Eco-cruising
Home » Blog » Holly Jean Brooker » Eco-cruisingHolly Jean Brooker moves to Australia, and scouts out the best eco-friendly land transport deals for her travels.
Photo by Michael Caven via Flickr
Last week Rico and I landed in Brisbane, on a planned five-day holiday to catch up with some of my favourite people who I seldom get to see. Our five-day stopover ended up being ten days, as my eardrum burst on the flight to Brisbane. Painful? Yes. Annoying? Yes. But on a positive note, on doctor's orders I was forced to stay another week for my sinus infection and perforation to heal. We made the most of our extended holiday, laxing out at Surfers Paradise, eating gelato, strolling the South Bank, trawling through the markets, eating good food and most of all, relaxing.
When planning the land transport component of our trip before leaving NZ, we knew that with planned hospital visits to see a sister, and traveling between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, we would need reliable transport. There are myriad travel options to consider when traveling, whether it be using public transport such as trains, buses, taxis and trams, biking or using a rental car—or more impractical options such as blow-carting, scootering, skate-boarding or walking! It comes down to personal choice and what is most practical for your holiday plans.
When staying in a big city and traveling between a number of places over a short space of time, a rental car can be the best option in terms of accessibility, reliability and affordability. If rental car is the best option for you, it's worth looking into the ‘green’ rental cars on offer.
DriveNow offers a rental booking system in New Zealand and Australia, which compares the major car rental brands: Europcar, Avis, Hertz, Budget and Thrifty, so you can get the best deal. On top of finding a bargain, there's a new section called 'Green Cars', where you can choose to book a green car, giving you some reassurance that you're playing some part in reducing your environmental impacts while traveling.
According to DriveNow:
"In a commitment to lower carbon emissions, Europcar, Avis, Budget, Hertz, and Thrifty have all added Toyota's fuel efficient Prius to their fleet of rental vehicles.
The Toyota Prius is an ultra low carbon emissions hybrid car which uses petrol/electric technology, making it one of the most environmentally friendly cars on the market. The Prius switches between petrol and electric power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.”
Europcar Australia has also partnered with GreenFleet, a non-profit organisation that offsets carbon emissions for each vehicle added to Europcar's fleet. For every new car added, 17 native trees are planted by GreenFleet to absorb the greenhouse gases produced in a year.
Now I have to admit—green cars certainly aren’t the hottest, most pimped out vehicles to hit the street, especially if you're wanting to strut your stuff around Surfers Paradise. However, they certainly run smoothly, reliably and cleanly on the road. I was very impressed by both the service of DriveNow's booking team and the green car I chose to drive. So much so that I would totally roll green again.
If you can’t drive in style, drive in eco-style.
