Sustainable travel is great for the planet and for us.

Last year (2021) Black Friday sales in the UK were expected to release 386,243 tonnes of carbon.

That’s a big price to pay for a bargain.

Once Christmas is over Black Friday will just be a blot in the environmental history books. We’ll soon be turning our wallets towards holidays.

Because we all know that experiences are more fulfilling than stuff.

But holidays can be emission-heavy too. Around 8% of global carbon emissions comes from tourism. Nearly half of that is transport but other factors such as where we stay and the type of buying we do when we’re away also make a difference.

Small is more friendly.

If you prefer giving homemade gifts or supporting small local makers at Christmas, perhaps you’d like to lighten up this Black Friday by applying the same principles to your holiday plans for 2023.

We have a few ideas that might help make your 2023 holiday planning a bit more sustainable:

Overland odyssey

Flickr, Rob Dammers

Consider taking the train instead of flying for at least one of your holiday trips.

London to Paris would be a good example with a 91% less carbon emissions if you take the Eurostar instead of the plane.

Adventures by train

Think about organising a UK train adventure with some of your friends.

If you don’t think you can wild camp by train or outdoor swim by train you’d be wrong. Check out my 2022 adventures by train.

Supermarket swap

Flickr, Baker County Tourism

Swap supermarkets and chain restaurants for local specialists.

While you’re enjoying the chatter with a Welsh butcher or imbibing beer with the Belgians, your hard earned cash will be supporting a local business as well as cutting down food miles.

Ignore Black Friday

If we all ignore Black Friday, it will eventually go away. There are so many more interesting things to be doing than trawling through websites for bargains.

I’m off to look at maps of Scotland!