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Five Travel Gear Companies That Give Back To The World

We talk about Travel Gear a lot here at Jaunted, and issues like Green Travel just as much. Merging the two are some innovative companies, who specialize not only in producing eco-friendly travel products, but also giving back to their communities and promoting a positive image of a global citizen. Perhaps when you're looking for your next piece of luggage, a new swim coverup, or even a full-size tent for that camping trip, you'll remember that there are options out there doing good for the world while they help you enjoy your trip.

Without further ado, here are a few of those companies: Five Travel Gear Companies That Give Back To The World:

Matt & Nat
In case you didn’t know, this uber-hip Vegan handbag line out of Montreal makes fashionable bags and wallets and totes from recycled water bottles. In addition to being environmentally smart, designer Inder Bedi gives back to various charities throughout Europe, Canada and the United States. From battered women’s shelters to animal rights, Bedi cares. He also sees that hundreds of homeless people eat a vegetarian meal twice annually in their home base of Montreal.

Additionally, a dollar for every bag sold goes to the charity of your choice. Within the first quarter, the line has accumulated charitable contribution dollars exceeding $16,000. Our favorite item? A little perfect-for-your-passport Men’s Murse.

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Tags: Green Travel / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Technology / → All Tags

Southwest Adds A 'Green Plane' To Their Fleet As An Eco Test Lab

During yesterday's big news day down at Southwest Airlines' headquarters in Dallas, much more was revealed beyond the ten new routes for 2010, including the reveal of Southwest's new "Green Plane."

Aside from the snazzy new recycling logo added to the usual Southwest heart on the plane, the 737-700 is outfitted with a range of eco-products being tested out by Southwest, since the Green Plane serves as more than just a machine flying passengers place to place, but also as a test lab. It will still be flying it's regular route as flight WN222 between Chicago-Midway and Boston-Logan, so Midwest and Beantown travelers should keep an eye out, although it'll still rotate throughout the system.

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Tags: Cruise Travel / Alaska Travel / Green Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

Alaska's Nome Is So Hot Right Now

We know someone whose biggest travel dream is to visit the Alaskan town of Skagway while on a cruise along the Alaskan coast. It's hardly unattainable, with cruise ships hitting up Skagway and other towns like Sitka and Ketchikan all through the summer. But what to do once you've done the typical Alaskan cruise? Thanks to melting of the polar ice caps—or rather not, since this is a very bad thing, environment-wise—cruise ships are discovering ports further north than every before. Now you can add the Bering Sea town of Nome to your must-see in Alaska list.

The LA Times drives home exactly what a big deal it is for big ships to be calling in Nome: "More than 500 roadless miles from Anchorage, rugged tundra and frigid Bering Sea waters have a way of discouraging visitors." But after Nome spent $90 million dollars renovating their port to accommodate big ships, the temptation of venturing beyond the tried-and-true Alaskan itinerary is majorly attracting tourists.

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Tags: Qatar Airways / Qatar / Green Travel / Airline News / Airplanes / → All Tags

Qatar Airways Flies World's First Natural Gas Commercial Jet

The culmination of a story we've been following for two years, Qatar Airways has finally launched their eco-friendly natural gas commercial jet. There will always be debates about whether it's actually better for the environment to use natural gas on such a large scale, and someday we might discover that there are costs we don't know about, but in the meantime the airline is basking in the attention that they're rightfully getting:

Qatar Airways is claiming its place in history by operating the world's first commercial flight using fuel made from natural gas, creating a potential new source of aircraft fuel for the future. The jet fuel... helped power an Airbus A340-600 from London Gatwick that landed in the Qatari capital, Doha... 'Qatar's position as the GTL capital of the world has been further enhanced with today's achievement,' Abdulla bin Hamad al-Attiyah, the country's deputy prime minister of energy and industry, said.

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Tags: Mexico Travel / Scuba / Travel News / Green Travel / → All Tags

Mexico Opening Underwater Museum To Protect Coral Reefs

The Mexican government has a creative new idea for getting tourists to stop overwhelming and destroying the coral reefs around Cancun: distract them with something shiny. So they're building the world's largest underwater museum and filling it with art work, hoping that the new attraction will take some pressure off the regional ecosystem.

There's little environmental risk to the area as the concrete will be PH-neutral. Exactly the opposite in fact: the new rocks will allow algae and small invertebrates to flourish, adding rather than subtracting from the local ecosystem. The construction of the museum itself will probably take a bite out of the local environment, but we assume it'll be done in a minimalist way. Can you imagine the headache if it came out that their Green Tourism museum was, well, not?

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Tags: Travel Gear / Virgin Atlantic / Eurostar / Green Travel / Fashion Travel / → All Tags

Dress Your Family In Eurostar Remnants and Virgin Hot Air Balloons

A couple years ago, we were all able to live our greatest dream of wearing repurposed airline seat covers, thanks to Worn Again, which turned worn-out covers from Virgin Atlantic planes into bags and accessories.

This year, they've taken the collaboration several steps further by branching out from Virgin to include Eurostar, and hiring UK designer Christopher Raeburn to create the products. And for the first time, all of the products are completely made in the UK.

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Tags: Volunteer Travel / Ecotourism / Cancun Travel / Green Travel / → All Tags

First Lend A Hand In Cancun, Then Get Drunk And Sit On The Beach

Think a trip to Cancun is just about getting drunk and returning home with nothing more than a hangover and a sunburn? This might be true for few, but we recommend you think again. Hands Up Holidays' Yucatan Explorer Package gives travelers two weeks to explore Mexico, do a little eco-sightseeing and get a taste of volunteering.

Hands Up Holidays provide an opportunity to help people in need around the world without having to sleep on the floor or share a bathroom with dozens of college kids. Instead, all of their trips include upmarket, often luxurious accommodations. They also provide a balance between helping out and being able to enjoy a relaxing getaway.

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Tags: Costa Rica Field Trip / Spas / Eco-Travel / Eco Spas / Green Travel / → All Tags

How to Indulge in Some Earth-Friendly Pampering in Costa Rica

All this week, Lost Girl Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Costa Rica with her entire family. Any questions about traveling to Costa Rica or family-oriented activities to do while you're there? Let us know.

Ever wonder where this whole sustainable travel, eco-tourism trend got its legs in the first place? As I learned during my family vacation, it was the formerly impoverished banana republic of that Costa Rica almost single-handedly spawned the concept back in the 70s.

After the price of “yellow gold” crashed back a few decades ago, the nation fell into a devastating depression. Sensing that CR needed to identify an alternative industry—and fast—a few government smarties kicked off the nation’s Green Revolution, reforesting huge tracts of jungle that had once been clear-cut for farming and turning them into protected wilderness areas and national parks. By successfully marketing itself as a nature-lovers paradise, Costa Rica no longer needed to export bananas to survive. They started importing tourists.

And with those tourists came the birth of another trend: Eco-Spas.

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Tags: Rental Cars / Enterprise / Hawaii Travel / Oahu Travel / Maui Travel / Green Travel / Hybrids / → All Tags

Happy Anniversary Hawaii: Here's Some New Hybrid Rental Cars

Last week was the Aloha State’s birthday as the islands officially commemorated its fiftieth anniversary of statehood. State leaders usually downplay celebrations as some Hawaii residents aren’t too thrilled about how the island chain was admitting into the union. We don’t want to get into the debate, but there are still some who demand independence from the United States.

Although not an official birthday present—they couldn’t find that much wrapping paper—Enterprise Rent-A-Car is gifting the island with some new hybrid rental cars. The chain teamed up with Governor Linda Lingle to announce that four locations are becoming hybrid branches. There will be three on Oahu and one on Maui to answer your green car dreams during your vacation.

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Tags: Summer-Vacations-With-An-Edge / Active Travel / Desert Travel / Peru Travel / Green Travel / → All Tags

Summer Vacations With an Edge: Sandboarding In Peru

It turns out that the highest sand dune in the world is Peru's Cerro Blanco, which rises more than 2,000m above the ground and more or less resembles a mountain. It also turns out that if you want to sandboard down the side of it, Peru Adventure Tours is more than willing to put together a package for you, drive you out there in a sand buggy, and watch as you indulge in one of the world's most extreme sports.

Sandboarding is an all-season sport, one of the upshots of basing an activity out of a desert. Sandboarders either stand on snowboard-like boards or lie down on mats for "trayboarding," and try to pull off the same tricks that snowboarders do. That means catching air, doing tricks, and carving up the ground. Instead of kicking up snow, though, these athletes shred grainy sand. And instead of getting to ride sky lifts up picturesque mountains, they have to access some of the most unforgiving environments in the world.

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Tags: SAS Airlines / Green Travel / Airline News / → All Tags

Someone Call Sully! SAS Planes Will Save Fuel By Gliding Into Airports

Those innovative Scandinavians have struck again. SAS Airlines had a great idea for saving fuel, dollars and the environment by flying a little slower and now they have a new plan: the gliding landing method.

SAS has figured out a way for pilots to let the plane do most of the landing by itself, gliding via an optimum route mapped out by satellite. They figure it will save about 100kg of fuel if a twin-engined jet lands this way, which is cheaper for the airline and better for the environment.

Now, we're certainly not qualified pilots ourselves, but we do like to fly around in planes, and we're not 100% sure that we want to know our plane is simply being left to glide down to landing. The SAS peeps are about to try it out for real but have only done it on a simulator so far; they do admit that the technique would probably be best for "quieter airports" so we won't be gliding into London-Heathrow any time soon.

Related Stories:
· New Gliding Landing Method for Planes to Slash Fuel Consumption [The Age]
· Scandinavian Alternative to Nasty Baggage Fees [Jaunted]

[Photo: spotterjohnsen]

Tags: Green Travel / Road Trips / Cars / Nissan LEAF / Travel News / Electric Cars / → All Tags

Can Road Trippers Embrace Nissan's New 100% Electric LEAF?

Another day, another sleek electric car with a futuristic design and eye-popping mileage. This time it's Nissan unveiling their slick new, purely electric LEAF. 100 miles on a single charge and a mere 30 minutes to recharge via a specialized charging station. No hybrid engine so zero emissions. Who wouldn't want to get in on some of this environmental goodness?

For starters, anyone who uses their car for road trips. The Midwest isn't exactly a forest of recharging stations, and even electric cars stop moving when they run out of juice. It takes 16 hours to recharge the LEAF on a standard household plug away from home. It's simply impossible for environmentally-conscious road trippers to go greener than hybrids.

The way we travel was different a few years back, before the recession; people drove their cars inside cities and took airplanes when they wanted to leave. The recession has however caused more and more Americans to choose the road over the friendly skies. The traditional response from pure electric advocates — "how many road trips do people really go on after they get out of college?" — just doesn't work any more.

This unfortunately means there's a tradeoff between the tangible environmental benefits of going totally electric now and the medium-term benefits of having a robust hybrid market.

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