Package free On the Road!

So I decided to get out of the city and go on a wee trip up northern Scotland to a town called Aviemore, which is the gateway to Glenmore hikes and stunning scenery. It took a while to push myself as I felt there were so many things I ‘should’ be doing in the city instead. But my heart was reaching out. One thing about starting the package free pledge is you become so much more aware of wasteful packaging that it can be a little overwhelming. But we just have to keep doing our bit and hope it makes an impact. Either way this trip was well overdue, nature was calling!

I packed my backpack with my jar of toothpaste and a few other jars of trail mix, dates etc, which I bought from the New Leaf Co Op. They also had package free super huge tasty falafel pieces, I took a few for the trip along with avocado’s and bread.

One thing I forgot was my pocket knife so I had to peal my avo’s on the bus.

Sure my backpack was probably a little heavier with the jars. . paper bags may have been a better choice.

I stayed three nights in a hostel and spent three full days hiking around the beautiful lakes, forest and snow peaked mountains. Being in this beautiful location just made me all the more determined with my pledge. I only had to pick up three pieces of rubbish on my hikes, which is amazing!

The YHA had a good recycling system but of course being in a hostel with people who are constantly on the move, there was an endless amount of packaging around. The free section had some pasta and rice which I was kind of relieved by. I thought I could just take my tupper-ware box to the chippy but I was determined to cook a healthy meal with package free foods.

I popped into Tesco which was the only local food market around and bought all the package free veggies I could find to make something tasty.

You can see in the image below what I managed to find.

My fellow traveling room mates were intrigued by my mission and it felt great to share what I was doing. The girls were from different parts of the world and really inspired by the pledge asking all kinds of questions.

One woman was particularly interested in the fact that I pretty much just drink water from a steel bottle. Her issue was that she didn’t really like the taste of water! So I mentioned the natural ways you can give it flavor, such as adding a cinnamon stick, cucumber, lemon, mint leaves. . . She liked these idea’s and was keen to give it a try.

I ate at a cafe on day two for my lunch, I ordered the jacket potato . . which for some reason had crisps on the side, that I can only imagine came in a small packet. . Eating out can be a tricky thing sometimes but we cant control everything.

My main source of snacking was loose apples and my meals turned out to be overflowing with veggies and super healthy. . . The only packaged item I bought was a jar of tomato, garlic and herb sauce, though I took the jar home for reuse.

Hitchhiking back, I was waiting a long time for a ride at the service station in Perth with not much food . . The banana’s weren’t ripe in the shop and there was literally nothing package free . . .

I wanted to eat something warm after standing on the side of the road for 50 minutes in the rain still unable to get a ride . . . So I grabbed a veggie patty sub from the small subway in the service station. It was wrapped in paper and I refused the plastic bag. Why they give a plastic bag for a sandwich is beyond me. .

All in all being package free on the road was a super success. No real challenges, I was just shocked at the amount of plastic bottled water people were carrying around. Water is free people!!!!!! You just need a flask/steel bottle. . . Any restaurant, cafe, service station anywhere will refill.

Water is now and always will be FREE.

I'm extremely grateful for the amazing weather that blessed this trip, the stunning nature all around and the beautiful people I met