Twelve months without flying can be pretty tough if you’re usually on a plane every few weeks or months. As we come into autumn and winter with grey skies and short days, those adverts for city getaways or cheap flights might be more tempting than ever.
Here are some tips to help you not to break your pledge, from one of our pledgers, Sophia Cheng:
1. Pledge with a buddy
Remember the old adage, “If you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together.” Pledging with a buddy can help temper the flight sales emails and the social media targeting directed at you.
2. Stay local and curious
Don't take your local area for granted – exchange what we might think of as “new” experiences elsewhere for “deeper” ones close to home. During lockdown we were forced to hone down our worlds, and new travel experiences were replaced with repeat walks in familiar green spaces. We can still learn a lot from having a more thorough knowledge of our local wood or National Park.
3. Go under your own steam
Take a leaf out of the travellers of old who walked everywhere – or could you opt to cycle instead? This doesn’t just reduce your emissions, but is great for your physical and mental health as well. Get inspired by the wealth of travel walking literature, including the work of Rebecca Solnit and Robert MacFarlane.
4. Swap out the photo op for something close by
I love this Swiss idea showing that we often miss picturesque spots much closer to home: find your local spots with the closeBY website.
5. Feel good about your emissions reduction
How many flights would you take in a typical year? Work out the carbon footprint of those journeys using Flight Emission Map and celebrate the carbon savings.
6. Pay your dues
After tracking how much carbon you've saved, consider making a donation to an organisation working to draw down more carbon.
7. Be intentional about who influences you
Tackle your flight FOMO head on by following slow-travellers on your instagram feed, or #vanlife on Facebook. Join the subculture of people keeping their feet on the ground.
Now that we've launched our pledge for 2021, here are our tips for starting out as you mean to go on:
1. Book your leave in advance and plan your holidays seasonally.
2. Put a map on the wall with your plans drawn on it as a visual reminder of what you have to look forward to.
3. Read the inspiring blogs on the Flight Free website to show that you’re not missing out.
4. Keep count of all the carbon you’ve saved as you go along.
5. Unsubscribe from all those airline newsletters…
