Guest of the week: Linda Engström, conscious traveller

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Linda Engström loves travelling and started 2016 by travelling 100 days around the world in 15 different countries. While making many exciting trips, she thinks a lot about the footprints we leave when we travel - both positive and negative. In today's interview, Linda gives tips on how to travel in a more environmentally conscious way and in a way that benefits the local population.

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Linda also talks about her initiative "The Travel Percentage" - a way to contribute to a slightly better world while travelling. If you want to follow Linda's exciting travels, and at the same time read about reflections on conscious travelling, you should follow Linda's travel blog. Travelling consciously.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Who are you and what do you do on a daily basis?

I'm always looking for new challenges even though I like to stay within my comfort zone. I think I love travelling for that very reason. For me, travelling is about being challenged while having full confidence in my own ability to handle difficulties. I've managed to get through border controls in East Africa alone and arrive in Barcelona without the contact details of the people I'm meeting. My interest in travelling has increased every year, sometimes I wonder when it will peak or turn...

I grew up in a small village in Västerbotten but since 2009 I have been living in Stockholm and I still find it difficult to define myself; I don't feel like a full-fledged Stockholmian or Västerbottenian. I work as head of department at the non-profit organisation IOGT-NTO where I am responsible for communication and advocacy, a job that is more of a lifestyle than a job and also the organisation where I have been able to express a large part of my commitment and personal development. In addition to working and travelling (which is a very big part of my life), I enjoy spending time with my partner Erik and my friends, riding and exercising.

As a person, I am goal-oriented, structured and enjoy a fast pace. I have followed Idol and Farmer's Wife since season one, eat dark chocolate because it is healthy and love to dance. I am usually described as trustworthy and relationship-wise, two qualities I am more than happy to brag about!

What does conscious travelling mean to you?

Being mindful is not about being perfect or not making the slightest negative impact. Awareness is about reflecting on how I travel and where I travel. Realise my privileges as a white and Swedish person and the responsibility I have as a traveller for how I represent my country or how and what I tell about the places I have visited when I return home.

With my travel blog 155cm.se, I have no ambition to tell people what is right and wrong. Instead, I want to get more people to think, reflect and make active choices. To change the world for the better, which has always been my driving force, we need to increase knowledge and create insights that lead to changed behaviour. If my blog can provide new perspectives that make more people reflect and travel in a more conscious way, then I have reached my goal.

Does travelling always have to involve some kind of ethical conflict or can travelling also contribute positively to the environment or the economy, for example?

If I thought that travelling brought more bad than good things, I wouldn't be travelling to the extent that I do, so for me it is obvious that travelling contributes to something positive. It is not all positive and travelling is full of ethical conflicts and balancing acts. The risk of going wrong is imminent.

We should never, ever turn a blind eye to the negative environmental impact of travelling. However, we need to constantly remind ourselves of what the world would look like without travelling. All the jobs created by tourism, all the exchanges between people, all the development created when different people put their heads together are all consequences of people travelling.

When I was younger I saw the world in black and white, but over the years I see more and more colours. Travelling has ugly downsides but also irreplaceable upsides. For me it is not about travelling more or less, for me it is about travelling in a better way.

What are your best tips for travelling in an environmentally conscious way?

1. Prioritising. We all need to reduce our environmental impact, and if you are a person who loves travelling, flying less may not seem so appealing. Instead, you can choose not to own a car, eat vegetarian, donate money to environmental research or technological development, or consume less (reduce food waste, buy second-hand, recycle technology, etc.).
2. Choose your flights with care. Different airlines have different amounts of environmentally unfriendly aircraft, choose direct flights rather than stopovers even if it's a bit more expensive and take the train when you can, especially within Sweden (you may have to sacrifice two hours of your life for the sake of the environment).
3. Read on. There are many organisations that have worked on animal, nature and environmental issues. Set aside half an hour each week to browse a new website. Learn the facts, statistics and arguments and then talk to people about the interesting things you learn. We create a more aware world when more people understand and care.

What are your best tips for travelling in a way that benefits local people?

1. How do you view the local population? If you want to travel in a way that is good for the local population, it is in my opinion most important that you think about how you see and treat the locals. You are a guest in their country, they are many who work hard to make your holiday as good as possible and being nice and treating them as fellow human beings rather than working robots may seem obvious even if the reality is not.
2. Do you have to win every negotiation? Not haggling unnecessarily and tipping are two ways that can benefit the local population. Of course, no tourist wants to pay an exorbitantly high price, but all too often we argue about 30 crowns, which for us travellers is a piss in the ocean of the total travel budget, while for the seller and his family it is a whole meal.
3. Do you dare to take a chance on something where you don't know exactly what you will get? The more classic ones are choosing local restaurants over international chains, choosing smaller hotels over all-inclusive ones, asking for collective agreements or booking excursions directly with local operators instead of big booking companies. Large multinational corporations are certainly not all bad, often it is thanks to the big chains that a neighbourhood or city can flourish as they attract tourists and also create jobs for those living in the city. Here again, it is important to recognise that different activities have different consequences.

You have launched an initiative called 'Travel Percentage'. Tell us about it!

The Travel Percentage is about giving one percent of your travel budget to a person, organisation or business in order to create opportunities for more people to see the world. The initiative is open to everyone and goes by the hashtag #reseprocenten in Swedish and #travelshare in English. I'm trying to catch everyone who gives money within the framework of the Travel Percentage, so please get in touch if you give a donation.

We are all different and for me, who has spent my whole life making the world a better place, it would be unthinkable to run a travel blog that is all about luxury and glamour. I want to use one of my biggest interests, travelling, to add value.

Where have you travelled recently and what are your planned destinations?

2016 has been my biggest year of travelling so far. I started with 100 days around the world in 15 different countries and have since visited five European capitals. Next up is a combined business and leisure trip to Sri Lanka and then my partner and I will embark on our next big adventure around the turn of the year, a month in southern Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Finally, a question we ask everyone we interview: What is your dream destination?

I don't have a particular place I want to go to more than any other. I am rather looking for a feeling. I'm looking for a break from my everyday life where I can have quality time with myself and my travelling companion, and the opportunity to reflect through all the new perspectives that travelling provides. If I'm going to dream anyway Mongolia, Vietnam and Antarctica high on the list.

Thank you Linda Engström for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

Top photo: Linda Engström along highway one on the west coast of the USA.

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