One of my passions is the environment, but business travel, or travel in general, isn’t very conducive to being environmentally friendly. To help my fellow travelers out, I am introducing a new regular topic: Green Travel Tips.
The first tip: bring a water bottle with you and fill it up as you need it. 60 million bottles of water are manufactured PER DAY, most going into landfills once the water has been consumed. And since bottled water is rarely of higher quality than filtered tap water, there is no reason to just buy bottles of water (or use the bottles they give you at the hotel).
There are a lot of really nice reusable water bottles, some that come with built in water filters for you germaphobes. I have a SIGG that I have used for a few years now, and I love it. Other options are Kleen Kanteen and Nalgene. (Here is a great review by Good Housekeeping of 32 different bottles.) As long as there is no liquid in it when you go through security you should be good to go.
Do those filters work for international travel (like where you wouldn’t drink the water?)
That is a great question. Let me see what I can find out!
I am a huge fan of the Nalgene. I have had mine for about 7 years. The top melted in the dishwasher, and I was able to buy a replacement. You can even put cooffee in it in a pinch & you have to down the coffee before it gets cold. One morning my thermos was dirty and I grabbed for the Nalgene worked great!
Agreed – I see way too many people w/ plastic water bottles onboard the train everyday! I’m a fan of my Kleen Kanteen…
Vivian is Virtual
VIA Rail’s tour guide