“No straw please!”
Requesting a drink without a straw is an important phrase that many of us are now remembering to use, though I have to say that I have been impressed by the number of places I’ve been to recently that are no longer using the plastic variety, and the request is not required.
“Sin pajita, por favor” (Spanish for no straw please)
Similarly, recyclable takeaway cups are appearing more frequently. I was delighted on a recent Easyjet flight to find that the cups they use are now made from plants, not plastic.
In addition, many airports, and other locations, are providing ready access to drinking water points where we can fill our bottles.
Now, we need to take advantage of these positive changes, and make a difference ourselves. Packing without plastics makes a thoughtful and pro-active start to our travels.
Here are a few simple tips:
- Carry your own drinking vessels – for water and hot drinks (collapsible versions are available)
- Similarly, carry your own food containers, and take beeswax wraps if you’re likely to buy food on your travels
- Toiletries – carry in your own re-usable containers, and use soap bars and shampoo bars rather then the liquid variety
- Use a bamboo toothbrush (see here for recommendations on options available) – it is estimated that 3.6 billion plastic toothbrushes are used worldwide every year and roughly 80 per cent of these end up in the sea
- Select your hand and face wipes carefully as the majority currently contain plastic
- Take a re-usable shopping bag or two (or buy a local version on your travels)
- If you’re like me and carry tea bags with you around the world, be sure to shop for plastic-free ones
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After your eco-friendly packing, what next, you ask.
Top of my list, is don’t use the tiny plastic bottles of toiletries in your hotel room. If we don’t use them, they’ll stop providing them.
“Pas de paille, s’il vous plait” (French for no straw please)
Next, try out the straw phrase, politely, and in the local language if you can.
“Kein Strohhalm bitte” (German for no straw please)
When indulging in an ice cream, go for a tasty cone rather than a plastic coated tub.
And when you have a coffee, make sure you use your own travel cup, or take a rest, put your feet up and sit in the cafe – enjoy their crockery and maybe make a new friend by chatting with the locals.
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Enough of my ramblings, for now – happy plastic-free travels.
If you have suggestions do please share them in the comments below.
Copyright Debbie Smyth, 11 October 2018
Posted as part of Cee’s B&W Challenge
Travel with Intent 
Such a good post! We need to spread the word! I don’t use ice cream cups, but my friends do and I hadn’t thought of the the plastic in them before. I’ll have to tell them!
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Places are getting better at providing non-plastic cups – many smaller coffee shops near me have made the effort in the last few months.
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haha love this 🙂 I am a big traveler and always carry around my own water bottles and bags for shopping. Soap bars and the bamboo toothbrushes will soon be on my list! Have you tried any of the new shampoo or conditioner (is that a thing) bars? I’ve seen some out and about but haven’t picked one yet!
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I haven’t tried the solid ones yet.
My new thing is reusable straws!
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yeah! Not sure how i feel about the paper ones but liking the metal one 😀
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‘No straw’ and ‘Can I have it in this (my reusable container) please?’ Are two of the first phrases I try to nail when I travel! They can make such a difference to the amount of waste produced.
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That’s great to hear.
And I’ve seen quite an improvement on the straw front recently.
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Me too! I think companies see it as an easy way to ‘greenify’ their image, but I’m not complaining!
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It’s really awesome content. In India, we have such places where we promote eco-friendly stays.
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I’m loving this recycled cup and straw movement – VegWare do straws that feel like “plastic” but at actually soya or similar . The paper ones just fall apart so it’s cool to see companies springing up with good quality environmentally friendly alternatives
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That’s good to know – I’ll look out for them
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Exactly the type of conversations we need! Amazing to see travelers becoming more environmentally-conscious, let’s hope locals will adapt as well
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Loved this! It’s so important to take care of our environment, even when travelling
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Hi Debbie! I loved reading about your experience with how different traveling is when we consciously make an effort to put the environment first. I live in America but while studying abroad in the UK this Summer I realized how much LESS plastic straws were used! I loved your tips on how travelers can try and keep plastic out of their future trips.
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Thanks for reading it!
Yes, there has been a big improvement on plastic usage this year and definitely fewer plastic straws around 🙂
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awesome!!
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Perfect eco friendly post
https://mesmots1987.wordpress.com/
Great Post, loved your words.
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This is a great post, and it’s so nice to see so many life-minded people in the comments as well! I live in India, where a number of cities have actually banned single-use plastics in recent months, and while I have so much hope that something is finally being done, the implementation is sorely lacking and many people still get away with shameless plastic & single-use item usage.
I also especially like that you’ve suggested people carry their own cutlery/crockery, in fact I’ve been seeing #BYOC and #BYOCselfie “bring your own cups” spreading – and hopefully it becomes normalised to a point where that’s expected of us all.
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We are improving slowly. In Britain we now have to pay extra if we use a takeway cup. I hope we can speed things up.
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great article!
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Great tips here! We carry our own water bottles everywhere, saves money too!
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Indeed! And good on you.
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Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve been looking for tips how to be green while traveling!
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good one!
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Great post to remind us to be eco-friendly travelers! I bring a small jam jar with me as a travel mug and it also works for take away too as I bring my own cutlery along with me as well. It gets funny looks but it makes a difference!
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This is so good! Posts like yours are really interesting to read and very interesting too! There’s a new website that had a good idea about a Knuckle-Month Challenge that I’m going to use your straw tips for. I think the website is plxstics.wordpress.com, by the way.
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Interesting. I’ll take a look
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thanks, and both your sites are very useful too. I like how there are people that understand, and though I’m young, maybe I can have a slight impact somewhere.
And yes, my website is https://plxstics.wordpress.com/
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Wonderful! Yes, yes and yes. I love the insertion of how to say, “No straw please” in other languages (I am going to teach that in our spanish class tomorrow!) Thanks so much for that – !
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Brilliant!
I love learning languages (it’s on elf the reasons I enjoy travelling so much) and it’s wonderful when we can learn useful and topical phrases in our lessons
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Good article, and good advices, too.
(In spanish “No straw please” it’s: “Sin pajita, por favor”)
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Plastic bottles and bags are my bugbear in Portugal, they are everywhere. We have reusable versions and are always at the market insisting we don’t need bags!
Loving your other tips. Great post x
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Nice tips! Need of the hour…
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Perfect response for this challenge!
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Plastic is everywhere! My favorite re-usable bags are from Bagpodz. I walk the beach every morning and pick up plastic refuse—bottles, bags, packaging, and even Mylar balloons. 😢 Keep teaching future generations! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Take 3 is a great slogan from http://www.montaukoceansinstitute.org
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I admire your determination! And many thanks for the link
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Thanks for the great plastic free travel tips Debbie. x
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Wonderful post. 😀 😀
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Thanks Cee. Glad you enjoyed it
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Excellent advice! I am feeling particularly overwhelmed by the scale of the problems facing the world right now, but figure doing what I can is infinitely better than ignoring it on the basis the problem is “too big.”
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Absolutely! I know what you mean, but we really have no choice. And companies do change their habits if they start to lose business!
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That is true. Our supermarkets have finally stopped giving away single-use bags, and are beginning to address other disposable packaging. In some of the smaller places I shop my re-usable totes are still met with surprise, but less so than a year ago.
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Great things to keep in mind
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