How To Be A Responsible Traveller?
Travel is a privilege. Yes, it’s a human right, too. But it’s a privilege to be able to visit new places, explore new cultures, witness new landscapes and meet new people. Imagine a world without the idea of travel. How would you feel? If you’d ask me, I’d feel stifled. Travel is life to me. It gives me meaning and purpose of being in this world. Therefore, I feel it’s my responsibility to protect travel, safeguard it.
Don’t you think “tourism” kills the joy of travelling? I know that sounds weird, because tourism is meant to uplift people, bring communities together and add to their economic development. However, over-tourism is bad, and it’s a serious problem today.
Over-tourism is much worse in the pandemic age. It is bad for both the planet and the people. Perhaps we need to get rid of our old ideologies and thoughts. We need to understand that travel is not just our right, but it’s a privilege that we get to enjoy. We need to understand that there are many who are unable to travel due to lack of finances, time or they have unfavorable circumstances.
We need to stop being tourists. We need to become travellers. We need to stop traveling for others. We need to travel for ourselves now.
So, how to be a conscious traveller? A traveller respects a destination, its uniqueness, beauty, heritage and people. There are certain attributes of a responsible traveller that help preserve a destination.
How To Be A Responsible Traveller?
Let’s keep our travel destinations clean.
I think it’s common sense that each individual should make it a point to dispose any kind of waste or garbage in the right manner. Never ever throw litter anywhere but in a dustbin. This is the foremost thing that a traveller practices.
It irks me when I am taking a shot at a beautiful spot and I see packets of chips in my frame. Why? Most of the time, the garbage thrown carelessly by tourists becomes unwanted prop in the photographs. Although it can be edited later with Photoshop, it is still annoying while you are actually there at a beautiful place.It is pretty simple to keep your surroundings clean. It’s not something that you have to spend your money, time or energy on. You just need to be conscious, disciplined and caring. What would you prefer – a dirty place or a neat and tidy one?
Beautiful clean streets are so inviting to walk through…
Eliminate plastic from your travels.
It would be great to stop using plastic in our everyday lives. However, you can try and eliminate plastic at least from your travels, so that it doesn’t harm the places you visit. We can stop buying plastic water bottles. We can carry our own bottles and keep refilling it.
Let’s NOT use plastic water bottles.
Avoid visiting crowded places.
A traveller is selective about what he or she wishes to do. Someone who’s responsible would keep things simple. He or she would not visit a place just because it’s famous. When you are not running a race and taking it easy, it helps in enjoying a destination in a better way. Pick and choose what you would like to do – skip visiting a museum if it’s not something that you really like. I do that all the time. I visit places only if they are of interest to me, and not because I want to tick them off.
Set aside a few exclusive things to do. For instance, if you like adventure and sports, spend more time indulging in it instead of queuing up to a buy a ticket to see a monument. The idea is that if you are doing selective things, you are making it easy for yourself and for others as well.
Choose quiet places over crowded ones.
Do your best to control carbon emission.
My heart bleeds when I see dark gray pollution in the air and I have to cover my face again and again. That’s the last thing you want to do on a vacation. A holiday is about abandonment. It’s about enjoying the atmosphere without a hindrance.
It’s sad to see our beautiful hill stations bear the brunt of too many vehicles. For instance, Manali and Ooty have immense natural beauty but they can’t be enjoyed freely because of the vehicles and the pollution emitted by them. On the contrary, places like Shimla and Gangtok let you enjoy carefree sauntering because there are no vehicles allowed in the main touristic area.
Places that give you calmness of nature.
What should you do to avoid vehicles – you can plan your trip in such a way that you don’t need to use vehicles, at least not too much. You could choose to stay at a reclusive guest house on a hill, which would enable you to enjoy the untouched natural surroundings without going anywhere. It would also discourage the use of vehicles that pollute the atmosphere.
For instance, I stayed at an isolated homestay in Binsar, where it’s impossible to take a vehicle. The only option you have is to walk for an hour to reach the homestay. It’s super fun. You get to walk so much, shed a few calories, and admire the Himalaya views along the way.
Do not waste resources, facilities given to you at the hotel.
You can be a good traveller by not misusing the facilities given to you at a place. You can make sure that you keep the television, lights, fan or air conditioner off when not required.
The good practice is to make limited use of the facilities and resources. It’s also good to be mindful about using water, towels, and other such things. In fact, I’d highly recommend hotels and homestays that save on energy and resources, and encourage their guests to do the same.
For instance, hotel brands like Neemrana Hotels and Pugdundee Safaris persuade their guests into practicing more sustainable ways of travel.
Respect the culture, the locals of a place.
One of the most beautiful aspects of travel is that you get to learn about different cultures. It’s so important to respect the culture of the place you are visiting. Do not treat locals like objects. Extend genuine, warm smile, strike up conversations politely, but do not intrude if you are not welcomed.
The idea is to immerse in the new culture and the local life without judgement and any kind of disrespect. I’d also advise not to mingle too much with the folks in the remote villages, who are unaffected by COVID. Let’s keep them safe, as they don’t have medical facilities like the city folks.
We all must be aware that pandemic travel is not like the way it used to be. We have moved into a new era of travel post 2020.
Preserve the heritage sites.
There are tourists who write their names on the walls of historical sites. It is quite weird to do so because you are taking the photographs home, which is a good way to boast about the visit. Respect the legacy, so that the next generation may also get a chance to appreciate it.
Let’s not kill the joy of travelling by being careless tourists. Let’s be responsible travellers – let’s care for our planet and enjoy.
How do you plan to travel differently in 2021?
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