Guilty Tourist

Imagine you’ve set out to explore some far flung part of the world. Maybe it’s relatively untouched by tourism, full of tropical fish and buzzing with distinctive culture. You may be thinking you’d better go there before it gets destroyed by some freak hurricane or Tsunami, after all with it being an island it could have been completed swallowed up by flood waters if global warming isn’t a myth.

The wait in the airport, made worse by the amount of time you have to wait in advance leads you to purchase whatever food and drink is available and try not to stress out as people tell off and smack their children. Or as people stomp around in front of you cutting you up and just plain turn into ants in your path – you reach for a paper, book, magazine or something to distract you.

At the Departures you suddenly get the urge to buy a litre bottle of Malibu with that intention of saving a few quid on bar drinks if the hotel is a nightmare on your wallet. You hate that bottle of Malibu when you’re lugging your bags through passport control at the other end.

The pollution pours from the plane as you thunder through take off and await the tease of the hostesses who make you wait for every drop of water and every tiny meal – slowly wheeling their trolleys up the aisles of hundreds for cramped up Brits. Little trays with little compartments. A neat little foil box of casserole that actually wasn’t as bad as you expected. All other components of the meal sealed in little bags. Plastic boxes and tubs, little miniature cutlery in the BA dolls house. With every bite you consider the fact that you’ll be unsure if they’ll recycle or reuse any of these hundreds of pieces of airline Tupperware. For every suitcase on board there will probably be a carrier bag full of trash that may or may not get recycled. What does seem to be recycled are old episodes of My Family and Friends on the entertainment channels but you don’t suppose that counts. The new airline uniform is apparently being sported by the hostesses. Wonder where it was made? It’s unlikely it’s from ‘People Tree’!

Well, there no escaping it, it time to pay a visit, and my goodness weren’t you surprised when you first found out how it is they dispose of everyone’s toilet trips over the ocean in iceblocks!

So you’re a guilty tourist – trying to balance saving the world with the desire to go and visit it before it vanishes! Without thoughfully packing a box of Organic Sandwiches and a flask of fairtrade tea you are trapped into to dropping some of your well learned principles!

Climate Care  Offers some ways to ease your conscience about your flight by helping you calculate your cost in pollution and providing routes to ‘put things right’.

Responsible Travel Offer some better alternatives for your next trip in terms of its impact on the the environement and on your morale!

Consider voting for the Green Party whose manifesto is brimming with ideas for how to tackle to damaging effects of low cost airlines – click here to see the tourist section of the Manifesto.

Likely to be a less popular choice for you real globe trotters but perfectly lovely if you want to really indulge in some more ecologically sound relaxation – stay at a farm in Tipperary!