Hi lovelies,
In the middle of the skiing season a lot of us are choosing the mountain retreat in order to escape from the busy city life, to get closer to nature or just to spend some more time with our beloved people at a different place.
I love the smell of pine trees and how pretty they look when covered with snow, also the feeling of freshness when the wind caresses my face.
This year faithful to my zero-waste lifestyle I decided to write this small article with some practical examples allowing me to reduce my waste when going on holidays, I hope that you find it useful.
I’m starting with one of the most discussed topics, the waste from the packaging of food & drinks:
I take my own water filter jug, so that I don’t buy bottled “mineral” water,I also bring my thermos flask which I refill with tea/water just before going on the slopes so that I can have it with me all the time in case I get thirsty.
This year my friends and I chose a package deal with included breakfast and dinner so that we can fully enjoy our holiday without worrying about whether our kitchen would have all of the appliances that we need for cooking (blender, oven,trays, pots, pans, you know how it is). Despite all of that though we still had one more thing to address: lunch. How to choose something which is light but still nutritious and zero-waste?
After some research we decided to go for apples, which I bought in bulk from Plovdiv (the city where I come from), nuts and homemade dried-fruit bars. We used a recipe of the Bulgarian blogger Sophie Yotova, from Foodie Boulevard and we were all super happy about it, too bad it’s only in Bulgarian.
Everything was packed neatly in Bee’s Wrap and then put into my backpack.
The shopping was easy-everything in bulk and in cloth bags or jars, you know the drill.
I also took my stainless steel straw with me in case I feel like having a fresh juice/smoothie/cocktail. Now there is this weird trend over here in Bulgaria to serve hot drinks with plastic straws, so to avoid that always tell the waiter/waitress that you don’t need a plastic straw because plastic straws are not only wasteful but also very harmful as they leach chemicals when in touch with hot drinks/food.
I’m also adding two cloth bags to my luggage in case I decide to get some honey or pine tree tea, it’s divine!
Now gradually I’m going to start packing the cosmetics products which I need. I’m taking my make-up remover cotton pads, coconut oil because I just realised I’ve run out of make-up remover (in cases like that you can use coconut or almond oil, they’re both amazing and smell great), my homemade tooth powder, I’ve published it before but if anyone is reading my blog for the first time, here it is, you can also see on the picture my travel case, (my toothbrush is inside), my shampoo, conditioner and my cloth pads’ carry pouch. My period came in earlier than expected this month but that couldn’t stop my enthousiasm for some fun on the snow.
I also like to carry my own soap bar when I’m traveling because it’s package-free, from my favourite QQ Natural, unlike the ones at most of the hotels which seem free but come with the high price of 800 years soil contamination.
Like most ladies, I also like make-up and my zero-waste lifestyle is constantly inspiring me to think outside of the box which leads me to some amazing discoveries, like Zao.Wearing Zao’s mascara, eyelier and lipstick makes me feel not only beautiful but also stronger because I’m standing for my values because Zao’s cosmetic products are vegan, natural and packaged in bamboo.
I would love to find out your zero-waste travel tips & tricks so please let me know with a comment below ; )
Cheers,
Vera