Category: COVID19

Reflection on Tourism and Sustainability

admin0 Comment COVID19, Holiday destinations, travel
Travel and sustainability

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Peppermint Magazine
Peppermint Magazine Spring 2020

Still feeling the pinch when you see a plane?

Reminiscing the good old travel days and those travel plans gone astray?

When you daydream about travel, but your day looks more like one coffee cup after the other.

Now that we have some time to reflect on the world, how about reviewing our tourism habits.

I was reading the Spring 2020 edition of Peppermint Magazine and found this interesting article about the future of tourism. The article is called: “Oh! The places we’ll go “ by  Emily Lush. What I gather mostly from this article is that now is a good time to re-visit what we have been doing for a long time. From health concerns to over-tourism and carbon footprint, the travel industry brings a long list of unanswered questions but also an opportunity to change.

From what I can gather, getting the cheapest holiday package might just be a thing of the past. With all those travel agencies vanishing into the stratosphere and State borders still closed, our thirst for adventure might have to be satisfied with closer to home holidays.  Once borders slowly re-open, taking the plane interstate or dare I say to an international destination might not be as affordable as they used to. For a lot of us, that will probably mean travelling within the country, closer to home, for the foreseeable future.  

But there might be some good things out of this.  I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful Whitsundays in Queensland, and from talking to visitors, I was quite astonished that people living relatively close by were coming to the region for the first time. Queenslanders seem to discover their own State for the first time which is such a great thing!   One of my wishes would be that more Australians visit the Great barrier Reef and realise how significant this eco-system is and how it is intertwined with our climate and food sources.  Even with all those videos and photos available, there is still nothing like experiencing the real thing.

Maybe, if you feel like experimenting travelling in a more sustainable way, I have a free guide to help you plan a more eco-friendly trip in North Queensland, but where ever you go, whether it is your backyard or further afield, don’t forget to pack eco-friendly!  For the month of November 2020, check out Peppermint magazine where you can get a discount code to get you started with what you need for packing your suitcase! Take care and chat with you soon.

Julie

Finally re-opening the store!

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Finally re-opening the store!

If you have been on this site recently,  you may have noticed that the shop page has been unavailable for a little while.  Well, just like most of you, my life has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.  However, I am very thankful that my health and the health of my loved ones have not been affected. I also have managed to keep my day job, for now anyway, so I am one of the lucky ones, I know it may not have been the case for you, so I would like to acknowledge any suffering that this crisis may have caused to you.  I am also thankful to live in a country that has an excellent health system as it is not the case in other countries.  And of course, thank you to all the dedicated health professionals and support staff that are so essentials.

Some of the things you will find in our shop: reef safe sunscreen, eco-fashion

This post is a bit more personal, but I thought I would share with you what has been happening in the last few months. I started with this business idea a long time ago but did not have the time, money to do much with it.  Very, very slowly it evolved from a blog to a shop last November (2019). I did not have much time to dedicate to it as I was working full time and needed to educate myself about business (that is still ongoing). Nevertheless, I was very proud of my achievements.  But then,  all that came to an abrupt end in March. Like most Australians, I went into lockdown. Unfortunately, that meant that I was away from my shop items in order to be close to my loved ones.  I was working from home with my day job and wondering if this was ever going to end. Well, it still has not ended but I would say that things are on the up-trend. Queensland has re-opened its borders and interstate visitors are slowly coming back. Albeit, some delays for Victoria.  So, great to see that despite everything, Australians have not lost their taste for travel. International travel is off the table for now but with such a blessed country, there is so much to see! 

I also sincerely hope that one of the things that will change is that we will travel more sustainably and ethically.  Because our health is intrinsically related to the health of the planet we inhabit, it would be a natural progression.  If you are ready to make a bit of a difference,  I invite you to come and visit our website, we have some great blog articles to help you make better choices and contribute to our collective wellbeing.  Shortly, there will be some more information about how to travel more sustainably in North Queensland.  So stay tuned for more info on this. 

But today, I really wanted to tell you that I am really excited about announcing that I will be re-opening the ‘’shop’’ section of the website on the 1st of August 2020. You will find there, eco-friendly fashion and travel essentials. Helping the planet by packing eco-friendly has never been more fun! Have a browse here….. and thanks for your patience during these unprecedented times!  See you soon and until next time, travel safely and sustainably!

Cheers,

Julie

Thoughts – Some hope for our Post-COVID19 live

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Thoughts – Some hope for our Post-COVID19 live

Like most (all?)  of you, my life got turned up side down when that whole virus thing started. 

Now that the “new normal” is somewhat settling in for at least the next couple of weeks, in my case anyways. As uncertainty is becoming the norm I though I initiate a reflection on what it means for our world and in particular for our western societies, how we see traveling and the environment. I think this is only the beginning of my reflection, but let see where it leads.

Somehow, one my reactions was to look back in history and turn to philosophy to try to make sense of all these rapidly evolving changes.

From a historical point of view, let’s remind us that this is not the only period of great uncertainty or pandemic, that we, as a human race have been facing.   For one, there is reassurance in knowing that despite the horror of history, we as a human race, are still on this planet. Secondly, from those great schisms in history, great innovations have sometimes emerged. For example, agriculture appeared as a way of coping with great famine in the middle east.  New visions of the world have also seen the day following horrible world traumas. For example, the United Nations started after WW2 as a platform for countries to discuss issues and avoid wars. Somehow, I think that there is some comfort in knowing this despite all the human catastrophes happening right now. 

Another element to look at, I think, is the concept of balanced ecosystems.  I think it has been some time now that we have been made aware that our way of life requires more resources than what the earth can provide.  I have recently seen an interview with an astronaut, David Saint-Jacques, who lived for a year in the international space station circumnavigating around the earth. He observed the earth from above and was able to internalise the concept that everything the atmosphere contains is all we have and that all this is just recycled over and over.  Furthermore, I would add that also means that we are all interconnected.

Today, more than ever, with the coronavirus being spread from countries to countries at lightening speed, we are definitely all in this together.

We still do not know what all of this will bring into the future but let’s hope that there will be a better world that will come out of this.  For one, the environment is better.  This has clearly demonstrated that hiding behind economic growth for allowing the destruction of the planet is not an excuse. Other things are more important than economic growth at all costs.  By damaging the environment, really we are damaging us. I sincerely hope that our relationship with our environment will be transformed. What we previously thought impossible, is now possible.  From working from home to teleconferencing and being conscious of our supply chains. The world needs to change.

Let me know what you think and until next time, don’t forget to wash your hands.

Cheers,

Julie