getting there

flight bookings

Wonderful World will take care of all aspects of your holiday and are therefore happy to arrange your flights for you if you would like us to do this. You may, however, prefer to book them independently. Upon request, we will provide you with recommended airlines that currently serve the nearest airports to each Wonderful World holiday from the UK.

If you do book your flights independently, we ask that you arrange your flights prior to making your booking with us and do please check that you are insured as you are not covered by the airline for most individual internet bookings.

flying and the environment

Air travel is a significant part of our ecological footprint: by taking one return flight to New York, you’ll be emitting as much carbon dioxide as you would by driving an average car for a year. Your flight will be the largest environmental impact of your holiday.

Wonderful World is committed to reducing this negative impact as much as possible. We have teamed up with an environmental organisation, Climate Care, to help our clients offset the environmental cost of their trips. Climate Care funds sustainable energy and forest restoration projects that reduce carbon dioxide on your behalf, by the same amount as your share of the plane emits.

Wonderful World clients will be offered the choice of paying a small surcharge in order to offset the CO2 emissions of their air travel. (We have worked out the 'climate cost' of each of our destinations - long haul obviously costs more than short haul). The money raised is then passed to Climate Care, which works as a repair service for the climate - it runs a variety of projects that reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, thus making your trip 'climate neutral'. The Climate Care surcharge will appear on your invoice, but you have the option not to pay - rather like the service charge in a restaurant.

Climate Care's projects are located in the developing world. The projects avoid, reduce or absorb greenhouse gases by either: promoting renewable energy (cutting out fossil fuels); promoting energy efficiency (applying technologies that use less energy); or reforestation (absorbing and storing CO2).

Climate Care's projects make a real difference to the climate, to communities and to the local environment. All projects are monitored and verified by a third party to ensure the highest standards of environmental integrity. Examples include a project in India to help schools move on to renewable cooking fuel and a project in Uganda that is restoring the rainforest in Kibale National Park.

overland

Although carbon-offsetting is a useful tool, it doesn’t offer a complete solution to the problems of flying. The bottom line is we should all be trying to reduce carbon emissions directly by flying less and making other significant changes to our lifestyles to decrease our individual carbon output.

We believe travelling more responsibily is a balancing act. Travelling by public transport is not only more environmentally friendly, it can also give you much more of a feel for the country than if you speed in by aeroplane. Many countries have high speed rail links between cities as well as slower regional lines to get to more remote areas. Travel is not just about arriving, but also enjoying the journey: Slow Tourism, if you like. If you are feeling more adventurous and travelling within Europe, you could try making overland travel a feature of your trip, www.seat61.com is an excellent resource for details on train travel on the continent. If you would like us to make the necessary arrangements for you please let us know and we will be happy to plan your journey and book your tickets for you.