Traveling. It is something that has gotten easier over the years with smartphones, and less expensive plane tickets. Before we get to money savings tips and travel advice, I think this is important. What is not often considered by us travelers is the impact that tourism has. Living on Maui, I saw so many people come and go, each of them taking something away from Maui. Memories, pictures, souvenirs. The question I must stop and ask is what are they giving back? What am I giving back?

Is it selfish of us to absorb the beauty of the world? What are any of us giving back when we travel? What even constitutes giving back?

On Maui, when someone spends $1000 a night on a hotel, how much of that does anyone see? 10% to the county? It doesn’t really matter, because when they leave a piece of plastic on the beach, what if it kills an endangered sea turtle? Their $1000 and even their $100 to the county means nothing. What about the person, like my friend Wolfgang, who picks up trash in the mornings on the beaches because he is conscientious of his impact in the world? What happens if even 10% more of us became more conscientious? He is actually the one who got me thinking about this. (He also does The Laughing Own podcast. It’s a hoot if you’re interested check it out!)

Anyway, using the logic above, we seem to value profits more than the environment, when really the environment (and sometimes the people in it) are what suffers most of all with tourism. My whole point here is that we all need to be a little more aware of our impact traveling, myself included. Leave everyone better than you found them is my motto, but I realized I wasn’t applying that to the places I visit. Throughout this road trip, I have been doing my best to pick up ANY plastic I find, and I have found a ton. I know it’s not much, but it’s a start, and if we all made a start, eventually it would turn into an impact. Try it! Change one small habit that betters the world. That is my challenge. Travel, but conscientiously.