Earth Notes: Low Carbon Family Holidays

Guest piece by Jean Ryder.

Before having children we spent a lot of our holidays abroad, not thinking about how many flights we were taking or carbon emissions. Since having children I have gone back to my childhood and started holidaying every year in the UK (with one exception of taking the Eurostar to Lille). We don't own a car, so we can't go to totally remote places or places that are too far for two small children to travel to, but we have had very good holidays, and also visiting friends and relatives without one.

It can take a bit of planning for the longer journeys by train (we only hired a car a few times), to make sure you get your timings right and any connections you need. I normally have a look at thetrainline.com first to get an idea of train times and how many changes and also the price. If you book in advance you can save a lot of money compared to paying on the day. I also have a family and friends rail card which can save 1/3 of the price of the tickets. Also booking in advance means you are more likely to get a reserved seat, which when you have children, means you are more likely to be sitting together.

So far for our main and self-catering holidays we have travelled to Torquay, Weymouth, Ivybridge, Hemsby in Norfolk, and the Isle of Wight.

So, how do we get all the things we need for holiday without a car by train? Well I first make a very detailed list of all the things we will need, organising it into people, bathroom, kitchen and other. I will then gather things together from when the holiday is booked so I am not rushing to get the things at the last moment. I used to buy everything new for holiday as I thought "Well why not it's holiday?" But I found that we did not use say all the shampoo up etc and had to bring it back. So now I will take bottles etc. when they are coming to the end and have enough for the holiday and means that I can recycle them there and not have to bring things back with us (more space for souvenirs!).

I also write a list of the things we will need to buy when we are there and as we don't have a car, make sure we have a shop/supermarket that is walking distance. And I find we only buy what we will use on holiday and not waste food (we do eat out for meals). Also we have been at places that have meters for gas/electricity so like at home it is possible to monitor how much we use on holiday too. So you can keep a record if you wish.

I have found space-saving bags that you don't need a vacuum cleaner to take the air out, so means that I can get all the clothes and towels into one suitcase for the four of us. I also now try to make sure that we have a washing machine or at least be near to a laundrette, so we can take far less clothes with us and wash there. So after choosing the clothes to take, I will then do a thorough going over saying "Do I really need to take all these t-shirts?" etc. Then you are more likely to use the things you take, by mixing a matching and does it really matter you where something twice before washing it? I will also try to have a washing-line rigged up if we are at a chalet park that does not have drying facilities and that will limit the use of a dryer (I love the smell of air dried clothes) and I also don't really want to pay for drying clothes if the sun can do it.

I am going to tell you a bit about the holidays we have been on without a car and will include places you can get to easily when you are there and also websites for further information. This is just my experience of travelling without a car or going on an aeroplane and hope it may help you. But one day we will take the children on an aeroplane or on the ferry to Europe as I do want them to experience being abroad, but as they are young a beach (and sometimes grandparents) are good for them.

Right from the time of the Brexit referendum result up to when we had to have booked a 2018 summer holiday to get a decent deal, it has not been clear what would happen after Brexit. Would a "no deal" abrupt exit make it hard to travel anywhere outside the UK in 2019?

We had half agreed that we would like to visit Spain in summer 2018, and considered, for example, Barcelona by train, which is definitely do-able.

However, given the possible slamming down of the barriers for 2019, I suspended my "no flying" views, and we decided to go to Majorca while we could.

The plane's emissions for all four of us, London to Palma (LGW/PMI) return is about 1tCO2. DEFRA's recommended additional Radiative Forcing factor is ~1.9, so maybe this is best treated as about two tonnes of CO2 (equivalent) total.

(This was the first time that our kids have ever flown, incidentally.)

One reason that I relented on flying is that Majorca is still within a plausible travel distance without flying. Indeed it is a ferry ride from Barcelona.

It is possible to get to Majorca from London by ~18h train then 5h ferry, eg see The Man in Seat 61's suggested routes. My daughter tells me that she would have no problem with this for another holiday... Electric train (with high load factor) may be 5x–20x lower CO2e/km than plane; ferry part still unknown (eg does it burn revolting high-carbon high-sulphur bunker fuel, and idle in port?)...

Incidentally, the Balearics' SustainableIslands.travel site itemises how the islands are funding some eco improvements from a tourist levy.

Amongst all the coronavirus disruption, two short UK breaks and a two week (low-carbon!) anticipated fortnight in France were condensed into an even lower carbon week's Weymouth UK staycation.

Given that France was still out of reach with coronavirus restrictions in practice, we took a calm pleasant week in Herne Bay, Kent, instead.

Travel was on foot, by London Tube and by train. All low carbon and efficient.

We're hoping that we can return (via train) to one of our previous haunts in the south of France this year. Politics seems likely a higher risk than covid-19 at this moment...

2022-08: Been and Done

We made it to Marseillan Plage! Jean noted that other than ours, virtually all the chalets had a car outside, many from NL, some from GB and other points north. Ie most visitors appeared to have driven, some many hundreds of miles.

As usual, via electric train (Eurostar and TGV) to the south of France, this time a little further than before, almost to the Spanish border, at La Sardane campsite, Argerlès-sur-Mer.

Mainly French holidaymakers this time, but a few British, German, Belgian, Spanish, and from the Netherlands.