ETHICAL TRAVEL

BY MARYAM SIDDIQI

The frenzy of post-lockdown travel is subsiding, which is a good thing for a few reasons: calmer journeys through airports, dinner reservations are easier to get and finding a date for that dream trip is simpler. It’s also an ideal time for a shift in how we approach travel. For the sake of the planet, local communities and ourselves it needs to be a more mindful activity—less getting that perfect shot for Instagram, more connecting one-on-one with a resident of the town you’re visiting.

As you think about where to go in 2023, consider destinations and experiences like the ones listed here. Designed to minimize their impact on the environment or created to sustain an Indigenous community’s traditions, they offer visitors a deeper insight into the place and way of life.

ICELAND FRIDHEIMAR FARM, FRIDHEIMAR.IS/EN

In 2010, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted on Iceland, shooting steam and ash into the atmosphere and bringing European travel to a standstill. Now that the country had everyone’s attention, it was just the start of massive tourism to the island nation. With a constantly evolving landscape thanks to volcano eruptions and glacier movement, Iceland offers sophisticated, environmentally sensitive experiences, from North Sailing’s whale-watching tours on electric boats to carbon-neutral land-based tours around the Golden Circle and further afield from companies like Hidden Iceland. Immerse yourself in the fruits of geothermal activity with lunch at Fridheimar, an organic family farm that grows everything in a greenhouse. You’ll dine among the vines, and learn how green energy grows delicious produce.