Being the anti-tourist this year could help you travel green.
By Elizabeth Seward
New York, NY, USA | Fri Apr 10 16:30:00 EDT 2009
As the warmer months are breaking on us, the road trip will surface, as it does every year, to monopolize sunny weekends. Of course I’d kindly suggest you bicycle, kayak, or walk your way around fun spots this spring and summer, but I’m no fool. I understand that no matter how green you are, you might still want to use your car for a road trip this year—regardless of whether or not your car is green. And that’s totally fine. Caring about the environment doesn’t put me in the business of never ever using cars and your green lifestyle doesn’t need to be so excruciatingly extreme, either. But here’s a green tip for this spring and summer which will, I’d wager a bet on it, yield more interesting and possibly more green experiences for you and your family and friends: try to avoid ultra touristy spots.
Sure, there’s a reason why places like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls are popular: they’re beautiful. And there’s a reason why places like Times Square and Disney World are popular: they’re fun. But you can find beautiful and fun places while exploring this year that aren’t tainted by anti-green mass-merchandising giants. Bringing your kids into a gift shop at one of these major tourist spots could easily doom you to a long wait at the cash register, waiting to buy something plastic (think: Mickey Mouse ears, puffy taxi cab toy, Grand Canyon snow globe…). Trekking off to somewhere touristy and congested can yield some other not-so-green circumstances: wasting gas in traffic, buying bottled water because all water fountains are conveniently extinct or hidden, disturbing wildlife (even if you don’t mean to)—you get the point.
Why not hunt down some anti-tourist spots this year if you’re going to road trip? Find a remote beach to clean up. Dine at a more-or-less unknown restaurant—the kind that uses fresh organic and local food. Grab some drinks at an under-the-radar brewery in order to avoid drinking transported beer for a night.
I’m not saying you can’t be green at a touristy spot—and by no means am I saying that all non-touristy spots are green. What I am saying is…consider your options. Thinking outside the regular tourist box may not only help you travel without so much anxiety, but it may also help you travel a bit more green if approached correctly. Want some ideas on not-so-touristy spots to visit? Check out my site, The Anti Tourist, http://www.theantitourist.com
