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How wonderful it is to come across a period of 90 days of a warmer climate. Often, bright days filled with sunshine and children’s laughter from school breaks. Yes, it’s that time again: summer season and some tourism planning to do.
It is a season when many of us eagerly anticipate a getaway or aim to conquer our summer to-do lists. Reflecting on our previous post on the importance of reconnecting with nature while travelling, there are certainly a few tricks that each one of us is thinking about in order to enjoy our summer holidays. Decisions vary for each person depending on travel restrictions, distances, costs, physical fitness, or personal preferences. In many cases, eco-centric tourism practices during summer call for a creative spirit. The point is that while we want to enjoy our holidays to the fullest, we also want to keep our cost or risk at a minimal level.
Making Nature Adventures A Pleasant Experience
Planning & Preparation
An outdoor adventure is a fantastic way for you to rejuvenate your spirit and connect with nature when planned. A little preparation ensures a memorable and sustainable experience, whether you’re gearing up for a hiking trip to the mountains, a leisurely nature walk, or a fun-filled picnic at the beach. Any of these nature-based activities requires careful planning on your part to make the entire journey and experience positive. Before suiting up in your outdoor wear, plan your itinerary by researching trails and walking paths that match your fitness level and interests. Doing so will avoid wasting time and resources (including food or water) and avoid exhausting yourself from the physical effort to search for activities. Look up mobile apps or website recommendations which provide real-time suggestions for suitable trails.
Schedule a Nature-based Activity
Explore nature with minimal impact by choosing activities that don’t require disposable items. Connect with the outdoors through activities that respect the environment and minimize waste by using reusable gear as well as supplies. Simply leave no human trace marks to prevent biodiversity or ecosystem damage.
Exploring new trails can spark a desire to collect souvenirs. Occasionally, when discovering new nature trails, our hands may get itchy to pick up nature pieces such as flowers or growing plants. Well, our hands are best kept for photography or holding on to a walking stick for safety measures.
When trailing across scenic natural environments, we should consider keeping the biodiversity life conserved and respect protected areas. This means avoiding plucking flowers, digging soils, breaking branches, or degrading the ecosystem. A nature reserve or a beachside area with a cultural landmark can also offer amazing scenic lookouts. Thus, bring along a pair of binoculars for wildlife watching or identifying rare plant species.
Stock Up on Essentials When Travelling
A beach or lakeside picnic is incomplete without a reusable blanket and a well-packed food basket filled with reusable cutleries. Homemade goodies and refreshing homemade tonic drinks are the best way to tailor the entire daily nutrition required to keep our body hydrated and nourished. Plan complementary outdoor activities that do not cause a fuss when transporting the equipment.
For example, a simple lightweight frisbee, to a foldable kite for flying on windy days. Alternatively, exploring variety of outdoor sports such as badminton makes a perfect game for anyone. Easy sports can be played in any weather and any place, while its equipment is easy to carry around. Pack essentials such as a compass, first-aid kit, waterproof windbreaker, an umbrella if required, napkins, a durable water bottle, and an emergency survival kit for long nature walks.
Wildlife Centres Educational Experience
What about unordinary activities which keep our senses active? One way to keep our senses active and mind engaged is to consider touristic activity, which also stimulates our perception. For instance, while visiting the wildlife centres or zoos, which offer more than a simple educational experience, you can experience the beauty of nature and wildlife as well as to learn up close about each species. Whether you’re heading to the famous national zoo across European cities or crafting an itinerary to hop from one wildlife centre to another wildlife centre, such creativity can leave a memorable experience! Given the case, every wildlife centre and every zoo around Europe has its own type of species hosted. For sure, there is always something new to encounter!
Special Events & Exhibitions
To be able to enjoy wildlife centres and zoos, it is pivotal to pre-check with the registration counter for any special exhibits, feeding times, and agendas of interactive experiences. For instance, enjoying creative wildlife exhibits such as a marine wildlife show. Many European zoos offer unique activities such as behind-the-scenes tours, private animal encounters, or learning about newborn species (e.g. newborn polar bear cubs). Pre-checking such exclusive agendas offers a more intense and immersive experience beyond just strolling around the facility park.
Practise Smart & Sustainable Consumption
Normally, walking from one section of a wildlife centre or zoo centre to another section will entail a lot of physical fitness. The entire trip can last up to a minimum of 3 hours. Thus, there may be a need to rethink the ways of carrying snacks, water, or umbrellas. If the weather changes, there are always affordable reusable raincoats that can be kept as souvenirs. Or, just stay dry under plenty of shelters during the rainy periods.
Did you know that the majority of wildlife centres or zoos have a refillable water station? This means you can carry a foldable water pouch to stay hydrated. All wildlife centres and zoos in Europe have recycling bins provided throughout the park. This encourages us to manage our waste and do meaningful, sustainable practices when consuming any food packaging.
Attend Sustainable Events
Summer is the perfect time to immerse yourself in expanding your network, staying socially active, or diving into the vibrant local culture at lively events. Whether you’re treasure hunting at nearby local flea markets, soaking up local traditions at cultural events, or dancing away to beautiful songs at music festivals. Getting creative with local European events can be environmentally friendly. Often, all these mentioned local events are easy to commute to. Use a bicycle or commute with a city bus to avoid the hassle of searching car parks and paying for overpriced parking lots. Public transportation can easily take you to all these amazing events!
Normally, such events are advertised across different shops around your neighbourhood or sponsored by the local council or community groups. A cultural event and music festival can offer you a sense of experiencing specific traditions and the energy of a community. In this case, local artisans, products, and artists are often encouraged. Both flea markets and music festivals also offer a variety of cuisines, which sometimes are tailored to be environmentally friendly. Many times, vegan or vegetarian food can be found to enlighten your tastebuds. Whether you’re supporting the circular economy by purchasing rare items at the market or embracing local culture or art, every moment is a creative step to building a socio-environmental-centric community.
Be Creative in the Comfort of Your Home
What about the people who prefer staying at home? Or how about for those people who prefer to stay caught up with personal agendas at home during holidays? The answer to these questions is that it is still possible to enjoy summer tourism at home. It only takes creativity to enjoy our own company in the comfort of our house. The following are some creative examples:
- We eat food every day. Explore new cuisines, such as finetuning our cooking skills to create new dishes recommended by regional Chefs or international recipes. New food can transport us to different places through our taste buds.
- Whether you have an outdoor space or a small indoor area, start investing in a garden. Start a miniature garden by planting easy-to-grow vegetables or herbs. Gardening keeps our minds and spirits rooted in environmental values while understanding the effects of climate and soil to grow seasonal plants.
- Don’t just enjoy our own company. Also, invite our neighbours, family members, or close trusted peers to have a meal with us at home. Plan a simple homecooked meal social gathering to enrich existing relationships. If we are even more daring, explore inviting new trusted friends who are not the same as our heritage. Hosting international guest at our homes can open our minds to other cultures and learn about their country.
- Try out a new indoor hobby, such as painting, drawing, or knitting. Did you know such artistic activities can be influenced by the art and culture of different countries around the world? Each country around the world have different styles of drawing, painting, or knitting.
- Make seasonal holiday cards. Did you know that seasonal holiday celebrations can also differ for every regional states or country? Consider designing special greeting cards made with environmental friendly materials.
- If you have technology, you have artificial experience. Yes, it is called artificial experience. Artificial experience means you are experiencing a virtual reality-like experience or a web-based interaction about the real-world. Feel like taking a trip as far as Antarctica? Then, use technology to discover virtual reality videos or high definition videos to live the Arctic experience.
- Make that simple phone call to your friend outside of your country. Yes, it is that holiday time to reconnect or enhance connection with your trusted friend overseas. Even better, keep the call as a video call so that your friend can interact you in a more personalized way. Rather than mobile messaging, or using social media; staying connected through an interactive call can keep yourself out of your seat as you navigate recent activities happening outside of your country based on conversations.
Tourism During Summer Can Be Fun, Smart & Sustainable
During summer, the list of suggestions above is ideal for any tourist profile who is looking for creative suggestions to enjoy their holidays. Keeping an open mind about the possibilities of enjoying your holidays will more often leave a positive experience, and in fact, an educational one where you are discovering new approaches to managing your holiday activities. May this article continue to inspire your holiday itinerary and keep you pleasantly occupied on days when you need this.
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