It seems to be the season...
The Destinations Show (sponsored by the Times, in a non-too-subtle battle with the Telegraph's sponsorship of the Adventure Travel Show) opens today, at the Earl's Court exhibition centre. This one looks like it'll be a little less in line with greenhiking values, but that said there's a big Europe & the UK area, which is laudable (and notable by its absence at the Adventure Travel Show - naughty Telegraph).
We're going along on Sunday, so we'll write it up then. But if you want tickets, click here.
Thursday 31 January 2008
Friday 25 January 2008
Greenhiker research: The Adventure Travel Show
The annual Adventure Travel Show is now open at the Business Design Centre in Islington, North London. If you're in town, it's worth going along to have a look around - although not devoted to green travel, most of the ideas here will involve getting a bit closer to the people and places you're visiting, which can only be a good thing. We like the look of the features they're putting on in the main theatre in particular - we'll definitely get our seats for 'From source to sea: the World's first expedition to walk the Amazon' (tonight at 6.45pm).
PS - writing this a couple of days after the show, we're hugely impressed by these guys. What they're taking on is an incredible challenge, and for very good causes, not least bringing attention to the significance of the Amazon basin to the fight against climate change. We'll be following their progress closely - you can too if you join their facebook group, or just go straight to the blog.
PS - writing this a couple of days after the show, we're hugely impressed by these guys. What they're taking on is an incredible challenge, and for very good causes, not least bringing attention to the significance of the Amazon basin to the fight against climate change. We'll be following their progress closely - you can too if you join their facebook group, or just go straight to the blog.
Monday 21 January 2008
STOP PRESS - VOLUNTEER TRAVEL DEALS
Check out i-to-i. They've got a sale on until the end of the month (10 days to go!), with 15% off every trip. On a normal basis, we're slightly suspicious of i-to-i prices - we've found a couple of projects that you can book direct for considerably under the i-to-i rate. But with 15% off, and the level of support (often including level 1 TEFL qualifications in the cost), it's hard to argue!
One trip we're particularly keen on is the China Train Experience. With the 15% off, this 14-day trip currently costs £718.25. It's a small group trip, with a tour leader, but with a fair bit of independence as well - you've got 2-3 days in Beijing and Shanghai at the beginning and end of the holiday, either side of a week in Xian, the city corresponding to the ancient capital of the first emperor. If you do feel like booking it (and we're thinking about sending a representative along ourselves), pop along to the British Museum and see a few of the Terracotta Warriors. They'll help you make your decision!
As ever, we're not hugely keen on flights. But the week you'll spend in Xian will be a much more effective form of offsetting than most, so we're all go for this one. BA or Air China fly direct into Beijing and back from Shanghai, and you can usually get BA's cheapest prices direct from them. If you don't mind changing, the cheapest option is probably the Russian airline Aeroflot, but the older planes and the two take-offs (you stop in Moscow) mean the emissions are probably a fair bit higher. Again their prices are cheapest at their website.
One trip we're particularly keen on is the China Train Experience. With the 15% off, this 14-day trip currently costs £718.25. It's a small group trip, with a tour leader, but with a fair bit of independence as well - you've got 2-3 days in Beijing and Shanghai at the beginning and end of the holiday, either side of a week in Xian, the city corresponding to the ancient capital of the first emperor. If you do feel like booking it (and we're thinking about sending a representative along ourselves), pop along to the British Museum and see a few of the Terracotta Warriors. They'll help you make your decision!
As ever, we're not hugely keen on flights. But the week you'll spend in Xian will be a much more effective form of offsetting than most, so we're all go for this one. BA or Air China fly direct into Beijing and back from Shanghai, and you can usually get BA's cheapest prices direct from them. If you don't mind changing, the cheapest option is probably the Russian airline Aeroflot, but the older planes and the two take-offs (you stop in Moscow) mean the emissions are probably a fair bit higher. Again their prices are cheapest at their website.
Thursday 17 January 2008
January Big Green-hike: Volunteering overseas
The point of greenhiking isn't to stop flying completely, rather to recognise that flying is a privilege and a big deal - not something to be done lightly. That's because the true cost of flying is way in advance of what we pay; a short haul European return causes about 400kg of emissions. Turning your washing machine to 30 degrees saves about 230kg per year, to put that in context.
So if you do fly, make it worth it. Go for a decent amount of time - take a sabbatical! - and spend some of it volunteering. But, as ever, don't go through the obvious operators, most of them charge you through the nose, and that money all disappears into admin fees. Here's a few ideas to get you started - as ever, anyone with more let us know, and anyone who tries these out, let us know how you get on!
Our feature suggestion is APES - This is a primate rescue and rehabilitation centre, based in a bush camp in KwaZulu Natal, the wilder end of South Africa. Not only will you get stuck in with the monkeys, there's a small rural school nearby where you'll get the chance to meet the local kids, and the APES gang can organise homestay visits with local Zulu families. They ask for £195 per week, or £495 for a four week stay - this covers everything except your transport to the bush camp. Unbelievable bargain, unbelievable experience. Nearest airport is Durban, but Joburg's not a million miles away. Click here for more.
Keen divers should check out Blue Ventures, based in Madagascar. You can get a 6 week diving-based conservation trip from £1,765, covering everything but your flights and your 'personal' diving gear. None of us are big divers, but it does sound amazing - they've been awarded by National Geographic twice. Click here for more.
There's a company that are setting out to be the real experts in this field, and though some of their trips are a little short and a little expensive for the immediate taste of the greenhiker, the Observer's ringing endorsement for their Sunderbans Smiles trip (it won the accolade of 'Ultimate Eco Trip') suggests they're doing something right. We wonder if the Observer just hadn't found out about APES though! Click here to find out more about the wonderfully named Hands Up Holidays.
Happy hiking!
So if you do fly, make it worth it. Go for a decent amount of time - take a sabbatical! - and spend some of it volunteering. But, as ever, don't go through the obvious operators, most of them charge you through the nose, and that money all disappears into admin fees. Here's a few ideas to get you started - as ever, anyone with more let us know, and anyone who tries these out, let us know how you get on!
Our feature suggestion is APES - This is a primate rescue and rehabilitation centre, based in a bush camp in KwaZulu Natal, the wilder end of South Africa. Not only will you get stuck in with the monkeys, there's a small rural school nearby where you'll get the chance to meet the local kids, and the APES gang can organise homestay visits with local Zulu families. They ask for £195 per week, or £495 for a four week stay - this covers everything except your transport to the bush camp. Unbelievable bargain, unbelievable experience. Nearest airport is Durban, but Joburg's not a million miles away. Click here for more.
Keen divers should check out Blue Ventures, based in Madagascar. You can get a 6 week diving-based conservation trip from £1,765, covering everything but your flights and your 'personal' diving gear. None of us are big divers, but it does sound amazing - they've been awarded by National Geographic twice. Click here for more.
There's a company that are setting out to be the real experts in this field, and though some of their trips are a little short and a little expensive for the immediate taste of the greenhiker, the Observer's ringing endorsement for their Sunderbans Smiles trip (it won the accolade of 'Ultimate Eco Trip') suggests they're doing something right. We wonder if the Observer just hadn't found out about APES though! Click here to find out more about the wonderfully named Hands Up Holidays.
Happy hiking!
Friday 11 January 2008
Update to January Green-hike 1: another way to the slopes
We've just found an even better way...
The overnight train from Paris to Munich departs at 2245, meaning you could do a full day's work in London before you head off. You can get a return sleeper booth on that train for as little as £56, bit cheaper than a night in a hotel and the cost of a flight!
Once you get there, Munich puts you in a great place for skiing Austria. According to the extremely useful ifyouski.com, no fewer than 12 of Austria's best resorts (from St Anton to Mayrhofen) are within a 3 hour onward journey. And remember, Austria's resorts are generally much more natural than those of France, which are predominantly purpose built.
Get your skis on...
The overnight train from Paris to Munich departs at 2245, meaning you could do a full day's work in London before you head off. You can get a return sleeper booth on that train for as little as £56, bit cheaper than a night in a hotel and the cost of a flight!
Once you get there, Munich puts you in a great place for skiing Austria. According to the extremely useful ifyouski.com, no fewer than 12 of Austria's best resorts (from St Anton to Mayrhofen) are within a 3 hour onward journey. And remember, Austria's resorts are generally much more natural than those of France, which are predominantly purpose built.
Get your skis on...
Thursday 10 January 2008
STOP PRESS - GREEN-HIKER SKI DEAL
We've just been alerted to this deal on good old lastminute.com. You can get 3 full days of skiing in Meribel, in the heart of the huge 3 valleys ski area, for only £169, or 6 full days for £379, and the trip's half-board in a 3* hotel, with three course meals every evening. Looks pretty good to us:
Living up to the real joy of green travel, this is pretty much the cheapest ski holiday you can get, and seriously time efficient as well.
So why so cheap, and why so green?
Well, mainly because you travel overnight by coach from London Victoria coach station (if the comfort factor worries you a little bit, you can stump up an extra £25 for a Club Class seat, complete with a free neck pillow for you to keep!). But also because Brides-les-Bains, where the hotel is located, is a further 10 mins by cable car from the slopes at Meribel. But if you want to ski, and want to be green, are you really going to worry about an extra cable car ride at the beginning and end of the day? Not the biggest price to pay really, is it? (You're saving about 350kg of CO2 per person, by the way). Click here, or on the picture, to skip to lastminute and the booking page.
Living up to the real joy of green travel, this is pretty much the cheapest ski holiday you can get, and seriously time efficient as well.
So why so cheap, and why so green?
Well, mainly because you travel overnight by coach from London Victoria coach station (if the comfort factor worries you a little bit, you can stump up an extra £25 for a Club Class seat, complete with a free neck pillow for you to keep!). But also because Brides-les-Bains, where the hotel is located, is a further 10 mins by cable car from the slopes at Meribel. But if you want to ski, and want to be green, are you really going to worry about an extra cable car ride at the beginning and end of the day? Not the biggest price to pay really, is it? (You're saving about 350kg of CO2 per person, by the way). Click here, or on the picture, to skip to lastminute and the booking page.
Saturday 5 January 2008
January Green-hike 2: West Dorset coastline
Getting to know your home country better is green-hiking 101 - the United Kingdom is spectacularly varied, from the exotic climate of the Scilly Isles to the craggy headlands of Ben Nevis, and all of it accessible without the need for excessive travel, and certainly no need for flying.
As such, there will be a good share of British green-hikes, and Dorset will be a recurring theme. The likes of Bournemouth and Lyme Regis, the 2012 Olympic site at Weymouth, not to mention Shaftesbury... we love Dorset, and all the more so because, unlike more popular locales in Devon and Cornwall, it all begins within just a couple of hours drive or train of the capital.
It's also a perfect spot at this time of year, which might sound surprising! But less so when you hear that Weymouth was the sunniest spot in the country in 2007, totalling over 2000 hours of sunshine in the year - at an average of more than 6 hours a day. No wonder the Green-hiker team were able to get shots like this on a New Year's Day walk!
As such, there will be a good share of British green-hikes, and Dorset will be a recurring theme. The likes of Bournemouth and Lyme Regis, the 2012 Olympic site at Weymouth, not to mention Shaftesbury... we love Dorset, and all the more so because, unlike more popular locales in Devon and Cornwall, it all begins within just a couple of hours drive or train of the capital.
It's also a perfect spot at this time of year, which might sound surprising! But less so when you hear that Weymouth was the sunniest spot in the country in 2007, totalling over 2000 hours of sunshine in the year - at an average of more than 6 hours a day. No wonder the Green-hiker team were able to get shots like this on a New Year's Day walk!
The Ultimate British Winter Sun Green-hike
Base yourself out of Weymouth, Lyme Regis, or Bridport. The best option is hire out one of the many cottages set up for the purpose - contact us at greenhiker@hotmail.co.uk for some specific ideas and a few discounts. Then get walking. The shot above was taken from the beach just in front of the wonderful Hive Beach Cafe, home of some of Dorset's best cakes and cappuccinos, not to mention some seriously posh fish n chips. Find out more at their website, http://www.hivebeachcafe.co.uk/. You can walk all the way along the coast to West Bay, and back along the clifftops - that's about a 4 hour stomp in total. If you've got some energy left, stop in pretty Abbotsbury for a hike up to the spectacular St Catherine's Chapel. Next day, get yourself on the range walks at Lulworth Cove. That's where the photo at the top of this blog was taken. You wouldn't believe it was England. Then head back to London. You'll be home in time for dinner. But you'll feel as good as new.
Thursday 3 January 2008
January Green-hike 1: Green-hiker skiing
We'll start off the year with a pretty obvious one - though one that springs immediately to mind given the current weather forecasts in the UK...
Skiing is getting more and more popular in the UK, and it's a great thing. What could put you more in touch with nature than to get out there, breathing deep lungfuls of proper mountain air, and getting some serious exercise under your belt early in the year?
Of course, there are different types of skiing holiday, but here's a few principles of green-hiker skiing, together with a few places to look at next:
1 - Look beyond the obvious resorts, or at least the obvious parts of town
If you go to Tignes, Meribel, La Plagne, etc, you risk a not-particularly-authentic ski experience. A lot of these places are becoming the posh ski equivalents of egg and chips on the Costa Brava. But if you go a little further afield to find something special...
Have a think about Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia in particular. Sinaia in Romania has got some rave reviews, but Slovenia's Lake Bled and Kranskja Gora would take a lot of beating.
2 - Travel by train
So many skiers lose at least a full skiing day out of a week's trip through the times of their flights, not to mention spouting a load of unnecessary emissions into the atmosphere. Rail travel will be a theme of this site - with Eurostar's move to St Pancras, and Railteam coming online as we speak, a new era of travel is starting right now. And it spreads a lot further than you'd think.
Of the destinations above, only Slovenia is within a day's travel by rail, with an overnight train from Paris to Munich, followed by a short hop on towards Ljubljana. But if you prefer to stick to the French alps, rail is really the only way to go. There are two options - either go direct from London to the alps on Eurostar's snow trains (which run twice a week and take about 6 hours); a better option, though, is to hop over to Paris for dinner, and then take the sleeper to the alps, waking up refreshed and ready to hit the slopes.
3 - Share a chalet with people you don't know
It's a great way to do things. Open yourself up to new experiences, new banter, new ideas... and paying less for your holidays...
A good option if you want to 'go aussie' and meet some fun folk is to look on the Gum Tree's Travel Partners page; there's usually some like-minded folk around. But to be honest, most companies book you in to the bigger chalets bed-by-bed, so this isn't really revolutionary - but many people think they've got to get everything organised before they go for it. You don't!
The Ultimate Skiing Green-hike
This month's big combination takes you to the Italian resort of Madonna di Campiglio. Situated in the Dolomites, and until recently frequented almost exclusively by Italians, this resort has kept its authenticity to an impressive degree. It's great for beginners, but especially good for intermediate skiers (though there isn't a great off-piste offering if that's what you're after).
Getting there by train is a great option - a Friday afternoon train to Paris, a spot of Parisian dinner, and then onto the sleeper. You'll be in Brescia before 7am, and up at the resort by 10... giving you virtually the full Saturday on the slopes. Cheap fares are definitely a possibility if you book in advance, and remember the price includes two nights accommodation train-style, and getting you an extra two days skiing. See http://www.seat61.com/ for more on the journey.
http://www.lowcostbeds.com/ has some good options for accommodation, with Residence Alpes 2 looking a particularly good bet...
As will be the norm, please do send in your thoughts on the suggestions here, and any other Green-hiker tips of your own. Anyone who thinks they've got Green-hiker skiing down, we'd love to hear from you!
Skiing is getting more and more popular in the UK, and it's a great thing. What could put you more in touch with nature than to get out there, breathing deep lungfuls of proper mountain air, and getting some serious exercise under your belt early in the year?
Of course, there are different types of skiing holiday, but here's a few principles of green-hiker skiing, together with a few places to look at next:
1 - Look beyond the obvious resorts, or at least the obvious parts of town
If you go to Tignes, Meribel, La Plagne, etc, you risk a not-particularly-authentic ski experience. A lot of these places are becoming the posh ski equivalents of egg and chips on the Costa Brava. But if you go a little further afield to find something special...
Have a think about Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia in particular. Sinaia in Romania has got some rave reviews, but Slovenia's Lake Bled and Kranskja Gora would take a lot of beating.
2 - Travel by train
So many skiers lose at least a full skiing day out of a week's trip through the times of their flights, not to mention spouting a load of unnecessary emissions into the atmosphere. Rail travel will be a theme of this site - with Eurostar's move to St Pancras, and Railteam coming online as we speak, a new era of travel is starting right now. And it spreads a lot further than you'd think.
Of the destinations above, only Slovenia is within a day's travel by rail, with an overnight train from Paris to Munich, followed by a short hop on towards Ljubljana. But if you prefer to stick to the French alps, rail is really the only way to go. There are two options - either go direct from London to the alps on Eurostar's snow trains (which run twice a week and take about 6 hours); a better option, though, is to hop over to Paris for dinner, and then take the sleeper to the alps, waking up refreshed and ready to hit the slopes.
3 - Share a chalet with people you don't know
It's a great way to do things. Open yourself up to new experiences, new banter, new ideas... and paying less for your holidays...
A good option if you want to 'go aussie' and meet some fun folk is to look on the Gum Tree's Travel Partners page; there's usually some like-minded folk around. But to be honest, most companies book you in to the bigger chalets bed-by-bed, so this isn't really revolutionary - but many people think they've got to get everything organised before they go for it. You don't!
The Ultimate Skiing Green-hike
This month's big combination takes you to the Italian resort of Madonna di Campiglio. Situated in the Dolomites, and until recently frequented almost exclusively by Italians, this resort has kept its authenticity to an impressive degree. It's great for beginners, but especially good for intermediate skiers (though there isn't a great off-piste offering if that's what you're after).
Getting there by train is a great option - a Friday afternoon train to Paris, a spot of Parisian dinner, and then onto the sleeper. You'll be in Brescia before 7am, and up at the resort by 10... giving you virtually the full Saturday on the slopes. Cheap fares are definitely a possibility if you book in advance, and remember the price includes two nights accommodation train-style, and getting you an extra two days skiing. See http://www.seat61.com/ for more on the journey.
http://www.lowcostbeds.com/ has some good options for accommodation, with Residence Alpes 2 looking a particularly good bet...
As will be the norm, please do send in your thoughts on the suggestions here, and any other Green-hiker tips of your own. Anyone who thinks they've got Green-hiker skiing down, we'd love to hear from you!
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