Baltics cycling tour, Vilnius to Tallinn

Planet

This is a biking tour so the majority of time is spent either on two wheels or two feet helping to keep the emissions produced on the trip down. We also eat locally produced wherever possible to keep food miles in check.

Sourcing locally grown or produced food (with lower food miles) - this tour is organised in agricultural countries, which produce a lot of local food products; and for dinners booked in advance we always choose menus including more locally grown products and traditional dishes.

Offering vegetarian/plant-based and low dairy foods (which reduce CO2 emissions). We always offer for dinners a vegetarian menu as an option. Tourists should inform us in advance about this choice that we could inform hotels and restaurants (in order not to waste food products if informed too late);

Reducing energy use in our office which is now established in energy efficient building: heating in winter is controlled depending to weather conditions; in summer we don't use air conditioning - instead we use horizontal blinds to close windows from outside; low energy bulbs, etc

Hiring local staff and guides to reduce international travel - For this tour we employ local cycling tour guides from Lithuania or nearby, who live and know her/his own country and neighbouring countries; and who live close to the starting/finishing place of the tour;

Our tour guides travel to the starting place and from the finish place of the tour using the same bus/minibus used for the tour or using ground public transport (buses or trains) instead of using flights;

We aim to minimise water and atmospheric pollution from any specific tourism development we use.

- All these guided groups travel by bus or minibus, while rental bikes are transported in trailer (not by separated motorised vehicle). To decrease the air pollution, we choose to work with transport companies offering newer, energy-efficient vehicles.

Reducing waste: We aim to achieve zero litter policies everywhere. Therefore we encourage travelers to avoid disposable plastic and to recycle. On this guided cycle tour we provide our customers with reusable plastic bottles for drinking water which we supply free of charge from big bottles re-filled by a local company.

- We recommend going off the beaten track, getting extraordinary travel experiences in the pristine nature and leaving it untouched afterwards. On the Curonian Spit in Lithuania we include visit to the Dead Dunes - walking on a special wooden path (bonus for all participants). By paying a fee we support the Curonian Spit National Park administration which gets low funding from the state!

People

- for this tour we employ local tour guides from Lithuania or Latvia, who live and know her/his own country and neighbouring countries;

- on this trips we hiring local guides in big cities who support our tour leaders with their local knowledge,

- on this trip we always include visits to museums and galleries of local handicrafts with preference to small family owned places, for example, amber gallery in Nida, Lithuania, or bicycle museum in Saulkrasti, Latvia, or Angla windmill park in Saaremaa Island, Estonia;

- on this tour we prefer accommodating our guests at local hotels rather than in international chain hotels;

- we offer locally produced food, for example, where it is possible our staff or tour leaders organise picnic meals served by local people in their homesteads, and in general support the travelers' interest in the local cultures (one picnic lunch in private homestead in Vente, Lithuania, is included);