The Slow Coach: How to holiday better

15 small changes for a more sustainable vacation

Since this is a newsletter about sustainability, you could be forgiven for expecting this feature to tell you to stop flying altogether and just make do with a staycation. You know, an article packed with tips like, ‘how to recreate the French Riviera in your own garden with stuff from the supermarket’, or ‘5 ways to meditate your way into believing the UK sea is warm and crystal clear’. (Note to self: pitch these ideas to some commissioning editors)

And while flying less frequently, taking the train when possible and not going on fuel-guzzling cruises undoubtedly makes a difference, realistically, I want to go on holiday to a hot destination as much as the next person. Just once a year, but I still want to go. I do limit my flights - my husband and I have only been on three long-haul holidays in the near-thirty years we’ve been together - but it would be highly hypocritical of me to tell you all to stop flying when I don’t have the time nor the money to take a train to Greece, and yet I still really want to go to Greece. 

So with that in mind, let’s focus on some of the small and incredibly easy changes you can make instead.