportunity to get the best light for wherever you decide to sit - whether you are on your laptop at the table, resting on the bed or just pottering around - but it also gives you the chance to only have one on at a time rather than lighting up the whole room just to sit in the corner!

So far so good. Find out a few more neat tricks they have up their sleeves in Part 2

Stay in the amazing Torres del Paine EcoCamp and experience the rush!

With this amazing experience you can camp in relative comfort in Patagonia. The rooms/tents/domes are a neat half-way between comfy hotel rooms and a standard tent and are based on the traditional tribal Kawesqar huts resembling an igloo - and perfect for deflecting the high winds that sweep this area.

You can stand up in them and they are right on natures doorstep - but you don’t have to eat on your knees (although you can if you want too) and you won’t ruin the location with a giant obtrusive building with added energy requirements……

And these structures can (and are) moved regularly to allow the grass and plants to recover and regrow without showing signs of continued human destruction!

The Camp:
There are different types of dome available depending on your needs, group size and you budget!

Suite Domes- Have double or twin beds, chairs and units - and are heated with a low-emission wood stove. The electricity for each unit is generated with both a micro-hydro turbine and solar panels. All units also have a private bathroom, composting toilet and food waste facility.

Standard Domes- Also have 2 twin or a double bed, and have clear holes in the roof of the structure so you can see the stars! These are slightly smaller in size as they have no private bathroom facilities. Toilets and showers are available in separate units which are of a high standard.

Group Domes - There are also 2 giant domes for all visitors: 1 for cooking and eating, and the other (at nearly 20ft in diameter) for relaxing and socialising.

The Resources:
Basically, they make sure that they are as little known as possible! They don’t advertise on site as their site does move slightly with time and the tents are completely removed in winter.

They use natural resources and renewable energy as much as possible, and try to create as little waste as possible, by ordering in bulk and less often to reduce transport waste and excess packaging.

They separate all waste - and even feed their organic waste to a neighboring pig-farm! They also have only composting toilets on site. They are also working with the CarbonFund to be carbon neutral.

Food is prepared in bulk by the staff and eating is a group affair to make sure that all the resources and energy are reduced, rather than spread out through the evening.

The Experience:
You can wake up here with a perfect view of the magnificent Torres Del Paine National Park outside of your room. The domes look absolutely amazing at night - and are very impressive inside.

There are a number of trips on offer around the great Patagonian wilderness, and can be aimed at either the mountaineering, the sight-seeing, the natural formation, wildlife, or just peaceful trekking here and there.

Guides can arrange for trips further afield - but if you are based here - it seems a shame to take day trips to other places and miss out on this wonderland!

And If You Needed More:
This adventure firm won the National Geographic ‘Best Adventure Travel Company’ award for the 2nd consecutive year, and is listed in Alistair Sawday’s Green Places to Stay, Rough Guides Clean Breaks, The International EcoTourism Society (TIES) and was even mentioned by USA Today.

However, it is a shame that these locations are so expensive that they restrict the eco trip to just those who have so much money that they could pay for us all to go on vacation in a normal campsite for a month or 2!

At around $1400 for only 3 nights in the eco-camp (1 night elsewhere) and 3 days trekking per person, not including flights to the country or transfers to the site, it certainly isn’t cheap! At least all meals are included!

But, wow - what an experience! Go to EcoCamp Patagonia to see more…….