Green Travel
Global citizenship and developing your skills internationally often comes with travelling. This might cause a conflict with sustainability. Small steps can make a difference, so take your responsibility.
At Fontys we want to be an example for our environment. We educate future generations and want to contribute to a sustainable society. We do this by by using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda of the United Nations as a framework to integrate sustainability into our education and research.
When travelling abroad you can make a big difference in carefully choosing your means of travel in order to minimize your footprint. On this page we provide tips and tricks.
For more information about Fontys for Sustainability visit the platform: inspire me!
Advantages of Green Travelling:
- Sustainability: less CO consumption, less noise, a more energy efficient way of travelling.
- Discover Europe: plan extra stops and see more of Europe than just your destination and the sky. Turn your journey into a vacation and meet different people from diverse cultural backgrounds on the way. Let the adventure start at your doorstep!
- The Experience: enjoy slow travelling or take a night train. You can easily use the time on board to read, sleep, watch a movie and engage with fellow travellers.
- Budgetwise: travelling by train or bus can be cheaper than by air, for example to cities in Germany, Poland or France.
- Luggage Flexibility: less luggage restrictions apply to a bus or train; you could even take your bike on the train too.
Train
Travelling by train can be a fast and comfortable alternative for the plane. The Netherlands is well connected to many destinations. You might consider the following companies: NSInternational, Bahn or Raileurope. Or try to buy an Interrail ticket. Make sure you also check days of the week that are less popular for a better price or book well in advance for a discount ticket! Trainline might be able to provide you with well-prized tickets.
Bus
Travelling by bus can be an afforable and easy alternative for the plane. The Netherlands is well connected to many destinations. Furthermore, the bus is a nice way to meet people travelling to the same destination. You might consider the following companies: FlixBus, Eurolines, OuiBus or Megabus. Make sure you also check days of the week that are less popular for a better price!
Carpool
Travelling by carpool can be an interesting alternative for the plane. You can meet-up with people that have a lot of information about your destination. You might consider the following companies: BlaBlaCar, Eurostop or Roadsharing. Or go for adventure and hitchhike to your destination. If you need to stay overnight somewhere you might find a place to stay on Couchsurfing.
Extra Erasmus+ grant
Students of Fontys that use train, bus or carpool on their 2-way trip to their destination will get €50 extra Erasmus+ scholarship. Next to that they will get up to 4 extra days of Erasmus+ scholarship for the possible extra travel days.
This is part of the European Green Deal. Sustainability is one of the main focus points of Erasmus+. The Dutch website of Erasmus+ created an inspirational E-zine that gives 7 tips on how to make your Erasmus experience more sustainable.
Plane
If you decide that the plane is the only option of reaching your destination consider these options to help the environment:
- Offset your carbon emissions.
- Travel to the nearby airport by bus or train, so you can book a non-stop flight from there.
- Avoid first-class travel, travelling first class with more legroom provides less seats on the flight and therefore increasing the CO2 emission for your trip.
- Pack lightly.
Green Stories
We will collect and share green travel experiences of students going abroad. Do you want to share your experience? Email studyabroad@fontys.nl