A couple committed to non-airplane travel since 2017. They've covered thousands of miles by bike and train and don't plan to go back in the air.

• Joshua Kian and Sarah Morgan quit flying because of the airline industry's environmental impact.
• The couple now travel predominantly by bike, but they also take trains and hitchhike.
• Their limited transportation options haven't stopped them from having thrilling adventures.

In October 2017, Joshua Kian and Sarah Morgan boarded a plane in Porto, Portugal, heading home to England.

Kian, now 32, and Morgan, now 29, had just spent the past 18 months traveling through Asia and visiting countries including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

"We weren't thinking this is the last flight we were going to take," Kian told Insider.

But so far, it has been just that.

Prior to the flight, Kian said, the couple had been in a months-long discussion centered on the environmental impact of their flights. They disembarked the plane, headed home, and decided to plan their next trip without flying.

One flightless trip turned into two, and five years later the couple haven't boarded a plane since.

They also haven't stopped traveling. Together, Kian and Morgan, who go by Josh and Sarah Ride on Instagram and YouTube, have explored every national park in the UK and traveled thousands of miles by bike, train, bus, hitchhiking, and ferry.

Kian said he and Morgan hadn't promised they wouldn't ever fly again but had decided flying would be their last option when it came to travel.

They've swapped planes for bikes and weekend trips for yearlong adventures. So far, Kian said, they haven't looked back.

A gradual decision to stop flying

From admiring waterfalls in Bali, Indonesia, to taking train rides across Sri Lanka, Kian and Morgan have visited five continents and more than 30 countries since they started dating over a decade ago.

"There's always been this burning desire to travel, which I've just never managed to properly itch," Kian said. "And I don't think it will ever really go away."

Specifically, the couple were drawn to outdoor experiences. And this interest in nature led to a desire to protect and preserve the environments they were visiting, Kian said.

Their first step was going vegan. About eight years ago, Kian and Morgan switched from a vegetarian to a vegan diet to help lower their carbon footprints. A two-week study by the BBC last year, for instance, found that a plant-based vegan diet yielded the lowest carbon emissions compared with vegetarians and omnivores.

As the pair continued to purchase plane tickets for their travel during those early years, they became increasingly aware of the airline industry's negative impact on the planet.

Air travel is one of the most carbon-intensive transportation methods, experts have previously told Insider. For example, planes can emit six times as much carbon per passenger mile as trains, according to a Time article citing Statista. If the aviation industry were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The more research the pair did, the more aware they became of the airline industry's harm. Kian said it became clear that the biggest thing they could do to lower their carbon footprints was to stop flying.

"I realized that a lot of the other decisions I was making in my life to live more sustainable, it was all being trumped if I took a long-distance flight in that year," he said.

A trip to Vietnam put that into perspective. Kian recalled going on runs through thick smog and thinking the exercise was perhaps doing more harm than good as he inhaled the fumes.

He also remembers realizing that his decision to fly to Vietnam was perhaps partially why he was running through smog in the first place, since planes release harmful pollutants into the air, Mongabay reports, and Kian no longer wanted to play a contributing role.

"It was the first time we really, really saw environmental impacts firsthand," he said.

The decision to quit flying was a gradual transition, Kian said. There wasn't one aha moment when they made the choice. Instead, they got home and embarked on a journey on bikes instead of planes. Bikes were a natural transportation option since both Kian and Morgan grew up in cycling-friendly cities and didn't have driver's licenses.

"We just thought we will see how we can do on bikes, and we've never really looked back," he said. "It's massively changed our lives, but all for the positive."

Giving up flying has encouraged the couple's sense of adventure

Today, the couple predominantly cycle, but they also take trains, buses, and ferries. They typically pack all their gear — a tent, clothes, food — on their bikes and set off on adventures either close to their home in North West England or in places like Scotland, Wales, France, and Switzerland.

To get to those farther destinations, the couple first bike to the nearest train station, which is about an 8-mile, uphill route from their home.

But beyond the literal uphill battle, one of the biggest changes the couple have faced since they stopped flying is the pace of the trips.

Weekend getaways involving planes were easier to plan — on bikes, their trips typically take longer to map out and even longer to execute.

"Maybe someone could fly to India and travel there for a month, whereas we will spend a year cycling there and have that trip as a bigger lifestyle choice rather than just a holiday or trip," he said.

One of their first trips after Portugal was accomplishing the UK's National Three Peaks Challenge. To complete the challenge, a person climbs the highest mountains in England, Scotland, and Wales within 24 hours.

Participants are typically driven from mountain to mountain, but Kian and Morgan decided to do it on bikes.

Completing the challenge by bike in 24 hours would've been impossible, Kian said, so instead, the pair did it over five days.

"It was absolutely incredible, but also we were physically pretty destroyed," Kian said.

Kian said he had a newfound appreciation for overland travel since giving up flying. Getting to see landscapes change from the seat of a train or bike is a different experience from watching white clouds through a plane window, he said.

New transportation methods have also provided the couple with experiences they never would've had if they were flying.

For example, the couple planned a yearlong bike journey from England to India. But when they reached the Alps, they got "massively sidetracked," Kian said. The region's culture, mountaineering opportunities, and friendly folks enticed them to stay, and they abandoned their plans for India. It's a decision they don't regret.

"That never would've happened if we just jumped on the plane," Kian said. "There are so many things you're just flying over, and we enjoy stumbling across them rather than going right over them."

Kian said switching from planes to more sustainable transportation options hadn't limited their opportunities to explore. If anything, it's widened them.

Since 2017, the couple have traveled thousands of miles by bike. They've predominantly explored the UK and discovered nature that's been at their doorstep all along.

The couple haven't promised to never fly again, but they encourage others to limit plane travel

Kian says he realizes not everyone can do what he and Morgan are doing. Some people need to travel long distances quickly for work, and not everyone has a job that allows for the flexibility of longer trips.

And even with a lifestyle that caters to avoiding planes, the couple haven't promised they won't ever fly again.

"If we said we'll never fly again, then inevitably, there probably will come a time when we need to and then we'll feel pretty rubbish," Kian said. "I think having really rigid and strict rules is probably not the best approach."

That's Kian's advice for others, too.

He suggests thinking about how you can limit flying and make a gradual shift to a no-flying lifestyle. That might mean taking only one long-haul flight a year or turning a trip that might have six flights into one that has two.

And consider exploring your own region more, he said.

"Anywhere you live, you're going to have things at your doorstep, and there's a real beauty to that," Kian said.

Kian said he and Morgan were still determined to get to India on bikes, and in the meantime they'll be traveling around the UK.

"I'm happier to adapt and still travel just as far," Kian said. "But now I fit that into a lifestyle that has a lower impact."

In case you missed it, watch a replay of Insider's One Planet virtual event with activist and artist Elijah McKenzie-Jackson.