Genuinely responsible world travel is itself a journey; it’s not a destination at which one ever really arrives.
After a transoceanic flight, a traveler has added to environmental damage beyond what even the most eco-friendly lodging, living and learning can mitigate. But, nevertheless, in choosing places to eat, sleep and tour, one might give higher priority to “eco-friendly” than all the other filters which travel planning websites provide. Consider how local foods and labor as well as low impact lodging might add to the authenticity of the experience.
In selecting accommodations for travel of several weeks, I will chose a variety of price points and styles…..no two alike, and not one like home. Some of my better-planned lodging choices will be actively engaged in sophisticated carbon offsetting; while on the other hand, some of our spontaneous choices for meals with local color and flavor, I’m sad to say, will still be serving with plastic utensils, cups and straws or using styrofoam and plastic bags for leftovers and take-away.
Having landed in a foreign country, considerations for local transportation might begin with the traveler’s own two legs. Nothing beats the pace of walking for really seeing a new place; and along with biking and hiking, nothing is better for one’s own health as well as the fitness of our environment. While I prefer to be my own driver in small towns and country-sides, I am a fan of inexpensive and efficient mass transportation systems in large cities.
Thoughtful travelers will think twice about the use of animal power, such as horse drawn carriages and camel or elephant rides. Often the conditions for these animals are terrible. On the other hand, such features of foreign travel may be providing desperately needed jobs and incomes locally. This is one of the difficult dilemmas that can make responsible travel decisions messy.
Often there will be both international and local entities competing for the traveler’s business — for example, for rafting, kayaking, hiking, historic walks or museum tours. I think the responsible traveler gives preference to the more locally owned and operated options. I say this in spite of having a less than satisfactory experience after selecting a local Cusco company to lead my cousin and me on a hike of Peru’s Inca Trail last year.
I usually have a sense of guilt competing with my euphoria after a long international journey full of exciting times and exquisite scenes. I’ve often seen poverty and even abject squalor. I’ve walked past deceitful panhandlers and desperate beggers alike. I’m never sure that I made the correct decisions about what to see and how to see it. And my uncertainty actually increases with each journey.
I’m thinking that’s a good sign. For if travel ever makes me unreflective — or worse, callous — then I think I will have missed altogether the reason for travel.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 