Sitting in the Chicago O’Hare Airport amongst a sea of laptops and cell phones I can’t help but smile.  I am smiling because, without even really thinking about it, I have traveled pretty green today.  I know, seems a bit hypocritical considering all of the carbon emissions from my two flights and one bus trip to get me to Montreal.  But, aside from what I can’t control, what I can, I’ve done a pretty good job so far.  In my effort to use all the food in my apartment I spent last night thinking up ways to either preserve what food I had left or come up with snacks for my day o’travel.  With a few clementines, an almost too ripe banana, and some grapes, I decided to make a fruit salad, which would be for breakfast. A few Bora Bora bars (they are organic and absolutely amazing!) for a snack and my stainless steel water bottle and coffee mug to help keep me satiated.  I also decided to take a chance and grabbed some tea bags in hopes that Starbucks or another airport coffee shop would take pity on me and give me some hot water.

Before I left the house I had a very light breakfast, mostly because I was running out the door while eating.  Luckily I had my fruit salad and a biodegradable fork I kept from an event the other day.  I thought I might get a coffee and a yummy pastry when I got to the airport but long lines at security quickly spoiled that plan–I barely made my flight!  Once I finally got to my flight and got settled in I thanked myself for thinking ahead and making the fruit salad, much better than a calorie-filled pastry.

At my layover, instead of getting coffee, I tried my luck at getting hot water (with a used tea bag in my cup as a disguise, most likely not needed but oh well) and succeeded, no questions asked.

Thanks to my hectic morning of rushing around I have successfully so far spent only $9 on a sandwich and chips (not totally green but there are only so many options at the airport) and used all of my reusable products.  Hopefully my day continues as so.

You might be reading this and think, green, seriously, what is she thinking?!  But for me this is a big step.  For the last few months I have been thinking about ways to be more environmentally friendly and really trying to change my habits.  Today, I didn’t have to try at all, I just did.  It is such a great feeling to know that my efforts are my habits now and I can’t wait to see what other things I put together without really thinking about it.  Best part is, my choices are in a  small way helping the planet and also helping my wallet.

In addition to my green choices during my travel day, I also set up my apartment to be a little more green while I was away.  I set the thermostat to 52 degrees, just warm enough so the technology we have wouldn’t have problems.  If you have pets or plants your leaving behind make sure you leave your place warm enough for them.  I also lowered our water heater so that we wouldn’t have to waste money on heating water we wouldn’t be using.  This is great if you have a programmable water heater you can set to have hot water when you get home otherwise you have to plan for heating your water back up when you get home.

Please share your traveling tips- What do you do to travel green?  How do you save money at the airport?

Happy traveling!