The not-so-green traveler

Yawn. I just got back last night from a few days in Florida, celebrating my grandmother's 97th birthday. I flew down with just my mom and brother (no kids!) and realized that I am completely out of my green element beyond Portland. For one, I haven't done much traveling since the kids came along, so I'm out of practice. For two, I never realized how my green lifestyle practices directly relate to my day-to-day home life. When I'm out of my element, man am I out of it. Here are a few things I've learned for the next time I travel:

• It's OK to bring your own water bottle, just fill it up after you go through security at either a drinking fountain or a soda fountain (using the water lever). There is no need to buy bottled water at the airport convenience stores!
• Pack your own food. I still thought they served cardboard sandwiches on airplanes (silly me). No, they give you several small packets of peanuts or pretzels, or crackers with spreadable cheese. Blehrg. Plus those little packets generate a ton of waste! Pack a sandwich, fruit, nuts, whatever you'd typically eat in reusable containers.
• Bring along a reusable shopping bag. Never occurred to me to do this! We stayed at my grandma's house, so we did all the grocery shopping, which of course was packed into plastic grocery bags. I've got to get a couple of those bags that stuff down into tiny purse-sized packets -- they would have been perfect! Something like the ChicoBag, or even these cute Flip & Tumble bags would be ideal. Plus, even if you're traveling somewhere where you're not grocery shopping...chances are you're doing some type of shopping.
• Some things are just beyond one's control. They did have curbside recycling in my grandmother's town, but not our fantastic plastics recycling round-ups! We threw away a lot of plastic, which was hard. If we'd been driving, I might have brought it home with me, but not packing it on the airplane. Most of the produce in the local grocery store was packaged in plastic and styrofoam, which was shocking and eye-opening. It's easy to forget that most of the country isn't as progressive as Portland. But the local paper had a lot of articles about green changes and programs forthcoming, so there is hope!
• As an aside, just let me tell you, an airplane bathroom is the perfect place to change a Diva Cup. You can sit on the toilet and rinse it in the sink all at the same time! I typically would never use an airplane bathroom, but now I see at least one advantage. The Diva Cup performed beautifully once again, by the way.

Jet lag is forcing me to cut this short. Any other green tips that you've learned while traveling? (I've heard horror stories of people who've rented a Prius for the first time, only to be stranded in the rental lot because they couldn't figure out how to start it!)