Vacation? Booked.

There's one thing about teaching that I think ya'll should know: It's stressful. I know every job has it's stressors, and every person has a different limitation to the amount of stress he or she can handle. But let me tell ya, sometimes the challenges of teaching seem to outweigh the benefits.

When that happens, I know I need a break. And this upcoming school year will undoubtedly be stressful, so I've already begun planning a little vacation over our winter break that will help cure what ails me, which is teenagers and policies.

Naturally, I would choose the Riviera Maya as our vacation location. We honeymooned there, it's close to an airport, and warm, sandy beaches will greet us upon arrival.

Credit

But what about all that "vacationing locally" stuff I was talking about a few weeks ago? What about being frugal, green, and carbon footprints?

Yeah. About that...

John and I are still going to travel green, even though we're hoppin' on a jet plane. Here's how:

1. We're traveling light. Super light. Two carry on's and one large suitcase. This will be easy since we'll spend a lot of time in bathing suits. 
2. No buying new clothes or items before the trip. We're packing what we have. If we don't have it, we clearly don't need it. 
3. We're packing two reusable water bottles and will use them in lieu of plastic disposable water bottles. 
4. We hope to board our dogs or have them stay with family instead of hiring our regular pet sitter. This will eliminate three to four trips via car to our house each day while we are gone. We might pay a little bit more, but that's OK. 
5. No using the Loo on the plane. There's nothing eco-friendly about "expelling" (that word is so gross) on a plane that then has to carry your "expulsion" (even more gross) several hundred miles  before dumping. Not to mention the supposedly-sterile blue chemicals that wash it all down. It's a bad combination, people. And we ain't gonna be part of it. 
6. I did some reading, and there are businesses that specialize in carbon-offsetting. Perhaps, if we find a legitimate source, this is something we will consider. 
7. Ride sharing from the airport to our hotel will be our mode of transfer. For just $30 we are sharing a ride with other travelers that are headed to the same resort. That definitely beats taking a cab. 
8. As always, when we stay in hotels our "do not disturb" sign is out 99% of our stay. We don't need our sheets changed daily, and our towels get used more than once. There's simply no need to do a top-to-bottom room cleaning every single day. Once or twice during a trip is fine, because Mexican sand is bound to follow us into our room on occasion. 

I wonder what else we can add to our list to make our travels more green? Good thing we have until December to think about it.