travel – Travelling Without Footprints

Update: Who’s Involved with Adani?

You may have seen the headline of the recent Guardian article: ‘Greyhound cuts ties with Adani mine after backlash from climate activists’ and thought ‘Hooray!’ So which ties, exactly, have been severed? Originally Greyhound signed a 3-month contract with Adani, with possibility of extension. What has been severed is this ‘possibility of extension‘. So, theContinue reading “Update: Who’s Involved with Adani?”

Greyhound Throws Our Climate Under the Bus

Skimming through my newsfeed this week I noticed a stream of posts involving ‘Greyhound’ and ‘Adani’. So, what’s the story behind them all? I was just about to publish my next blog: ‘A Guide to Not Flying (Australia)’, which featured a large section on sustainable bus, train and hire-care companies in Australia, with a hugeContinue reading “Greyhound Throws Our Climate Under the Bus”

Ferry or Fly? Travelling Helsinki to Stockholm by Boat

When planning my route from city to city, checking for flights is my last resort. First I check for trains, buses, share cars and ferries. I assumed that all these forms of transport would surely be better than flying. I recently discovered this may not always be the case. Recently Daisy (my sister), Corey (myContinue reading “Ferry or Fly? Travelling Helsinki to Stockholm by Boat”

5 Resolutions for a Sustainable 2020

1. Improve your knowledgeThink media not social media. Start with books, scientific journals, news (from reliable sources) & magazines. One of the hardest parts about the fight against climate change is answering those hard-hitting questions from deniers. The best thing to do is arm yourself…with knowledge. Here’s a list of authors, books, journals and magazines/newspapersContinue reading “5 Resolutions for a Sustainable 2020”

Planes, Trains and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Before we left for out 6 months European adventure I made the decision that I would try everything possible not to take any planes whilst in Europe. We flew from Sydney to Paris (we had neither the time nor the money for the 40 day, $8000 freight journey across the ocean), but I wanted toContinue reading “Planes, Trains and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint”

Travelling Albania Part 1: People and houses

Although Albania is a small country, I have managed to write pages and pages about it. So, I’ve had to split them into a series of short blogs. This is part 1 of 2 (so far). People Firstly I have to talk about the Albanian people. Their hospitality, kindness, friendliness and smiles are almost unparalleledContinue reading “Travelling Albania Part 1: People and houses”

A Brief History of Albania: Part 1

Albania’s history is probably the most confusing of any country I’ve ever visited, but, for this reason I find it the most fascinating. From the 6th Century until 1992 the country never really experienced true freedom. Putting this into perspective, Albania only opened up its borders to trade 27 years ago. A hostel owner inContinue reading “A Brief History of Albania: Part 1”

Plastic Paris

Once you change to a plastic-free mind-set its hard to go back – it’s like staring out of the same window-frame for the rest of your life, except this window frame highlights in bright colour any plastic in your view. You’re senses for plastic become heightened, you’re like a sniffer dog with an eye forContinue reading “Plastic Paris”

The Selkies of Iceland

We drove along just as the sun was beginning to creep up from the snow-capped mountains. I checked my watch: 11:02AM. I couldn’t help but laugh, how could the sun be rising at 11AM? I am from almost as far South as you can get on this planet (Australia) and I was now the furthestContinue reading “The Selkies of Iceland”

Thailand’s Coral Reefs

‘Thailand closes dive sites over coral bleaching crisis’[1] ‘Repeated coral bleaching…Thailand’[2] ‘In 2015…temperatures were 2 degrees above normal’[3] ‘only 5% of Thailand’s coral reefs were in good conditions…80% in damaged conditions, mainly due to the bleaching event in 2010.’[4] ‘The 2010 bleaching event was the most severe, affecting 80% of coral reefs in…’[5] ‘In AprilContinue reading “Thailand’s Coral Reefs”

Roadtrip scrabbles

When someone asks me what I had for breakfast I pause for minutes, delving into the depths of my brain trying to pull out the image of my most recent meal. That picture of me spreading jam over my toast must be lost, lodged between the memory of last night’s bolognaise and last week’s cereal.Continue reading “Roadtrip scrabbles”

10 Ways to Travel Sustainably

Reduce (stop) flying! Planes secrete a crazy amount of CO2 – a return flight from Sydney to London will release up to 6 tonnes of CO2 per passenger. Globally, flying makes up 2-3% of carbon emissions and if global aviation was a country it would rank in the top 10 carbon emitters. By 2030 it’sContinue reading “10 Ways to Travel Sustainably”

Sleepy Barcelona

My phone says its 35 degrees but the sweat dripping through my hair, down my forehead and accumulating beneath my 20kg backpack says otherwise. I’ve just stepped off the air-conditioned train into the haze of Barcelona. Steam rises from the rooftops of graffiti-covered buildings, from the rubbish littered footpaths and from cigarettes tucked under whiteContinue reading “Sleepy Barcelona”