Whole Travel Blog

I spend a ton of time driving to and from climbing spots, and flying to and from climbing spots. There are a few simple practices that I have adopted in my travels to help my traveling become a bit greener.

1. Keep my own coffee mug in the car. That way when I stop at Starbucks to get coffee, they can use my mug, and not use their paper cups.

2. Use Google Maps on my cell phone. Almost every cell phone has the ability to either download a Google Maps app or connect to Google Maps. Use your phone to get Google Maps directions to your destination rather that printing out all the directions and maps. It saves a ton of paper!

3. Bring an empty reusable water bottle to the airport. You can’t bring water through security, but you can bring an empty bottle! That way when you get into the terminal, you can fill your bottle up at the water fountain and save having to buy and use a plastic bottle of water at one of the airport stores!

Nothing fancy about it, but every little bit counts!

Happy Adventuring!

Brandon Hensinger

Ascent Adventure Consultants- Bringing Adventure to Life

This New York Times reported that the White House will announce today that it is abandoning longstanding restrictions on family travel, remittances and gifts to Cuba. Also, the government is taking steps to open up telecommunications to the island. Under the new policy, Cuban Americans will be allowed to travel freely to the island send as much money as they want to family members. You can read the entire article here.

Anyone want to go here?

At Whole Travel, we’re excited for the opportunity to help Cuba develop its sustainable tourism infrastructure and policy. In 1994, the Cuban government established the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) and in 1997 the National Assembly enacted laws aimed at ensuring future development would be sustainable. Currently Cuba is working with the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development to get sustainable tourism established in Cuba before the flood gates open and it’s too late.

It’s an exciting time in the world of travel, and hopefully a point where sustainability can be preserved as the world re-discovers Cuba.

A good friend of the Whole Travel team is involved with Project Kaisei, a non-profit trying to figure out how we can capture, detoxify and recycle plastic in the ocean to turn it into diesel fuel. Their aim this summer is to conduct a trial study with 40 tons of waste from the Plastic Vortex (more below) and see if they can contain and recycle it effectively. The study will be coordinated with a National Geographic documentary.

This is the middle of the Pacific Ocean??

Sometimes referred to as the “eighth continent”, the Plastic Vortex is an area between San Francisco and Hawaii that contains an estimated 4,000,000 tons of floating plastic waste in a mass twice the size of Texas (nearly 4x the size of Japan). This plastic is killing marine life, entering our food chain and the size of the mass is growing daily. If you’re interest in learning more, please visit projectkaisei.org. They set out in June and hope to finish the trial in August!

The video:

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