Using A Reusable Water Bottle For Travel – Plastic Free-ish Challenge Swap #4

Welcome back to the plastic free-ish challenge. Last month I gave up plastic water bottles. Eeek this might have been the hardest change for me. I have focused the post on using a reusable water bottle specifically for travel. It’s not a challenge to not use plastic water bottles at home – I’m assuming you have cups. I burn through a lot of plastic water bottles when I travel though. I am embarrassed to admit that I have used way too many every time. This was the challenge for me and it’s what I had to overcome this month. Here’s my recap for April and how it all went.

Using A Reusable Water Bottle For Travel

Disclaimer

There are affiliate links included in this post. This means at no extra cost to you, I earn a commission if you book through the link.

My water bottle needs

When I was looking into a water bottle to buy for this challenge, I knew I wanted to be mindful of my needs. That’s the only way I could make sure it would be something I actually use.

My water bottle needs were:

• Hold at least one liter
• Insulation to keep it cold
• Be as lightweight as possible (I usually travel with carry-on baggage only)

What I bought

After looking over a few options, I chose a bottle from Klean Kanteen and I went with the Insulated Classic in 32oz size (just under one liter). This bottle seemed to be the best balance for my three needs.

How it went – airport failure

I’ll be really honest, it was hard at first.

On day one of travel, I ended up taking a plastic water bottle from the lounge at the airport because I couldn’t find a water bubbler to fill up with. I even asked the staff at the lounge if they could fill up my bottle using a tap from the kitchen and they said no.

Turns out this was mostly a case of an airport not set up for filling water bottles easily because I’ve been to five airports since then and they’ve all had bubblers so it was easy to fill my bottle when I needed at those.

I think airports are the trickiest part of making the switch. When I posted it on Instagram some DM’s I got with ideas on what to do when there are no bubblers were:

• Cafes – buy a snack or something and ask them to fill up the bottle
• Toilet – taps in the toilet

I also took a train trip to Germany and it was much easier since I could bring the liquids on the train as well as fill up at the connecting stations.

Building the habit

The only other issue I encountered was when I started the trip to New Zealand I noticed I wasn’t drinking as much water as usual. I just wasn’t used to filling up my bottle and always having it with me but as the trip (and subsequent trips) went on I’ve noticed the habit of always filling up and taking it with me has developed.

That hurdle was just a case of building the habits and I just had to keep reminding myself before I left for the day ‘did you bring your water bottle Katie?’

Going to New Zealand and Iceland did make it easy for my first time traveling with a reusable water bottle because they are both quite eco-friendly destinations with lots of taps and bubblers around the place and they both had tap water safe to drink.

That’s a bag of fresh NZ feijoas in the background – make sure you try some when you visit!

Pros

For an insulated bottle, the Klean Kanteen is very lightweight compared to other brands I’ve tried. If the insulation is something you’re looking for in a travel water bottle, this is a good one.

It keeps drinks cold for ages. Again, this isn’t important for everyone but it’s something I love about it because I love drinking cold water. I’ve been able to fill it up with ice water and drink chilled water while I’m out and about.

It has a chip-resistant Klean Coat™ coating which makes it durable enough to handle traveling and outdoor adventures – you know the travel and adventure experience can be hard on your stuff so that’s handy. I couldn’t do a glass water bottle for this reason because I needed something that would be pretty durable.

Cons

It’s not the lightest that you can find so if you need to be really strict on weight, it wouldn’t be the best for you. Instead, you might want to get a collapsible one like this however that won’t have any insulation. Personally, I took on having a little heavier bottle in exchange for insulation. I was still able to pack a carry-on for both trips, but it’s something to keep in mind.

If you travel to a country where the water is not safe to drink the Klean Kanteen wouldn’t be useful as it doesn’t have any filtration. Perhaps a bottle like the GRAYL would be more suited or perhaps just stick to bottled water for those trips.

My plastic water bottle use going forward

When it comes to traveling, I will continue taking a reusable water bottle with me from now on! (woah I never thought I’d say that!)

I haven’t decided what I am going to do for trips where the tap water is not safe to drink just yet but will update this next time I take one. It may be the case that I use plastic water bottles on those trips to eliminate the risk of getting sick, but I’m not sure if I will do that or buy a filter.

The only other times I see myself using a plastic water bottle is in special circumstances. For example, when I did the campervan road trip around Iceland this month, I bought two big bottles of water (1.5L) as soon as I arrived. I still used my Klean Kanteen for my own drinking but the bottles I bought were to have water to cook with and for emergencies in case of a breakdown or something. I was able to refill them as I used them and recycled them at the end of the trip. Sure, it’s not perfectly plastic free. It’s a work around though since I couldn’t pack my own large jugs in my backpack. I don’t do camping trips often so that’s how I’m finding balance there.

Cost Comparison

The bottle I got cost $36.95 and you will pay for shipping to wherever you live. You should come under the $50 monthly budget.

Budget progress

My annual budget for this challenge is $600. So far I have $449.03 remaining. I’m under budget at this stage and still saving extra for the more expensive months.

Overall

I am so glad to have made the change to using a reusable water bottle when I travel. Choosing the Klean Kanteen bottle which made it much easier for me too. It went from being a foreign thing I wasn’t sure about, to my little buddy that I take with me everywhere!

If you are thinking of ditching plastic water bottles, I think it’s important to figure out what you really need from it to make sure it’s something you will use. Then set the goal and stick to it. Even if you mess up sometimes don’t let it stop you because every little bit helps!

For more information:

Visit the Klean Kanteen website and follow them on Instagram for updates.