The Traveling Thread or "Vacation Trauma"

[Raven]

One day after my vacation I am in a state that I can only call
Vacation Trauma. At home we recycle, we try to take the bike and
use the right products to not support any evil corporations.
In vacation there it is a different story and I want to share with you
what I experienced on my cruise.

The fact that I went at all might get a few people started already.
But what can I say? Humans need down time and we earn our
money hard these days. Plus I need the sun. There are not enough
Vitamin D pills on this planet to ensure my sanity through a Michigan
winter.

Lately, maybe especially since I joined this forum, I started to learn
things about "Operation Life on planet earth". Things that travel with me.
So here is what happened:

- there is a Hotel, lets call it "Fairfield Inn by Marriott Orlando Airport"
was serving breakfast off styrofoam plates and cups. For the whole hotel.
Every single morning, every single day of the year.
That got me into my first argument with my travel partner.
("Jesus, I am in vacation, don't ruin my mood...")
Needless to say that I did not have breakfast and I left and shut up
for the good times sake but I will definitelly go a little activist on
the management.
And I would like to invite you to do the same.
If you have a bad mood and you feel the need to do something
that helps the planet, write them an email and tell them that you
don't like the fact that they are serving their customers styrofoam
EVERY GOD GIVEN DAY OF THE YEAR TO SAVE MONEY.
gm.mcofa@jhmhotels.com
Maybe they will never change it or maybe they will switch to
paper after 76 emails...who knows?
I think the right thing to do here is to voice your opinion anywhere you
go. Restaurants, hotels, anywhere.
Don't just go with the flow and think it will be fine. Little things count.
This is BS and I will make lists now of organisations and businesses
that I will voice my opinion to as soon as I get back from every
trip I make.

- Dolphin Swim. Clearly there are people that have not watched
http://www.thecovemovie.com/
Maybe it is too depressing and they would not have as much fun
when they are swimming with captured and abused dolphines.
Every kid that had a "kissed by a dolphin" shirt on made me sick.
The fact that everybody yelled "sharks" when there were dolphines
somewhere around the ship made me wonder what these people
actually know about dolphines.
Dolphines in these Disney aquariums are just abused clowns that
have a miserable life. Ironically the woman that I talked to, that had
done a dolphin swim said that she loved dolphines SO MUCH!
She said it was ok to have them in this aquarium, it was big and
the people have been doing this for 30 years.
Well then everything is fine I guess. If you have a long history of
abusing animals to make them a joke in order to entertain people
it is ok I guess.


- Cruiseships are huge and they make a lot of trash.
Right now I am researching the environmental impact of
cruise ships and I came across http://www.responsibletravel.com/
I wish I would have done that before the cruise, which most likely
was my very first and very last ever.

Fact is that people need vacation. I think that traveling, especially
to places where people don't have it as good as we do made me
a better person and more grateful and aware.
The other fact is that we can't keep doing it like we do it now.
There must be alternatives. But what?
My next vacation will most likely be on a sailboat so I can avoid
being part of the problem.

For any of you that are traveling through Germany, we do have a
good alternative to getting your own rental car.
It is called www.mitfahrzentrale.de
People post if they drive somewhere either on a regular basis
or only once and they invote people to come with them and
share the gas. It is a good system and works very well.

If you have any input on this traveling theme, please share.
I would be happy to hear some of your travel stories.
Fact is: most of us still have to fly and/or drive places.
The more you are aware of what is happening on the planet,
the less things you seem to be able to do without having a bad
conciousness. And I don't want to be one of the people that
only talk. I want to be active and be part of the solution.

And sorry earth I went on a cruise. I was blind and now I see.

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[flower]

What an excellent pro active post Raven

Thank you not only for sharing your heart.. but showing your work

The process that we use to come to our conclusions is important to share IMO

[Raven]

Thank you C?line!
I had good teachers.

I want to do the right things. Others can do what they want.
Hopefully our creative thinkers come up with solutions for travels.

Have you been somewhere and thought it was disgusting but you were forced
to participate? I had to go without breakfast and coffee in order to do the right thing!
I demand that doing the right thing is made easier by businesses.
If I am vegetarian they offer me something without meat. If I am an environmentally
concious person I want to be served on real plates instead of styrofoam.
And I write reviews for every business as well.
I really hope you guys start doing that. it can change things little by little.
If I were a business and enough people complain, I would think of a solution.

[Nazirite]

Its a mad crazy world Raven - and the craziest part is how many people just don't see it.

[Raven]

I know Naz - but after vacation I feel better so I can change things.
It feels to me like I needed this experience.
I also saw something amazing that gave me a consistant good mood and lots of hope.
Will give this a whole thread by itself.

[Raven]

Here is an update for you.
Turns out that people sometimes listen when you speak up.
This is the email I got back when I sent them a message with my experience
and how I would like them to go green.
Lets hope it is true and the Hotel will have paper plates soon:

Thank you very much for your email and you feedback about your experiences here at the Fairfield Inn Orlando Airport.
We really appreciate your comments and our goal is to do everything we can in order to make your stay more enjoyable.
I can understand how frustrated you felt. Our mission is "To Impress the Guest" and in your case we failed to do that. I am confident that the systems will be reinforced to ensure that we do not repeat the same experience you had again.
I will definitely look in to purchasing paper products instead. In fact we are switching to a better food and paper provider in one week. I will make sure to request the paper product instead.
I apologize and we truly hope you will give us another chance.
I want to thank you for reminding us how important our environment is to us and we will make sure to make the environment friendly choices from now on and going forward. Please give me a call if you have any additional questions, concerns. The phone number is (xxx)-xxx-xxxx.


Sincerely,

xxxx
General Manager