Your Holiday Eco-Travel Guide

Holiday eco-travel is easier than you may think. It can save you time, money, and stress while promoting the health of the planet Earth.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #1: Take Public Transportation to the Limits with Hopstop or Google Transit

Linking local transportation systems may get your further than you think when devising an eco holiday travel route. Use www.hopstop.com to find connections within and between major U.S. cities. Hopstop offers eco travel routing for Washington, D.C., New York, New York Metro North, Long Island, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Using a combination of local metro, buses, Amtrak, and walking, plan an eco travel route that requires no automobile usage whatsoever this holiday season.

Directions from Chicago's City Hall to Boston's City Hall provided by the Hopstop system proved that it is possible to timely cross the USA using only public transportation and foot power: Take the 126 Bus from State Station in Chicago, get off at Canal in Chicago, walk to Amtrak station, take Amtrak to Washington, DC, transfer to Amtrak's Acela Express to Boston, get off in Back Bay in Boston, take the MTA Orange Line to State St. in Boston. The entire eco friendly travel adventure from Chicago to Boston takes 18 hours and 19 minutes. This compares to a total driving time of an estimated 15.5 hours, not including rest stops and not taking into consideration the major traffic jams inevitable during peak holiday travel periods.

Google Transit is still in Beta format but is available for finding transit links to, through and from the following U.S. cites as well as Japan and Vancouver, British Columbia: San Francisco Bay Area, Burbank, Humboldt County, Sacramento, San Diego, Thousand Oaks, and Orange County in California; Las Vegas and Reno in Nevada; Austin and Dallas in Texas; Eugene and Portland in Oregon; Hampton Roads in Virginia; Tampa in Florida; Honolulu in Hawaii; Duluth in Minnesota; Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; and Seattle in Washington.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #2: Bring a (Foldaway) Bicycle

A foldaway bicycle is an ideal eco travel accessory for holiday travel. Easy to carry and store, it can accompany you on public transportation for longer trip segments yet will be available to use for all of your local travel and daytripping needs once you arrive at your holiday travel destination. If you don't have a foldaway bicycle, bring a regular bicycle. It may be bulkier but it still makes for excellent eco travel for the holidays.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #3: Carpool

Share the costs of holiday travel and reduce the burden on the planet by carpooling to and from your holiday destination. Find eco travelers for your destination who are willing to carpool by checking advertisements at local universities or advertising on sites such as craiglist under the ride share category.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #4: Substitute Virtual Travel for Driving

For those of you looking for a ready excuse to not leave home this holiday season, consider the planet's needs as the reason for your creative choice to travel virtually rather than in person for those obligatory but exhausting visits to outlying friends and relatives. Visit Aunt Margaret online instead of driving to her out-of-the-way residence. Use a webcam to share action and conversation without the hours-long agony and eco-shame of driving there and back.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #5: Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #5 borrows from an old Boy Scout/Girl Scout camping rule: leave the campsite cleaner than you found it. When you are stopping at rest stops or visiting parks or attractions or public facilities during your holiday travel, pick up some trash and properly dispose of it, even if it is not yours.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #6: Use Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping

Instead of buying wasteful gift wrap for the holiday presents that travel with you this year, think eco friendly. Place gifts for adults in reusable cloth grocery bags. Wrap gifts for children in Sunday comic strips.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #7: Walk

Get a headstart on your New Year resolutions! Everyone resolves to get in shape for the New Year. This year, start early and promote eco travel at the same time by walking to all destinations a mile or closer during your holiday. Get in shape, set a good example for your fellow travelers, and take a small step toward reducing Earth's reliance on fossil fuels.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #8: Choose Green Lodging

Choosing green lodging when staying in hotels or motels supports those hoteliers who choose to incorporate green practices into their business. These hotels or motels may have eco friendly furniture or finishings or may use eco friendly energy sources or cleaning methods. In the United States, find green lodging by checking the membership of the Green Hotels Association, www.greenhotels.com, or Green Seal, www.greenseal.org. Read up on these organizations' membership rules to ensure you know what you're supporting and are choosing the most eco-friendly lodgings available.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #9: Keep Home Green While You're Gone

When you are not at home, set the thermostat to a level just warm enough to prevent the pipes from freezing. Why waste energy when you are not there? Unplug all appliances before leaving home. Plugged-in appliances, even when switched off, do draw electricity, in some cases much more significantly than you might imagine.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #10: Share Eco Tips

Without being obnoxious about it, spread the eco message in your holiday travels. Explain to others you encounter your eco travel strategy and encourage them to adopt an eco friendly practice or two.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #11: Drink from Refillable Water Bottle

Plastic beverage bottles are a persistent source of pollution that can be virtually eliminated by carrying and drinking from a refillable water bottle this holiday. Not only is this practice eco-responsible, it will help discourage excess pounds from sugared beverages from finding their way to your thighs, hips, and waist.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #12: Deliver Green Gifts

Take the green wrapping one step further and fill the wrapping with eco friendly gifts. These can be gifts that are environmental in nature (such as rain barrels, solar panels), gifts that promote a sustainable lifestyle (green hotel guide, An Inconvenient Truth) or items made using eco friendly materials and processes.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #13: Waste Not

During the holidays, it is easy to get caught up in excess. When traveling, especially when staying in hotels and motels, it is tempting to use excess resources you would not use at home. Think "eco" before you use at every stage of your holiday travel: do you really need it? Do you really want it? Would you use it if you were not traveling? Is it eco friendly? Is it wasteful? Avoid leaving water running while washing your hands in the bus rest room; use and reuse only a reasonable number of hotel towels; keep the motel heat at a reasonable setting; say no to the unnecessary junk food in the vending machine. All steps you take to avoid waste will advance your eco travel goals.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #14: Cancel the Newspaper Before You Go

Since you won't be home to read it, cancel your newspaper before you leave for your holiday travel. No need to waste precious trees creating a newspaper that will not only not be read but will become a disposal issue upon your return from holiday travel.

Eco Travel Idea for the Holidays #15: Bring Eco Friendly Travel Bags

If travel for the holiday means hauling a bunch of electronic gadgets, leave the energy-draining chargers at home. V-Dimension, www.v-dimension.com, makes solar backpacks and travel bags which contain built-in solar rechargers for phones, PDAs and other small gadgets.