Sustainable Family Travel: The Habits That Stick (and the Ones We Struggle With)

Our Story: Zero Waste? Not Quite

I’d love to tell you our family travels with zero waste. We don’t. 🌏

Right now, we’re in Vietnam with Louie, who’s nine, and Leo, who’s two. You can’t drink the tap water here, so we buy bottled water. Back in the Netherlands, a filter jug on the kitchen bench did the job. In Vietnam, the plastic adds up fast.

Some habits travel well, though. We walk and cycle wherever we can. We shop at markets and street stalls, carry our own snack containers and take backpacks instead of collecting bags. Louie’s favourite part is the fresh coconuts. 🥥

This guide covers those everyday habits: what works for us, what doesn’t and what we’re still figuring out. If you’re deciding where to base your family, our guide to sustainable destinations for nomad families covers that side. This page is about how you live once you’re there.

Can a Nomad Family Really Travel Sustainably?

Mostly, yes. Perfectly, no.

The biggest factor is how often you fly. Staying longer in one place cuts flights, and it makes everyday habits easier too. You have a kitchen, you know the market and you’re not buying airport food every week.

A 2018 study in Nature Climate Change found tourism made up about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions between 2009 and 2013. That figure includes flights, hotels, food and shopping, and domestic travel made up a big share of it.

So here’s the order we think about it in: fly less, stay longer, then work on the small stuff. Reusable containers matter, but they won’t cancel out a long-haul flight.

Our Everyday Sustainable Travel Habits

These are the habits that have stuck for our family. Some are big, most are small, and none of them are perfect.

1. Stay Longer, Fly Less

As an Australian married to a Dutchman, I can’t pretend we’ll stop flying. Our families live on opposite sides of the world, and getting between them means long-haul flights, like our 30-hour trip to Australia with Leo.

What we can do is fly less often and stay longer when we land. One flight and a few months in a place beats a new flight every couple of weeks. Our guide to slow travel with kids covers the other benefits of staying put.

When a train or ferry can replace a flight, we take it. In Vietnam, sleeper trains link many of the main cities, and our Vietnam guide explains how they work with kids. To estimate your own flights, use the free calculators in our sustainable destinations guide.

2. Walk, Cycle and Use Grab

In Da Nang, we mostly walk, cycle and use Grab, the ride-hailing app that works across much of Southeast Asia. So far, we’ve taken just one scooter ride. 🛵

Walking with a two-year-old is slow, and that’s half the point. You notice the street food carts, the neighbours and the shortcuts. Most days, a car would just get in the way.

Electric ride options vary a lot by country. In Vietnam, Xanh SM runs electric taxis in a number of cities, so check what’s available where you’re staying. Renting a petrol car for daily use in a city is rarely worth the cost or the hassle.

👉 For cities where cycling with kids really works, see our guide to bike-friendly cities for families.

3. Choose a Place With a Kitchen

Apartments with a kitchen let us cook, use the markets and skip takeaway containers. For a family, they’re usually cheaper than hotels too. Our Da Nang guide shares what we paid and the neighbourhoods we looked at.

Before you book, a few questions are worth asking:

• Is there a proper kitchen, or just a kettle and a microwave?
• How is rubbish sorted and collected?
• Is drinking water provided, for example in a large refill bottle or a dispenser?

4. Keep the Reusable Kit Small

Our kit is simple: snack containers for the kids, and backpacks for shopping instead of plastic bags.

That’s honestly it. We don’t carry a full zero-waste set, and you don’t need to. Start with the two or three things you’ll use every day.

If they suit your family, other easy additions are a reusable cup for coffee and juice, or a fabric bag that folds into a pocket.

5. Eat From Markets and Street Vendors

Some of our favourite food in Vietnam has come from street vendors: fresh fruit, juices and coconuts cut open in front of you. Louie can’t get enough of the coconuts.

Buying this way keeps money with local families. The food usually hasn’t travelled far, and it comes with less packaging if you bring your own bag.

We cook vegetarian at home, so markets do most of the work for our groceries. Our guide to vegetarian travel with kids covers where that’s easy, and where it isn’t.

💡 Tip: say no to the bag before the vendor reaches for one. A backpack or your own container makes that easy.

6. Recycle What You Can

We sort our cans and bottles in Vietnam, just as we did in the Netherlands, and they’re collected for recycling here too. There’s no deposit to claim back like the Dutch statiegeld, but it still feels good to keep them out of the general rubbish.

Recycling works differently from country to country, and sometimes from building to building. Ask your host how it works in your first week, before the bags pile up.

7. Respect the Places You Visit

Sustainable travel isn’t only about carbon. It’s also about being a good guest.

• Stay on marked trails when hiking, and take your rubbish with you.
• Skip photos with captive wild animals, and watch wildlife from a distance. Our guide to wildlife travel with kids has ideas for doing this well.
• Ask before photographing people, especially children.
• Dress respectfully at temples and religious sites.
• Learn a few words of the local language. Hello, thank you and no bag go a long way.

The Hard Parts: Water, Plastic and Flights

This is the bit most sustainable travel guides skip. Here’s where we’re still struggling.

Drinking Water in Asia

In much of Asia, you can’t drink the tap water. That means buying it, and in Vietnam that usually means plastic.

We haven’t solved this one. One thing that helped: our accommodation refilled a glass bottle for us to use for brushing teeth, which saved a pile of small plastic bottles.

A few more ways to reduce the pile:

• Buy the biggest bottles you can carry rather than lots of small ones.
• Ask about refill jugs. Many homes and offices in Vietnam use 19 or 20 litre jugs on a dispenser, and the empties are collected and reused.
• Fill your own bottles from the big one before you head out.

A standard filter jug like our Dutch one isn’t enough here. These jugs improve taste, but they aren’t designed to make unsafe tap water safe to drink.

Plastic Everywhere

The plastic in Vietnam is a lot to take in. Bags come with almost everything (more on that in our sustainable destinations guide), and plastic straws are still common. It’s a bit daunting, honestly.

Change is coming, slowly. Under Decree 08/2022, Vietnam began restricting the production and import of small non-biodegradable plastic bags from 1 January 2026. The government plans to stop the production and import of single-use plastics after 2030. Tourists have also been banned from bringing plastic bags to the Cham Islands, near Hoi An, since 2019.

Until then, saying no to bags and straws is a habit worth learning. Two phrases help: không cần túi (no bag needed) and không cần ống hút (no straw needed).

Flights and Carbon Offsets

Flying is our biggest footprint, and we know it. We don’t buy carbon offsets. We’d rather put our energy into flying less and staying longer.

Offsets fund projects like renewable energy or forest protection to balance out emissions. Quality varies, and some projects have been criticised for overstating their impact.

If you do want to offset, look for independently certified projects, and treat offsets as a top-up to cutting flights, not a replacement. The tools section below includes a free flight calculator and a non-profit offset provider.

Raising Kids Who Care (Without the Lectures)

We don’t run sustainability lessons. We teach Louie as things come up, and we try to lead by example.

Louie has noticed the places with lots of rubbish, and asked why. Those questions are the lesson. We talk about where rubbish goes, why some places collect it better than others and what we can do as visitors.

At two, Leo learns by copying. He sees us carry the snack containers and say no to bags, and for now that’s enough.

Ideas by Age

• Toddlers: let them carry their own snack box or water bottle, and put rubbish in the bin together.
• Primary age: answer the “why” questions honestly, let them choose and pay at the market, and get close to nature through reefs and the ocean.
• Tweens and teens: let them research the local recycling system or plastic rules, or join a beach clean-up. Our guide to volunteering abroad with kids has ideas.

👉 More on learning through travel: homeschooling while travelling and our worldschooling guide.

Communities for Low-Impact Nomad Families

Habits are easier to keep when you’re around people who share them. These are good places to start looking.

Giving Back and Ecovillages

• Nomads Giving Back: a community that connects nomads with local causes, scholarships and volunteering, with projects in places like Bali and Medellín.
• Global Ecovillage Network: a network of intentional communities around the world. Each ecovillage sets its own rules for visitors, so check whether families and longer stays are welcome.

Family Nomad Groups

• Worldschoolers (Facebook): one of the largest groups for families learning on the road.
• Digital Nomad Families (Facebook): useful for practical questions about destinations, schooling and daily life.

👉 Looking for families on the ground? Our Find Your Tribe directory lists hundreds of worldschooling hubs and communities.

Where to Start: Effort vs Impact

Not sure what to try first? This is our rough guide to where your effort goes furthest. It’s based on our own experience, not a measured footprint.

Our advice: pick one habit from the top of the list and two from the bottom. Then build from there.

Sustainable Family Travel: FAQs

Can you travel sustainably with young kids?

Yes, if you aim for better rather than perfect. Little ones pick up habits like snack containers and shopping bags quickly. The bigger wins come from parents: flying less, staying longer and choosing a place with a kitchen.

What’s the most sustainable way for a family to travel?

Slow travel. Fewer flights matter more than anything else, and longer stays make everyday habits like cooking, market shopping and walking much easier.

Can you drink the tap water in Vietnam?

It’s generally not recommended. Most families buy bottled water or use large refill jugs with a dispenser. Check current health advice for the area you’re staying in.

Is Vietnam banning single-use plastic?

Gradually. Restrictions on small non-biodegradable plastic bags started on 1 January 2026, and the government plans to stop the production and import of single-use plastics after 2030. Rules and timelines vary by city, so check local updates.

Are carbon offsets worth it for families?

They can help, but they’re no substitute for flying less. Quality varies a lot, so look for independent certification. Our family doesn’t use them.

What should be in a low-waste travel kit for kids?

Keep it simple: a water bottle, a snack container and a bag for shopping. Add a reusable cup if you buy a lot of drinks on the go. Anything you won’t use every day is just extra weight.

How do I get my kids interested in sustainability?

Answer their questions honestly and let them see you do it. Give them small jobs, like carrying their own container or choosing fruit at the market.

Our Takeaways: Better, Not Perfect

We’re not a zero-waste family, and living in Vietnam has made that very clear. Some weeks, the pile of water bottles in our recycling says more than any habit.

But the small things add up, and they rub off on the kids. Louie asks why there’s so much rubbish. Leo carries his own snack box. We buy coconuts from street vendors instead of juice in plastic.

If you’re thinking about this life, start with the big one: stay longer. Then pick two or three habits you’ll actually keep, and go easy on yourself about the rest. 🌱