Whitney Friedlander, LAT Daily Travel & Deal blog, offers up tips for traveling green without ever getting behind the wheel.

Amtrak and Greyhound may take longer than a plane ride, but they’re almost always cheaper and are certainly greener than a plane or car trip….Skip the car rentals and climb aboard the city-managed buses, trolleys or subway cars…Stay green - Loads of hotels are jumping on the green bandwagon.

Since we’re on the subject, I thought I’d go beyond the generalities and let’s see what we can come up with in terms of highly specific instructions with examples. As Seth Warren and Tyler Bradt will testify, there’s more than one way to travel green. The daring duo drove through 16 countries and 21,000 miles, without a single penny spent on gas. The Times, UK, has an excellent report on their journey. Completing the world’s longest, petrol-free road trip, the friends ran their Toyota truck from the tip to the toe of the Americas solely on natural fuels, including pig lard and frying oil donated by restaurants en route. In Alaska, they relied on salmon oil from fish-canning factories and, in Colombia, on a sticky and mechanically troublesome pulp derived from palm trees, while soya beans kept them chugging in Argentina. “We’re taking trash and turning it into money,” Warren, 29, from Utah, said. “This trip has proved hands down that vegetable oil works as a motor fuel. It just took somebody to step up and set the example.”

Your kids will probably never again agree to go on a vacation with you, if you go all the way smelling like a fish factory, but point is that it can be done. Not only do you save the gas bill, but you also help save the earth. Subtract the cost of travel from your vacation, and what’s the next biggest expense left? The Hotel room cost. Los Angeles family hotels are not exactly a green paradise and while some of the hotels in San Francisco, such as the Orchard Garden, are comprehensively eco-friendly, they still cost a pretty penny. That leaves you with two options here.

Either book a cheap and eco-friendly hotel from this list of approved green hotels in California, or better yet, camp out. If you’re camping out, you can reserve space ahead of time via recreation.gov or reserveamerica.com. If you’re using vegetable oils or a hybrid car for transport, and you’re camping out instead of splurging on a luxury hotel room, you just managed to cut down on about 75% of the expense of your vacation. What’s left is just food and tickets to see the local attractions at your destination and along the way, and some shopping.

Find restaurants who use organic produce, or carry along basic cooking utensils and halt wherever you can get hold of some natural foods and organic produce grown using sustainable means, which - at least in California, should be pretty easy. Not to mention the fact that this also cuts down on your food related expenses by about 50-60%, and if you’re a family of 4 or more, that amounts to big money, even for one meal. Here’s a good list of green restaurants and natural food stores in all the major areas of the Golden State.

In summary, traveling green does not necessarily mean inconvinience or extra costs. In fact, quite the opposite. Do it right, and you’ll shave about 800 dollars off a $1000 budget, and have a lot of fun on the way and back from your holiday.

After all, travel is not just about getting on and off a plane and spending a few hours on a beach. It’s about the journey - The trip. And if you can appreciate that, and save money as a bonus, heck, I say let’s dump Richard Bronson and his pesky airlines, and we’ll enjoy the Virgins we find on I-5. Umm…And the bull elks bugling and fighting for mating rights at the Tule Elk Reserve near Buttonwillow and at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge (Photo credit: naturebydesignlearning.com). 

Posted on April 8th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel Tips