Sustainable Travel Tips and Advice from Family Travel Expert Stephanie Frias

Stephanie Frias didn’t grow up as an eco traveler. Or a traveler, for that matter.

“My family didn’t travel much when I was younger,” she says, “so when I was 17, I flew the coop!” 

Frias went to Arizona and California, the former full of natural splendor that ignited her wanderlust and the latter where she met the man (Carlos) who would become her husband.

“Carlos was from Ecuador and had such a strong spirit of adventure,” she says. She was drawn to his warmth and affable nature around strangers (“I’m much more reserved,” she says) and the adventurous life he wanted to live. They married and had two kids, and while the couple had traveled together, Stephanie says the adventure really began after they had kids.  

“They were 1 and 3 when we decided to move to Ecuador,” she says. “That launched us into a different dimension.”

The couple arrived in Ecuador with the intention of living there, putting down roots. But, says Stephanie, smiling, “Ecuador brought out the wanderlust in us.” 

Ecuador brought out the wanderlust in us.

After a year of living in Ecuador, the couple decided to pack everything into a Land Cruiser and be nomadic. This is when, as Stephanie says, she fell into sustainable travel.

“We wanted to see as many wild places as we could,” says Stephanie. The couple decided to spend as much time in nature together, as a family, as possible—without all the distractions of the modern world. They gravitated toward local tourism: farms, national parks, small businesses, becoming “accidental eco travelers” through the process. 

Carlos’ gift for gab was great for getting local recommendations or asking for directions. Stephanie, quieter, found her place writing about their adventures, so people could follow along. “We were doing eco-tourism” she says, “before knowing that’s what it was.”

Then the pandemic hit and tourism and travel became much more difficult. So the Frias family moved back to the U.S., putting down roots in Iowa. 

The exploring didn’t stop, however. “Coming back here, I want my kids to know the Midwest and the U.S. the way they knew South America,” she says. This meant being more intentional about travel; approaching travel with the mindset of an eco tourist. “We decided to take the kids to local farms and parks,” she says. “The singular thing that always resonates with [the kids] is spending time together in nature and connecting with people—the people in a place.”

Approaching travel in this way is naturally more environmentally conscious. Stephanie loves discovering the great beauty of the Midwest, seeking out national parks and natural wonders. “The Midwest is so underrated,” she says, “there are so many amazing parks here that no one knows about and because of that, they are less crowded.” 

She adores the woods and lakes of Michigan and Wisconsin and is enchanted by the Midwest’s European history: “If you follow the Mississippi River all the way down, you find so much historic relevance and charming towns!” Her favorite place in the Midwest is the Keweenaw Peninsula in Upper Michigan. “It’s such a hidden gem; very remote and sparsely populated. There’s an opportunity to go completely off grid [here] while traveling—the quintessential old school road trip with a physical map and no cell service.”

The pull of technology and material things is strong, Stephanie says, and she never wants her kids to feel stuck by their lifestyle. “The kids see me taking pictures and documenting their adventures from my phone,” she says, which makes it difficult to turn around and tell them they can’t use phones. So Stephanie lets the kids stay connected and doesn’t implement any hard-and-fast rules, but, she says with a wry smile, “I strategically plan my trips knowing we will enter pockets of ‘no cell’ service, no Wi-Fi.” 

Because for Stephanie, eco-tourism is about reconnecting: reconnecting with nature, with each other, with Mother Earth. When you seek out these connections, all the noise and stuff of life fades away. “There is something about driving down the world and leaving everything behind that is really impactful for connection,” says Stephanie, who adds that this form of exploration is not as difficult as people would think.

“The single most important thing that let me adopt sustainable tourism is my mindset,” says Stephanie, “and this is something I want people to know it’s in them to do, too.”

This article is part of our Known Traveler series where we highlight creators who share inspiring travel and lifestyle content. Check out the full edition for Eco Explorers.