Guest blog post by Harry and Dann from @loveandpostcards to mark World Refill Day
About Us
We are a vegan travel couple from England who are educating and inspiring our audience on Instagram to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Our passion for travel first began when we embarked on a round-the-world trip in 2016. Starting in Thailand, we explored multiple places in South East Asia before moving onto China, South Africa, South America and North America. It’s safe to say that we definitely caught the travel bug and we’ve been adventuring ever since! We have currently been to 29 countries in the 7 years that we’ve been together and hope to keep the list growing. However the past year has made us swap the planes for road trips, and we’ve learnt how much England has to offer!
After the first lockdown last year, the first place we visited was Dorset on the South coast of England. We visited Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and Old Harry Rocks, and if Dorset isn’t on your list of places to visit, it definitely should be! The cliffs and the beaches are absolutely beautiful and if you’re lucky enough to get some good weather then it’s just as good as being abroad. More recently we travelled to the Lake District and spent 4 days hiking and exploring the most beautiful place we have ever seen in England, we were just constantly in awe! If there’s only one place in England that everyone should visit, then it’s got to be the Lake District.
Favourite Hikes
Our favourite hike was Helvellyn, which is the third highest peak in England. It was quite a challenge for us as it had been a while since we climbed a mountain, but the views once you get to the top make it all worth it and it’s a really fun and rewarding hike that we would recommend to everyone! It’s actually inspired us and made us want to tackle the 3 highest peaks in the UK (Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike) so we really hope that we can achieve this in the next year.
We think being stuck inside on a nationwide lockdown has made a lot of people appreciate the outdoors and made more and more people look towards travelling in their own country. If you’d have told us 2 years ago that we would be booking staycations instead of international trips then we wouldn’t have believed you, but it just shows that you have some true gems on your doorstep if you’re open to finding them. Getting outside and walking really makes us feel energised, boosts our mood and it’s also a great way to get in some exercise for free! England has some amazing walks and hikes to offer, so when you’re thinking of your next getaway, have a little look closer to home and you will be in for a treat. Not to mention that this will mean you don’t need to catch a flight and so you’re also reducing your carbon footprint which is a huge help for our planet!
World Refill Day
Another huge passion of ours is protecting the environment and the planet. We have been vegan for over 4 years and provide tips on our Instagram page on how to live a plant-based and sustainable lifestyle. Today (16th June) is World Refill Day, a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and encourage people to live with less waste. More than 300 million tonnes of plastic is created each year with half of it being single-use and it’s an issue that’s only getting worse.
There are many simple swaps that we can all make in our daily lives to help tackle this problem and try to end our throw away culture. As travellers and adventurers, our favourite swaps to make are to use a reusable water bottle such as Water-to-Go, to always carry a reusable shopping bag and to use bamboo cutlery and a bamboo straw.
Being prepared and ensuring that we have all of these with us means that we have no use for single-use plastic, therefore contributing to saving the planet. This is something that we can all do, and encourage others to do as well.
Refill with Water-to-Go
When we travelled through South East Asia and Indonesia in 2019 we always had our Water-to-Go bottle with us. As the tap water is unsafe to drink in these countries, many travellers think that their only option is to continuously buy bottled water in single-use plastic from local stores. Luckily we never had to do this, and were able to use our Water-to-Go bottle every day to keep us hydrated and also safe from bacteria and viruses.
Not only were we ensuring that we didn’t have to use any unnecessary plastic, but we ended up saving so much money! (Especially as we both drink upwards of 6 litres a day). Our Water-to-Go bottle is now perfect for us on our hikes around England as we can refill our bottle when we pass a stream or a waterfall, and we don’t need to worry about running out of drinking water when we really need it.
Did you know that plastic bottles can take 700 years to dissolve? Earth needs us to act NOW! We need to say no to plastic and yes to brands that support the planet. Remember that nobody expects anyone to be perfect and completely zero waste, sustainability is a learning process but if you haven’t started your journey yet, today is the perfect day to do so.
For more information on how to live a plant-based and sustainable lifestyle, and for some fantastic outdoor and travel inspiration, follow Harry and Dann on their social media page