‘I’m looking forward to it’: Greta Thunberg hitches a ride to UN climate conference with Aussie family

An Australian family of YouTube travel vloggers has set sail with Greta Thunberg on a massive journey to reach a UN climate conference.

An Australian family will give Greta Thunberg a ride to Madrid.

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has set sail with an Australian YouTube travel-blogging family who are helping her get to the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Thunberg, 16, departed the US state of Virginia at 8am on Wednesday (11pm AEDT) aboard La Vagabonde. The 15-metre catamaran is owned by Australian couple Elayna Carausu and Riley Whitelum.

The pairs’s 11-month-old son Lenny will also be joining them on the 5900km journey to Madrid, as well as Thunberg’s father Svante and UK skipper Nikki Henderson.

The team will need to get Thunberg – who is synonymous with the School Climate Strikes and once sailed from Plymouth, England, to New York to attend a climate conference – to Madrid by December 2 in order to make the first day of the UN summit.

Greta Thunberg (centre) Australians Elayna Carausu (left holding her young son) and Riley Whitelum (right) as well as UK skipper Nikki Henderson. Picture: Instagram

“We sail for home!” Thunberg, who only travels by low-carbon emissions means, tweeted to her 2.96 million followers.

Mr Whitelum tweeted: “We successfully left the shores of Virginia this morning and on our way across the Atlantic with @GretaThunberg @NikkiHenderson.”

He also imparted some knowledge with Thunberg, sharing on Instagram a video of him explaining how to tie a bowline - a bow used to keep the sail pulled tight when the yacht is sailing into the wind.

“Teaching @gretathunberg to tie a bowline. This is going to be an epic trip! Feeling really confident,” he captioned the video.

Their departure was met with chilly conditions, with Ms Henderson sharing a snap of ice on the yacht’s deck.

“Just because the climate is getting warmer on average doesn’t mean it isn’t freezing cold some places! Ice on the deck and snow in the air sailing out onto the Chesapeake. Reminds me of the North Pacific,” she wrote, accompanied by climate action hashtag.

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The Australian couple boast over boast more than 500,000 Instagram followers combined and have over a million subscribers to their YouTube channel, where they frequently vlog about their travels over the past four years.

Whitelum, who hails from South Australia met Carausu, from Western Australia, in Greece after he bought La Vagabonde in Italy on a whim and sailed to the Mediterranean nation.

After knowing each other for just a few weeks, they decided to embark on the adventure together and have since sailed 167,400km.

It might look like an easy life on the sea, but the Aussie family claim they have suffered everything from equipment failures to pirate scares. Picture: Instagram

Carausu and Whitelum said they were looking forward to arriving in Europe. Picture: Instagram

“So happy to say I’ll hopefully make it to COP25 in Madrid. I’ve been offered a ride from Virginia on the 48ft catamaran La Vagabonde. Australians @Sailing_LaVaga, Elayna Carausu & @_NikkiHenderson from England will take me across the Atlantic,” Thunberg tweeted.

Whitelum and Carausu – who claim they’ve encountered everything from equipment failures to pirate scares while living life on the sea – said they were looking forward to the journey to Madrid.

Riley Whitelum with son Lenny on their boat. Picture: Instagram

Elayna Carausu with Lenny, who have become YouTube stars. Picture: Instagram

“Guess what. We’re about to sail @gretathunberg across the Atlantic. 3200nm, with captain @riley.whitelum and crew @_nikkihenderson (and of course @lenny.lavagabonde). A spontaneous decision to move our home across the other side of the ocean, but I mean we love Europe so we’re looking forward to some Caldo Verde (kale soup) upon arrival,” Carausu captioned a Instagram snap of the crew.

The family have more than one million subscribers to their YouTube channel. Picture: Instagram

La Vagabonde leaves little to no carbon footprint, boasting solar panels and a hydro-generators for power. It also has a toilet, unlike the boat on which she sailed from the United Kingdom to New York in August. That one only had a bucket.

Elayna Carausu with Riley Whitelum and son Lenny. Picture: Instagram

Elayna Carausu and Riley Whitelum with their son Lenny enjoying their travels. Picture: Instagram

“There are countless people around the world who don’t have access to a toilet,” she said about the upgrade.

“It’s not that important. But it’s nice to have.”

Thunberg, 16, will need to make it to Madrid by December 2 for the first day of the UN climate conference. Picture: AFP

As she spoke on Tuesday (local time), the temperature had dipped into the 30s (-1 degrees celsius) as sleet turned into light snow.

But Thunberg, who refuses to fly because of the carbon price of plane travel, didn’t seem bothered.

“I’m looking forward to it, just to be able to get away and recap everything and to just be disconnected,” she said.

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Thunberg just finished a nearly three-month trip through North America, where she gave an impassioned speech before the United Nations and took part in climate strike rallies and protests from California to Colorado to North Carolina.

She’s become a symbol of a growing movement of young climate activists after leading weekly school strikes in Sweden that inspired similar actions in about 100 cities worldwide.

You will be able to follow their journey here once they set sail.

Originally published as ‘I’m looking forward to it’: Greta Thunberg hitches a ride to UN climate conference with Aussie family