Global Initiatives
Every traveler needs a code of honour.
This is ours. When you travel with us, it’s yours too.
“I’m not from here” isn’t a thing. You’ll never hear a Free and Easy Traveler or employee say it, because we know that everything – and everyone – on this big, beautiful planet is connected.
That passport in your pocket is both a gift and an invitation. As you move through the world, the way you act and interact can create better places to live in and to visit. Accept your role as a world citizen graciously and take it all in—but give something back too.
Keep your eyes and minds wide open. Travel with wonder, awe and gratitude. But be aware that there is a dark side to travel and refuse to be a part of anything that degrades places, people or other living beings.
Small things become great. Individual actions become collective impacts and everything you do echoes widely. Strive to amplify the positive impacts of your presence and lessen the harmful ones.
This world of ours isn’t somebody else’s problem. It’s up to us to make a difference. Want clean beaches? Get cleaning. Love animals? Choose ethical animal experiences and let wildlife remain wild. Hate poverty? Buy local.
Travel moves us. It’s not just a change of location but a shift of consciousness too. The more of the world you see, the more you’ll see how you can change it for the better. Whether you’re picking up litter o your own front lawn or a far away beach, it’s about taking steps right where you stand.
Following your heart is good but leading with your mind is better—from minding your carbon footprint to having mindful interactions with everyone you encounter.
Protecting where you play is about giving a shit so we can do all the cool shit for years to come.
We all have our part to do. Everybody who travels with FnEZ becomes part of our mission to leave the places we visit a little bit better than we found them. Integrity is of the utmost importance to FnEZ, and we take seriously our responsibility to provide ethical and meaningful travel experiences. We do so by living the principles we preach, partnering with reputable organizations and supporting worthy projects and initiatives around the world.
Come travel with us and together we can live our new code of honour – Protect Where You Play.
Trash Hero
There is a sad reality in today’s world that the ocean is filled with trash, thousands of tons of trash. A lot of this trash washes up on beaches around the world and just sits there, so we’ve made it a point to completely clean up at least one beach on every one of our trips. This began with our partnership with Trash Hero on Koh Lipe, Thailand, when the beach clean-up day became one of the most fun and rewarding days of our trip. Inspired by their initiative, we instituted the beach clean-up game into our regular itineraries and have since collected tens of thousands of kilograms of trash from beaches around the world. Although this doesn’t solve the greater problem of the trash in our oceans it does allow us to put a small dent in it and give something back to the local communities living on these beaches.
ChildSafe
In many of the countries we travel to there is a large population of youth at risk to become victims of trafficking or unethical/forced business practices. To ensure we’re doing all we can we partnered with ChildSafe International, which is a renowned program that proactively protects children in countries around the world from abuse and exploitation. Our staff take the ChildSafe training program in Bangkok and have the knowledge and resources to not only spot the exploitation of children, but also to put an end to it by using the ChildSafe network who work with local authorities to arrest the guilty parties and guide the children towards a better future. Last year, reports from our staff helped lead authorities to the arrest of a human trafficker who was forcing kids to sell roses on Khao San Road!
Ethical Animal Treatment
Seeing local animals in the places we travel to is a huge draw for many people, and rightfully so as these beautiful creatures completely amaze us. We are given the privilege of entering their natural habitats and observing them living their lives in peace. However, unfortunately the popularity of seeing these animals often leads to exploitation and maltreatment and this is the last thing we ever want to see happen. We try extremely hard to be diligent with our research and not support any business that supports or contributes to the unethical treatment of animals. We do not want to see any animals locked in facilities without reason or put through any type of ‘breaking’ process in order to entertain tourists. By signing petitions like the Campaign Against Canned Hunting and removing elephant riding from our trips, we are always trying to find that balance between sharing with people the beauty of animals while not contributing to any form of unethical practices. Our hope is that by seeing these amazing animals on your travels, you will be inspired to contribute to their preservation and ability to live a free life in the wild.
Party for Prosthetics
Party for Prosthetics is a really cool initiative we implemented that turns the tabs from beer cans (theoretically all cans) into prosthetic limbs for people in need who have been dismembered from injury, disease, or war. We are partnered with an organization based out of Thailand called The Prostheses Foundation that has been doing this since the early 90’s - when we saw one of their donation bins we realized just how much we could contribute with our masterful beer consuming skills! On our trips - through a combo of beach day fun, travel day fun, and night time fun - we have been known to empty literally thousands of cans of beer into our guts, and now we are turning those parties into prosthetic limbs! This initiative adds even more zest to each cheers, shotgun, and beer bong, and fills us with a sense of pride as we gather the tabs over the course of each trip and see buckets fill with valuable little pieces of metal that are going to change someone’s life!