The greenest holiday possible?

The greenest holiday possible?

Forget ecotours, camping and voluntouring: perhaps the most environmentally friendly holiday you could have this year is staring you in the face.

You don't have to go to the back of Bourke for a relaxing, green holiday break.

I've just come back from a fabulous weekend away with my wife. We hired bikes, we swam in waves and lay on beaches, we ate out, we walked, we talked, we laughed. And we didn't even leave Sydney.
In the past few years, one of the buzz words to emerge in tourism has been the "staycation".  In its purest form, it means being a tourist in your home town, while staying in your own home. You turn off the phone, and tell your friends you are away. You not only save on accommodation and transport costs, but you finally get to do all the things you've never done. For example, in Sydney you might finally do the Bridge Climb, or eat out somewhere special, or catch a ferry to Manly, or go to Penrith Whitewater Stadium.
A worthy variation on the pure "staycation" though, particularly in a large city, is to go and stay somewhere else for a couple of days, still in your home town. In our case, we went to Manly, and had a brilliant couple of days on the beach.

Why is this such a "green" holiday?

Packing our cars crammed full of camping gear or towing a trailer, and driving several hours away, is one of the most destructive micro-things we continue to do to our planet. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge supporter of holidays, and believe that tourism needs to be supported (read the introduction to my book, Australia's Best Eco-Friendly Holidays, for more clarification on this point). But burning increasingly precious fossil fuel in order to move large boxes of metal around isn't ideal. Neither is regularly hopping on a plane to go "somewhere else".
By choosing to holiday in your home town, especially if you choose to travel by public transport (in our case, a glorious ferry ride to Manly after a night out in the city), you cut that environmental travel footprint down to almost nothing. You also get the chance to slow down a bit and enjoy what is directly in front of you, while supporting local businesses and people.
If you're still deciding where to take a holiday this Christmas, consider the merits of a "staycation". Go to that national park that's nearby that you've never explored. Have a picnic. Rent kayaks. Go to a show. Remind yourself what's great about the area in which you live.
For more green tourism options, see Australia's Best Eco-Friendly Holidays.

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au