Green Holidays

Trees are being chopped down just to get you ready to take a vacation!

By this I mean all the bureaucracy and paperwork required to get you going in the first place - and most of it can be avoided completely or significantly reduced if you plan ahead and think about your requirements.

Don’t Forget You Passport:
Obviously this is an important document anyway, but it’s amazing how many people lose them or allow them to get stolen when travelling. What a complete waste of resources and time - let alone a complete risk to your identity.

To replace your passport involves a large form to be completed and posted off. Someone has to process this for you, usually involving more paperwork and lots of security checks that probably use energy on ’super computers’.

The passport needs to be created and glued, laminated and security marked (rendering it un-recyclable), then it needs to be posted out to you with all sorts of information sheets and nonsense.

Other Personal Documents:
This is the same as above really. If you are careless enough to lose that 30 pages travel insurance booklet - you need to get another one from your insurers - and these cost money and use resources.

Add to this your driving license, vaccination records, medical notes, hotel reservation documents and a whole load of other important pieces of paperwork that will need replacing if you mislay them.  Of course many of these will be ‘free’ to you so we don’t think twice about doing them - even relying on them as a back-up if we are ‘too busy’.  But they cost elsewhere.

I bet you wouldn’t be so careless if these bits of paper were all US dollars! But in effect they are - as the more documents and information packs that companies need to keep giving out - the more they will eventually charge for their replacements. Your money.

Planning The Trip Itself:
Imagine how much paper is involved in you deciding on your vacation in the first place. Some people go into the agents and pick up 3 or 4 thick travel brochures to take home. Do you return them after you have browsed for your resort? No, I bet you don’t.

Most travel companies are there to make money not save the environment. If they need to make more brochures to get your money - then that’s what they will do (but they might add a bit on to the price of their vacations to pay for them).

You can’t leave the agencies to do this for you. Can you imagine if a travel agent for company A said you could only browse their brochures but you couldn’t take them home - whereas company B gave you loads of bright shiny pictures to take away. Who are you more likely to do business with?

Same goes for the tickets - you can get them online now, so you just print of one sheet of paper and you are ready. No little folder with glued or stapled documents to faff around with.

And checking in by machine or in advance is perfect. The less staff that the airlines or ferry companies need to check your paperwork - the less pollution they have created getting to the airport or ferry terminal in the first place. The roads are then clearer around the departure terminal and your taxi can drop you at the door without you sitting in traffic!

We are all so used to things being done a certain way - and so quickly - that we sometimes need to take a second look and see what the downsides of our ‘I want it now’ lives.

Planning is the key to green travel.

Planning Your Green Holidays in Yucatan, Mexico

Mexico is always a great destination for sunshine and beautiful scenery.  A perfect destination for all seasons. 

If you are planning to head to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico for your vacation and want your accommodation to be more responsible for it’s actions, then hopefully these eco resorts may appeal.

Where To Start:
However, if you are going to enjoy your green holidays, then you need to look beyond the standard brochure.  Many companies will cater for your every need in Cancun and around the Caribbean coast - but what if you want it to care about the needs of the environment and local people too? 

Forget the shiny brochures from the travel agent who cram everyone into the man-made hi-rise resort of Cancun.  Forget the cheap package vacations that include everything except the local people, and start looking elsewhere……

I have been looking around for you and have found 4 vacation spots all in the Yucatan peninsula, and all offering a ‘green’ alternative to the standard resort, and have detailed their eco credentials. 

However, the search isn’t always easy - as many resorts have information of ‘ecology’ meaning that there are animals and plants there, rather than ‘eco’ in our sense of the word, meaning that it actually cares for that environment and those creatures and plants.

The Hotels:
All are in different locations to offer you a taste of something different, but are all within easy reach of international airports and Mexico’s ancient Mayan Sites.

When making yur decision on the best green resort, remember to check their eco-credentials based on what they have to work with.  If they are catering for green alternatives in towns and cities then they are limited as to what they can achieve and it will take a more reduce:reuse:recycle approach.

When searching for isolated eco-lodges surrounded by beaches or forest, they are playing to a whole new set of rules.  Look out for alternative energy sources, low development footprint and how the accommodation fits in to the environment.

Eco Paraiso
This new-build eco-hotel is in Yucatan State, close to Celestun on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

It was designed around the nature on this coast and was set back from the beach itself to maintain the delicate dunes that protect the coast and is also home to rare plants and nesting turtles.

The actual buildings on the land only take up just over 1% of the total land owned by the resort, leaving nature pretty much as it was.  Any areas that needed replanting or protecting were filled with only native plants and trees.

They buy locally and in bulk to save food waste and catch and treat both rainwater and grey water from the rooms and kitchens to water the gardens.  They even desalinate their salt-water well and treat to make potable for guests rather than import bottled water.

Other attributes include solar-heated pool, low voltage bulbs and no individually packaged toiletries and goods.  They also offer extensive literature for guests to find out about their ethos and the local environment and community.  They even offer short course on eco living and sustainability!

Genesis Retreat
This vacation spot is located inland, just north of the town of Valladolid - close to Chichen Itza.

Based around a local village in the ruins of Ek Balem, this hotel is closely knitted together with the local people.  Most of the activities are guided by the locals and they welcome you into their villages and homes.

The hotel uses all local food and services and the local tours and wildlife trips are all close by.  Any further away is catered for with a healthy supply of mountain bikes.

They say that their gardens were designed to attract local butterflies and birdlife and have a small area that houses rescued native birds that cannot be released.  Their outdoor pool is chemical free and bio-filtered to reduce it’s impact on the visiting wildlife.

The management will automatically send you detailed information regarding their eco-credentials and community programmes on booking with them, as well and any other details you request on top.

Hotel El Rey Del Caribe
Located in the very heart of downtown Cancun (the original town) and so has different pressures on it’s green approach.

It welcomes you with Mexican flair and authentic design and you will probably see it’s sheets drying naturally on the roof!  Their main focuses are reducing and recycling and they are proud of the composting toilets in many of their rooms and the rainwater and grey-water recycling and reuse.

They say that they are constantly learning more ways to improve what they have, and work with local environmental NGO’s to support local projects as well as further their own developments - including their solar water heater.

They are also only a Bed & Breakfast, therefore encouraging visitors to go and explore the heart of Cancun and use local services and enjoy traditional foods.

Papaya Playa
This final hotel is really to the extremes of a green holiday and won’t be for everyone!

Close to the beautiful coastal ruins of Tulum, this complex has few rooms.  All were built with local materials using traditional methods and resources.

The rooms are very basic and sleep as many as possible in double beds to reduce individual waste.  Many go even further with shared bathrooms for some of the cabins to prevent wasted plumbing and ease of water capture and heating!  It goes without saying that they are showers only…

Expect almost nothing electrical in the rooms as there is only power generated between dusk and 11:30pm and so you need to rely on the traditional windowless design of the cabins and the natural ‘gaps’ in the slatted walls to keep your room cool throughout the day.

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