Staycations: Save Money and the Planet

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Nature Conservancy. All opinions are 100% mine.

Staycations: Save Money and the planet. That’s my goal for next year.

By taking staycations, I can travel more.

Who doesn’t want to travel more? Especially when you can travel well for less. Traveling more doesn’t have to be expensive. Nor does it have to hurt the environment.

Unless you’ve met me in person you’d never know I live a pretty green life. Green in the sense of eco-friendly. And also green in the sense of I like my green dollar bills. 🙂

Some of my friends call me semi-crunchy because I’m not full on granola. You won’t find me burning my bra. But I recycle, vermicompost, have rainwater barrels, and eat organic where possible.

So I was pretty excited to read the Everyday Sustainability Guide from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). It’s a quick read with seven easy to apply tips to help the planet.

Pro-tip: These are simple things anyone can do when traveling or as part of your daily lifestyle.

My favorite is tip # 3 – choose vacations closer to home.

Staycations: Save Money and the Planet

The timing of TNC’s guide couldn’t be more perfect because lately, I’ve been taking a lot of staycations and nearcations.

A staycation is where you stay at home and be a tourist in your own city. While a nearcation is when you visit somewhere near your home. Although, both terms have become interchangeable.

Even though we only live 8 miles from the beach, we rarely go.

Yeah, I know, crazy.

Our out of state relatives say the same thing.

What’s even funnier? When we travel we visit beach destinations!

LOL, yeah, I know pretty ironic.

Living in California, it’s not that hard to vacation close to home. We’ve got the beach, the mountains, the desert, and wine country.

Pro-tip: California wine country isn’t just Napa Valley. We have 12 wine country destinations.

I bet it’s the same where you live. You might not have a beach. But you might be near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Antelope Canyon, or museums like the Smithsonian.

Save Money

$139 a night for the Presidential Suite at Hyatt Regency Orange County

One of the best things about staycations is that you can save money.

A staycation can be as long or short as you want, you have complete control.

1. Travel offseason or midweek

Staycations allow you to travel during the offseason or travel midweek.

Hotel prices drop during the offseason. As do some tours and activities.

You can save a pretty penny on things you’ve always wanted to do like whale watching or taking a Segway tour.

2. Find free things

Staycations give you more time to find free things to do. Free is one of my favorite words. When you can combine free and luxury, even better!

When you take a staycation, you save money, avoid jet lag, save on gas, and reduce the carbon footprint.

Save the Planet

Staycations don’t have to be in your backyard. They can be within driving distance.

A staycation is anywhere you don’t have to fly. Did you know it’s more environmentally friendly to drive than fly?

The further you drive, the more gas you use, the more money it costs, and the more impact it has on the environment.

One gallon of gasoline produces 19.60 gallons of carbon dioxide compared to 21.10 gallons produced from a gallon of jet fuel.

Planes burn a gallon of jet fuel every second!

It takes the same amount of energy to support the average US family for one year as it does to fly from Washington, DC to Borneo, Indonesia.

Some frequent flyers buy carbon offsets to reduce their footprint. But not me.

Instead, I’m spending more time traveling within the US.

Sure, international travel is exciting and awesome. But our country is pretty fantastic too! After all, 76.9 million international visitors can’t be wrong.

Conclusion

I plan on taking more staycations to save money and the planet.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to travel less. I’m going to travel more but be more mindful of how I travel.

Vacationing close to home means I’ll spend less and it’s more eco-friendly.

Looking for more ways to make a positive impact? Download Everyday Sustainability Guide from The Nature Conservancy to read the 7 easy ways you can change the world. One little step at a time.

What are your goals for next year? Will you be taking more staycations or road trips to help the planet?

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