Why is it so many people aspire to fly in First Class, sleep in Five Star hotels (or even Seven Star hotels) and eat in Michelin Three Star restaurants? Don’t they know that it is very poor value for money? That you can sleep just as well in a £29 per night room as a £2900 per night room? That the carbon footprint of a seat in First Class is at least double that of one in Standard?

I don’t know whether anyone has researched the psychology of luxury travel, but studies undertaken for luxury brands, found that someone buying a handbag for $50,000 is saying ” I have so much money that I can afford to waste it”.  The message being “I am a winner” and if you mate with me, our offspring will have a great chance of promulgating our genes also. Or to sum it up in one word “Sex”.

It goes deep into the contemporary psyche. Role models are chosen for their looks and the brands and fashion ideals they endorse. Their values or contribution to making the world a better place seem to count for little.  School children not sporting the right logos, must either conform or be bullied. This is worse than the secret police in a Cold War Era Eastern European country, making life a misery for anyone not toeing the party line. Combine this with incessant  advertising from TV, film, computer games and even by stealth through their social media accounts and our youth don’t stand a chance. It is no wonder that many believe that being someone is a matter of having the right logos on their clothes, cars, hotel chain or airline.

But is travel like a Hermes handbag? Do extravagant purchases define us as someone successful? Is a tan in the middle of winter a status symbol to wear with pride? Does taking regular flights make you a member of the “Jet Set”?

In Europe since the 1950′s the cost of flying, encouraged by lenient taxation, nose-dived.   Spain was suddenly affordable and millions flocked there returning with a tan, donkeys wearing sombreros and other ornaments proudly displayed in the home to demonstrate that here is a person “well-travelled”. But then the Jones’ had to go on that trip to Florida and Disneyland! To keep up with them, a trip to the Maldives was a “must do”  for the following year, even if it meant getting into debt.  Does this explain why cruises to the Antarctic are now in vogue?

I’ve raised a lot of questions in this post. I don’t have answers to most of them. However, in a world of limited resources and Climate Change, it matters not only how much we travel, but how we travel. If a backpacker hiking for a year has a smaller ecological footprint  than someone flying 2,000 miles to stay at a Seven Star Hotel for a week, surely these questions are important?

If it really all does boil down to sex, why are our planetary life support systems getting screwed instead?

Another video from the Eurapart Project, this time of the annual competition event held at Hannut in Belgium. The event usually takes place over 24 hours just like Le Mans. This year however, it was extended to 25 hours to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the games.

Following on from my Ten Tips to save money on a Winter Sports break. Here are my Top Ten Tips for protecting the environment when taking to the slopes

Avoriaz Shuttle

on skis or snowboards. Winter Sports are one form of travel most under threat from Climate Change. Lets take responsibility for our travel:

1. Choose a resort that makes the environment a priority. Mountain Riders publish a guide that rates each resort on a number of environmental criteria. You can consult it online when making your plans.

2. Try to avoid flying to the resort. You can go by rail, or even bus to most resorts in Europe. If you go by car, then it is best to take a fuel efficient one with 3 or more passengers.

3. Use public transport instead of your own car at the resort. Many resorts have free shuttle buses.

4. Don’t leave the heating on full when you are not in your apartment, chalet or hotel. Rooms will heat up fast, once you return.

5. Short showers use less hot water and therefore less energy than long baths.

6. Buy local, in season produce when shopping for food. The energy expended getting exotic food to a ski resort can be huge.

7. Don’t litter use the bins provided. Get a portable ash can for cigarettes – one cigarettes stub can pollute a cubic metre of water.

8. In many of the French Ski resorts the supermarket chain Sherpa offers to take back unused tinned and boxed food. Preventing waste and saving money.

   

   Recycling bins

9. Try to purchase environmentally friendly, ski and snowboard equipment and clothes. Also use environmentally friendly waxes. Don’t throw away your gear at the end of the season. Sell it on ebay or give to others to help cut down the waste.

10. Segregate your rubbish and use the recycling facilities provided at most resorts.

I could add some more, like; share a shower with someone sexy, but this list is a Top Ten!

While waiting to be served at a Cardiff Restaurant last week, I couldn’t help overhearing the large party on the adjacent table, discussing the merits of European cities they had visited. They were talking loudly, probably because they wanted the rest of the group to hear. One woman said “I did Prague”. The expression grated with me.
Prague is a wonderful city. It deserves more than to be “done”. Hearing this made me ponder why I travelled there in 2003.

It was a period of my life when everything seemed to be going wrong. I went because it had all but beckoned me through books, films and even pop videos. The experience was truly therapeutic.

I stayed in a cheap hostel with Soviet Era plumbing in the communal wash room. I walked, took the metro and trams all over the city. I ate with locals at cafés in the suburbs avoiding the tourist restaurants in the Old Town and city centre. I had many conversations with Czech locals and Russian Ex pats living in Prague. I even went to the Opera twice.

But did I do Prague?

My week in the city gave me a very small idea of what life was about in the city. The Museum of Communism gave another another insight. Inside in a display case were little lumps of lead and other heavy metals. The explanatory caption explained that the quantities shown were the average amounts breathed in over a year by a Czech inhabitant.

Shocking!

But is it any more shocking than flying out to Prague for a drunken Hen / Stag Party or flying there just to be able to say; “I did Prague”?

Over 60′s in the United Kingdom are entitled to free bus passes. A good scheme to get cars off the road while helping the elderly. The Isles of Scilly recently received a grant from the UK Government of £51,000 to supply the free bus passes to the Islands’ over sixties.

Only one problem – there are no public buses on the Isles of Scilly, just a few tourist only buses.

The island council was entitled to the money and claimed it and will use it to subsidise boat trips to the mainland, where the bus pass holders can use all of England’s buses for free. Now there’s a council that is looking after its residents.