I get it. Eco-friendly travel is great in theory but how are you supposed to afford something like paying more for carbon offsets when you’re already paying for plane tickets, hotels, food, drinks, museums, visits to historical sites, food, shows, tours, and more food? Traveling is expensive enough, why make it worse? Well, if you’re savvy about your spending and strategic about when and how you book a trip, going green doesn’t have to be more financially burdensome than a regular trip.
Book Smart
This one is pretty obvious but try to be on the ball with booking your plane tickets and hotels. It helps to be flexible with your dates and to check prices early and often to make sure that you’re getting a good deal. The major fare sites like Kayak and Google Flights (and others) help with both of these things by allowing you to set up notifications for good deals on flexible dates. If the price drops for your specified dates, you’ll get an email notification. Then you just have to hop on the site and book it. If you’re a vigilant fare watcher, you can also check The Flight Deal and Secret Flying which post deeply discounted flights to destinations all over the world.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to fly. While the US lags well behind other developed countries in rail transport, catching a train in other countries is often fast, cheap, comfortable, and convenient. It’s also a great way to see the countryside and is much greener than flying. So check into an Eurail Pass if you’re bopping around Europe.
Research, Research, Research
You don’t have to plan every minute of your trip but knowing your options can help reduce costs. When my wife and I were planning a trip to Cuba, the hotel prices surprised us, particularly in Havana where most of the decent hotels were about $200 per night. As we continued our research, we saw a few mentions that AirBnb was growing in popularity there so we looked into it and found great places to stay for a quarter of the price. Not only did we end up saving $150 per night over a ten day trip, but we stayed in rooms of people’s homes and ended up making friends with a number of Cubans along the way. Finding the alternative to a traditional hotel saved us a ton of money and greatly enriched our experience.
Start a Travel Fund
This one requires some basic budgeting and a little financial discipline, but putting some money into a travel fund each month can easily cover expenses related to going green. For me, there were two important steps to making sure I didn’t spend my money on whatever my little heart desired instead of stashing it for traveling. First, I opened a savings account specifically to serve as my travel fund. Having the travel fund in its own account allowed me to easily see exactly how much I had to spend on my next trip and made it (slightly) more difficult to spend on things aside from travel. I’m much less likely to make an ill-advised purchase if I have to transfer money from my travel fund to cover it.
Second, I set up automatic recurring transfers from my checking account to the travel fund each month. The transfers forced me to be mindful about my spending to ensure I didn’t overdraw my checking but also allowed me to sit back and watch my travel fund grow. Before long, I could book a hotel and transfer the cost from my travel fund back into checking to pay it off. Easy peasy.
I know you’re sitting there shaking your head in disgust and thinking, “This doesn’t make going green any cheaper. What is this fool talking about?” Well for your information, I’m aware that having a travel fund doesn’t technically reduce the costs of going green, but paying for your trip with money you’ve already set aside basically makes it a free trip, right? Also, I’m not a fool.
Credit Cards
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, think about getting a travel credit card. If your finances are in order (read: you pay your credit cards off in full each month and you have reasonably good credit), credit cards can drastically cut down your travel expenses.
I carry two travel credit cards in my wallet: the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard. The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives me three points for every dollar spent on dining and travel in addition to an annual $300 travel credit. I use the Barclaycard for everything else and get two points for every dollar spent. Religiously sticking to this system and paying the cards off in full each month earns me enough to afford at least one international round trip flight each year. My wife and I honeymooned in Madagascar last summer and our points entirely covered one of our $1,500 plane tickets. We already have even more points saved for our next trip.
Both of the cards that I use offer sign up bonuses worth hundreds of dollars and good perks (e.g. free Global Entry), but there are plenty of other good travel cards out there that might fit your lifestyle better. I recommend checking out The Points Guy and NerdWallet to get the lay of the credit card land and doing a little of your own research from there. Also keep in mind that most travel cards come with an annual fee which, in some cases, can be pretty hefty (the Chase Sapphire Reserve fee is $450). Make sure that your spending patterns will yield enough points to cover the fee, otherwise the card isn’t worth it.
Finally, and I cannot emphasize this enough when it comes to credit cards, don’t be a dummy. Dummies get one of these cards and don’t pay them off in full each month, subjecting themselves to 20% interest rates, or higher. If you’re going to be a dummy, don’t get a travel card because the interest can quickly offset the benefits.
That said, if you’re not a dummy and your spending habits will generate a lot of points, picking the right travel card or cards can be more than enough to cover the costs of going green.
Following even one or two of these suggestions will take the financial sting out of eco-friendly travel so figure out what works best for you and get on it. Your wallet and the environment will thank you.
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Going Green 