Bring Your Own Sustainable Habits to Your Overseas Family Holidays - Part 3

If we could predict how our ingrained daily sustainable habits would work in another country, travelling would be a breeze. For our latest family holiday to Japan, I learned a stack of good stuff to help you plan a more sustainable holiday by reducing unnecessary waste and help to maintain some of the good sustainable habits you’ve established at home.

This is a three part series where I share how you can bring your own sustainable habits to your overseas family holiday. Each part of the series focusses on the most common areas of home living:-

Part 1 – Shopping, Cooking and eating,
Part 2 – Washing, bathing and hygiene, Laundering,
Part 3 – Clothing and footwear and water use.

This is your essential list of useful, reusable and low tox products to take with you when travelling overseas as a family.

Some links in this article are my genuine partnership recommendations. I may receive a commission for your successful purchases.

Clothing and Footwear

We minimised our clothing by taking our belongings in a large rucksack. I leaned towards clothes that are crease-free, lightweight, easy to wash and dry and come in a simplified colour range. For clothes closest to my body, I preferred wearing natural fibres.

I wore:-

Bamboo tops and underwear – so soft on my skin and easy to wash and wear.
Woollen thermals and underwear. Wool is a natural insulator, wrinkle-resistant and breathes well (Reference Life Without Plastic – available on digital or hard copy)

These fabrics were easy-peasy to hand wash in the shower or basin and most importantly, were quick drying. Minimise your environmental footprint by handwashing on an as-need basis.

I should’ve taken my slippers. Most of the time, slippers are provided. Rather than wear the use-once slippers, bring your own slipper comfort from home. I have my eye on these ranges of wool slippers, felted slippers or Japanese inspired slippers for my next travelling adventure.

Water Use

There are no ongoing water restrictions in Japan, however, taking your water restriction habit for showering and cleansing helps do your bit for conserving water in that country.

How to Bring Your Own

Taking your everyday sustainable habits with you when travelling will help you feel more empowered in a country that (from a tourist perspective) does it differently to you. Travelling is about stepping out of your comfort zone but also knowing you can still follow the same eco-friendly principles you’ve already established as much as possible.

This is such a comprehensive list of useful suggestions and tips for bringing your realistic, sustainable habits on holidays in regards to clothing & footwear and water use. Above all, enjoy experiencing your travels and celebrate your little sustainability wins along the way.

For further sustainable holiday tips, click through to Part 1 – Shopping, Eating and cooking and Part 2 – Bathing, hygiene and laundering.

Some links in this article are my genuine partnership recommendations. I may receive a commission for your successful purchases.