Traveling Friendly

It’s time for me to start planning my next few business trips, dates yet to be determined but definitely in January sometime. And to where? Sin city of course- Las Vegas! off-hand I’d think it’s probably the hardest city for healthy living, but after thinking about i ta minute, there are probably enough people there that they might have some very good options. It’s the travel to po-dunk towns in the Midwest or South that I can’t find anything decent. Nothing. Sometimes not even a vege-burger (my least favorite vegetarian meal).

Let me first say that I love loyalty programs, so much so that I bought two nights out of my own pocket at the end of December just so I didn’t lose my elite status with the Hilton group. I like the special treatment and I love the free nights. But now I am thinking - I may not be staying with the Hiltons much anymore, I just don’t think of them of being that “green” or eco-friendly. Although I must admit, the new Hilton in Vancouver, WA is getting good reviews on their “green” program from many of the websites I visited, so there may be hope.

Regardless, I think my upcoming trips to Las Vegas won’t be so Friendly, but lets take a look.

Airline: Southwest or Alaska. Again, love the loyalty program and those free First Class upgrades, plus Alaska has several non-stops to Vegas. Most of the Southwest options include connecting flights, which to me means more fuel wasted going out of the way and for the extra touchdowns. I’ll look deeper behind the scenes at the airlines, but for now it is my job and I don’t have a lot of choice on this right now. I’ll be going AlaskaAir.

Car Rental: I can usually get a hybrid from National. I do need a car, the places I go to are rarely easily accessible by public transportation, especially hauling all my stuff around.

Hotel: At http://www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/ they do have a number of listings for Las Vegas hotels that appear to be Friendly. My deciding factor will include location and price, for business it’ll need to be the price of a Hampton or less. The hotels on environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com are rated by users, so these ratings could change from time to time, but I see some great possibilities there. If you’re interested, the judging criteria are listed below this blog.
The other thing I like to do is stay at Bed and Breakfast’s or find some other local treasure. I found a fabulous B&B in Mt Shasta called Shastao (www.shastao.com) . The hosts are vegetarian, raw-foodists I believe, and have deep interests in philosophy, sustainability and spirituality among many, many other interests! I always hope to find another treasure like this in other cities.

Food: I always visit www.happycow.net before I go to a new city to find out my vegetarian options. It’s a great website for finding stores and restaurants and I have had some great meals this way. I see 3 vegan and 1 vegetarian restaurant listed for Las Vegas, now to find out if they tend towards organic or not.

I’ll stay away from the casino buffets, it’s likely there is little food a vegetarian can eat there anyway, as there is so much chicken or beef base in everything. If nothing else, I’ll find an organic store and buy my own supplies, I’ve gotten used to doing this a lot anyway. I really don’t want to support the big chain restaurants anymore and well, they aren’t organic anyway!
The other travel website I always check in with is TripAdvisor to get other travelers input on the best things to see, do and eat.

I’m thinking there must be a website similar to TripAdvisor or HappyCow that green users must put travel reviews on? I haven’t found it yet, so if you know of one please fill me in!

My goal for now: look into airline wastefulness. Alaska does recycle but that is just one small thing, I’m curious just how bad the airline industry is.

Links from this post: www.happycow.net, www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com, www.tripadvisor.com, www.shastao.com

The judging criteria for Environmentally Friendly Hotels:

Towel Program
Sheet Program
Cotton Towels/Sheets
Alternative Energy
Maintenance for Conservation
Energy Conservation
Bulk Soap & Amenities
Bonus
Newspaper Program
Composting
Organic Food Served
Eco-friendly Food Served
Promote "greenness" in PR
Educate Guests to "green"
Educate Staff to "green"
Participate in Green Program(s)
Fresh Air
Allergies
Non-Smoking Rooms
Environmental Cleaning
Water Conservation
Xeric Garden
Gray-Water Recycling
Recyclable Disposables
Compostable Disposables
Durable Service Items
Guestroom Recycling Bins
Hotel Recycling Bins
Donating to Charity
Conference Center/Rooms
Transportation
Fitness Center
Internet