One of my favourite things to do is hop on a flight with my backpack in hand ready to discover a new corner of the world. When I first did this 8 years ago when I was 22 my impact on the world around me was not something I thought about. It wasn’t that I didn’t care but I just wasn’t aware. I was oblivious. I suppose in part this was because I had moved to Korea – a fairly wealthy country so despite cultural differences my lifestyle had not changed much.
It was 5 years later when I caught my flight to Bangkok, Thailand that I felt more conscious of my decisions as a tourist and how I was going to spend my money. This was not just about the environment but also the types of industries I was supporting. Exploitation is rampant in so many of the countries in South East Asia.