Stay at locally owned and run hostels, guesthouses and hotels. This is where you’ll find the best information and you can see for yourself how electricity and water are used, conserved and wasted. You won’t see how the real world works from a four star hotel.

Clean Energy Travel costs less and is a lot more interesting than luxury travel!

Skip the car. In most cases, it makes more sense to use the local public transportation. The subways, buses and trains are a better way to experience a new place than a private car or taxi. Save the car rental for the parts of your trip that require it. If you’re American, you’re in for a shocker – whether its Europe or South America, every part of the world seems to have a modern train and/or modern (ie, dvd’s played and bathrooms onboard) bus system.

Hikes and sports are green and healthy. Break a sweat while traveling and you’ll never forget it. Go for a hike, rent a bicycle – be active on the road. I love theme parks but there’s nothing like an interesting walk or ride in exotic places. The companies that offer tourists walking tours and other activities are usually small and locally owned. Keep an eye out for how they use and conserve energy. What are the challenges that they face in keeping things green?

Pack light! Smart travelers know they can get most things on the road. A week’s clothes is more than enough (there are laundromats even in Bolivia). You can buy drinks, cheap beach towels, snacks and whatever else as you need. Fight the instinct to overpack! The less weight you carry around, the better – for the airline and your back!

Enjoy the culture in the places you visit. Music, dance, theater – whatever it is you’re into, experience it on your trip. The perfect day is a day of hiking or exploring a city followed by an evening of live “world music” and then sleeping in a hotel that cares about the environment and energy conservation.

Hopefully you’ll blast your senses with ideas about green living and you’ll return with a few that will help you at home and the office!

Clean Energy Travel Can Be Fun!

To earn its environmentally-friendly certification, the Aqualuz Troy Hotel had to successfully meet or exceed a set of requirements across six ecologically-conscious areas. Those requisites include: energy management, water consumption, waste management, safety, licensing and environmental compliance.

View from the pool of the Aqualuz Troy Eco Hotel in Portugal

To meet these requirements, Aqualuz Troy instituted key changes to improve their environmental performance across three hotel units – Troiamar, Troiario and Troialagoa. Each unit had a particular focus on the procedures to optimize energy consumption and emergency management.

During the first eight months of 2010, Aqualuz Troy and Aqualuz Troiamar Troiario registered a 27% reduction in energy consumption per overnight stay in the units. They reduced their energy use by 37% in the Aqualuz Troialagoa hotel. These numbers compare with the same period last year.

Eco-Hotel Certification was developed in 2005 by TÜV Rheinland Group and is granted to candidates in the hotel sector that distinguish themselves through best practices on safety and environmental quality.

Aside from hotels and apartment hotels, eco certification is also available for businesses and resorts in the hospitality industry.

“CHICAGO — Recent college graduate Tyler Hill announced Monday his plans to single-handedly shatter European ideas about American travelers during his upcoming three-week trip to France and Belgium. … ‘They’re going to meet me and think, “Wow, it really means a lot to me that he took the time to learn a couple of useful phrases in our language.”‘ Hill added that over the course of the trip, he hopes to meet some Europeans who aren’t just a bunch of effeminate, chain-smoking elitists.”

While having a chuckle at the Onion’s piece, I realized I was laughing at myself too. I’ll admit it: I’m guilty of masquerading as some kind of international globetrotter with impressive foreign language skills while traveling. In one particular situation, my attempt to fit in with the locals led to the extreme of pretending to be one.

On a trip to Amsterdam this summer, a local woman approached me in the Tassen Museum of Bags and Purses, pointed to the display in front of us and, with a mischievous grin, uttered some clever remark in Dutch. She began laughing, and I laughed with her as if I had understood what she had said — but I don’t speak a word of Dutch.

My charade fell to pieces when the woman continued to try to strike up conversation as I toured the museum. I had already indicated that I spoke Dutch, and there was no going back. I spent the rest of the evening nervously avoiding the woman, ducking behind cases of couture handbags whenever she came near.

Why was my first instinct to act like moronic Tyler Hill? There’s nothing wrong with being a tourist, but sometimes it’s nice not to feel like an outsider while traveling — if only for a few moments. Travelers interested in fitting in while on the road should check out our 20 tips for blending in with the locals (none of which suggest pretending to understand an unfamiliar language).