Even though I love where I live, it’s always fun to get out of town for a little weekend away. One of my favorite winter getaways is driving to Florida. It’s no surprise that cold temperatures aren’t my favorite, so it can be a nice respite to seek some warmer weather.

One thing I’ve noticed is that when we leave our house it can feel inevitable that we’ll use much more single-use plastic than we would at home. We try to limit plastic use at home for a number of reasons and I started thinking about how we might be able to do the same thing when we’re out of town too. These tips are focused on a weekend away at an Airbnb or other self-contained rental. Some of these ideas would transfer to staying in a hotel, others might not.

Tip 1: Bring some of your metal insulated cups/water bottles from home. Filling up your cup and/or water bottle (I always bring both) before you head out on an adventure can help cut out the need to stop and get water in plastic bottles. It’s a win for the environment and a win to be able to explore more & shop less.

Tip 2: Choose a couple of things that you use at home and put together a ‘plastic-free pack’ that you can take with you. For us, we use straws, beeswax wrap, and reusable silicone food storage bags. Having these things help us to reduce our plastic use while we’re not at home. I chose some new options from the Basic Goods Trading Company leading up to our trip. I wanted to call out that none of their packaging (or shipping) had any plastic in it at all…what a treat! Basic Goods Trading Co is offering 10% off to A Crunchy Peach followers, use SAVE10 at checkout to save on your order.

Being able to fill reusable snack bags at our rental helps us to not only reduce our plastic use but also makes it so we don’t have to stop and attempt to hunt down snacks while we are out adventuring. The new zippy bags we just got actually zip better than the ones we use at home, so these will definitely be in the rotation permanently.

Tip 3: Bring your laundry detergent sheets with you. Laundry sheets are my favorite way to have detergent, both at home and on a trip. They take up almost no space, which makes storage and traveling much, much easier. You can even fly with them! Our ‘normal’ ones are the Ecos unscented ones (available from Amazon here), we tried the Basic Goods Trading Company sheets on our weekend away, and we were happy with them. Washing the sheets at a rental is always a must for me, to make sure they don’t have scents on them.

Tip 4: We tend to bring our Berkey Water filter with us anytime we can- this trip was no exception. We really appreciate being able to have tasty, filtered water just like at home (which keeps us happy and plastic-free). We use our water bottles to take water with us when we leave to explore. You could do the same with a filtering bottle or a pitcher-type water filter if that’s something you’re interested in.

Tip 5: Head to Costco before you leave so you have plenty of snacks and treats for your trip. Rather than having to purchase single-serving snacks on the go, bring your own with you. That way you can cut down on plastics and ensure that you’re having the snacks you want (instead of whatever you can find).

I know that traveling means using more plastic but finding easy wins where I can helps to make a difference and usually makes our trip more enjoyable.

What no/low-plastic choices do you make when you travel?