Here’s some good news for eco-conscious travelers: exploring the world while staying true to your sustainability values is totally possible.
You don’t have to make big lifestyle changes, and you certainly don’t have to compromise your values in ways you’d never accept back home.
The trick is to make smart choices before and during your travels that add up to make a genuine difference.
Luckily, digital tools can help you achieve this without cramping your style. Here’s how you can see the world without leaving it worse off for it, one helpful tool at a time.
Flight Booking Apps with Eco Filters
Flight-related emissions are by far the most impactful item on your travel carbon footprint list. It’s also unavoidable, especially when traveling across oceans and between continents.
However, this doesn’t mean each flight is equally harmful, and the right booking app can help you choose the least impactful flights.
Keep in mind that carbon offsets and net-zero pledges are mostly ineffective. Instead, you’ll want to use the app to look for nearly full flights on the newest planes and to avoid layovers.
The latest plane models are more fuel efficient, and individual passengers’ carbon footprints drop the more of them there are.
Digital Boarding Passes and Tickets
Thousands of tons of paper each year are wasted on printing one-offs like boarding passes and tickets that people throw away as soon as they’re no longer needed.
Switching to their digital equivalents whenever possible reduces paper waste while making access more convenient.
Digital Travel Document Storage
It’s similar to physical copies of documents like your passport, hotel vouchers, insurance policies, or printed itineraries.
Storing them digitally on your phone or in cloud storage means less paper clutter and makes updating information or plans easier if things suddenly change.
Keep in mind that some of these documents are sensitive, and that accessing them through unreliable networks like public Wi-Fi risks exposing them.
An antivirus with a VPN will protect your connection with an encrypted tunnel and prevent you from downloading malware that may compromise sensitive information. This way, you fend off hackers who want to snoop and tamper with your data.
Digital Wallets
Visiting attractions, dining out, and shopping are all natural parts of a great travel experience. They also create lots of paper receipts you’ll just crumple up and never think about again.
Digital wallets elegantly solve several problems. They store all your credit card information, loyalty cards, etc., without creating plastic waste.
They also keep track of all the payments you make and help you stick to your travel budget without paper clutter.
eSIMs
Even if you’re going abroad to a place with widely available Wi-Fi, you’ll still want a reliable backup. Physical SIM cards used to be the norm, but they’re both fiddly and end up in the trash once your vacation is over.
Say you’re traveling to the States — getting an eSIM for the USA allows you to go 100% digital while offering the same flexibility and convenience.
If anything, an eSIM is more practical for touring multiple countries since one data plan can cover an entire region.
Translation Apps
There’s really no need to be lugging around printed phrasebooks in the day and age of AI-assisted translation apps.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn some basic phrases that might come in handy — most locals will appreciate the effort.
However, translation apps have reached a point where you can comfortably hold a conversation with someone without knowing a word of their mother tongue.
Digital Maps
While great for navigating unfamiliar cities, digital maps really prove their worth on long road trips. Having constant access to a map layout and route planning means you’ll be making fewer wrong turns and can reach your destination faster while using up less fuel.
Also, downloading relevant maps before you hit the road means you won’t use up as much mobile data.
Public Transportation Apps
Just like with planes, the more people use public transport, the less each passenger impacts the environment.
Public transportation apps do their part by helping you become aware of alternatives to cars and ride shares. They’re also replacing physical tickets with more eco-friendly digital alternatives.
Digital Hotel Keycards and Check-Ins
Similarly, eco-conscious hotels have been steadily moving away from plastic keycards to their digital equivalents. They’re also adopting paperless check-in procedures to cut down on paper waste.
Water Refill Station Apps
Single-use plastics are a scourge on the planet, and you make the problem worse each time you needlessly buy overpriced bottled water.
Get a quality reusable water bottle instead and use a refill station app to find nearby sources of free, clean water wherever you travel.
Product Scanners
Being on vacation doesn’t mean you have to put your eco-conscious and sustainable lifestyle on hold. Scanner apps let you scan product barcodes to see if what you were about to buy contains microplastics or palm oil, or if it was produced in an unethical way.
