Vegan 101: How to Travel Like a Vegan Pro

As promised in my “How I learned to go vegan” post I am bringing you a Vegan 101 series to help the new (and “old”) vegan on his/her journey.

Today I am thrilled to share a fabulous guest post from Jill of Vegan Backpacker.

Jill is the author of the Vegan Backpacker blog, where she is working hard to debunk the myth that it’s difficult to eat vegan while traveling. Her travels have taken her to the United States, South America, Costa Rica, Thailand, Japan and many countries in Europe.

I have turned to this blog numerous times to prepare and plan for trips.  Concerned about eating vegan on the road? Worry no longer. Check out these great tips!

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How to Travel Like a Vegan Pro
by Vegan Backpacker

When you first start out on the path to adopting a vegan diet and lifestyle, there’s a lot to learn. Grocery shopping is a new experience. You might start reading food labels for the first time. Then suddenly you’re faced with the challenge of buying new shoes that aren’t made out of leather. It can be a big adjustment in the beginning! But, after a few months, you start to get the hang of it and are able to impress friends and family with delicious vegan meals and baked goods. Once you’ve learned how to be vegan at home, in the environment you’re familiar with, the next big step is to learn how to keep up your vegan lifestyle while traveling. It may seem difficult at first, especially if you’re traveling to a foreign country, but you can master traveling as vegan in the same way you mastered being a vegan at home. I’m here to share a few tips and point you in the right direction before your pack your bags and hit the road.

Do your Homework

Vegan Reseach

There’s this great website called Happy Cow. Consider it your new, very well informed friend. It’s an online directory of restaurants and health food stores that have vegan and vegetarian options. You can search for any city or address (like your hostel or hotel) and it will return a list of veg-friendly places nearby. If you have an iPhone, you can download the VegOut app, which has the same information. If you’re more low tech, write down or print off the Happy Cow listings. With this information, you should be able to plan where you can find the first few meals in the city you’re visiting.

Carry Snacks

Plane Snacks for John

It’s so important to pack food! I can’t stress this enough. At the very least, don’t leave home without some snacks for the airplane, bus, train or car ride. You never know when unexpected delays will leave you in a place where vegan options are scarce. Some easy items to pack are peanut butter & crackers, energy bars, nuts, dried fruit, granola, veggies & hummus, apples and bananas. If you’re traveling for more than a week or two, don’t try to pack your entire food supply, just plan to make the local supermarket your first stop. If you have any doubts about the local options, it’s a good idea to pack a jar of peanut or almond butter.

Find a Kitchen

Couch Surfing Kitchen

If you’re traveling to a city that doesn’t have a lot of vegan restaurants, plan to stay in a hostel or hotel where you’ll have access to a kitchen. This way you can prepare your own meals and have full control over what you eat. If it’s an option, stay with a friend, family member or local vegan you meet through Couch Surfing. Locals are always the best people to ask for recommendations on restaurants and supermarkets. If you’re traveling by car and not worried about the weight of your luggage, you can also bring along some kitchen essentials like a good knife, cutting board, travel blender, bowls and utensils.

Pack a Vegan Passport

Vegan Passport

If your travels take you to a place where you don’t know how to speak the local language, the best thing you can do is learn a few key words before leaving home. If this isn’t possible, and you’re not staying long enough to take lessons once you arrive, the next best thing is to pack a copy of the Vegan Passport. In 73 different languages, this little booklet explains what it means to be a vegan, lists items you can eat, and recommends some simple dishes that can be made vegan. You can show this to people at restaurants to give them an idea of what you’re looking for. I don’t hop on a plane without it!

A Success Story

If after reading these tips you have any doubts about vegan travel, let me assure you it’s possible. It does take a little extra planning and preparation but it’s worth it, not just for you but for the animals. I spent a year traveling around the world and wrote about my eating adventures on my blog, Vegan Backpacker. If you take a moment to visit my website, you’ll see that vegans can travel the world and find delicious vegan food even in the most unlikely places.

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Thank you, Jill, for sharing these terrific strategies!

How do you prepare for time on the road?

28 thoughts on “Vegan 101: How to Travel Like a Vegan Pro”

  1. Enjoyed the guest post. Great tips! I learned a thing or two, as always. 🙂 Love the Passport idea! I am currently dog/house sitting for friends who are hardcore carnivores, for 2 weeks. At first I was in a panic since they live in the boonies. I loaded up my car with come of my tools: spiralizer, juicer and blender. Second, supplied myself with apple, banana, larabars, nuts, seeds, kale chips and a tall green smoothie (I like variety!) for my 3 hour drive to destination “boonies.” I also use the VegOut app (very handy). I then stopped at Whole Foods on the way to stock up. It’s been great thus far…but I do miss my dehydrator! Found a very cool ethnic grocery store nearby and able to experiment with new veggies … cool! It is an adventure, I must say but fun and well worth it!

  2. Great post! As a frequent domestic traveler I must say I am lousy at preparing adequately. I have been through numerous airplane delays where my only choice was to go hungry :(. I love the passport idea and I agree Happy Cow is a GREAT resource. I have vowed that I will get better at packing snacks….starting TODAY.

  3. We just started thinking about a camping trip for this summer, so this post if very timely and helpful. Thanks!

  4. Excellent tips!! I love to travel & I can attest to the helpfulness of doing a little “food homework” prior to going somewhere. Happy Cow is a great website, and I also use VegGuide.org.

  5. Hi guys. Vegan Passport is a great tool even when you’re in your home town. I think with English as a second language being more and more the norm in the restaurant business I’ve pulled out my iPhone, (yes, it’s an iPhone app too), in Chinese, Mexican and diners just to make sure I’m getting what I ask for. I’ve had servers in the chinese fast food outlet in Great Adventure call everyone over to look at the Chinese translation of, “I don’t eat any animal products …”

    (My experience at Nicks in NYC might have been averted had I asked what language the server spoke but I actually didn’t think of it).

    Jill’s advice on planning is the most important though. You can’t plan too much. Call ahead if you’re going to a restaurant. I’ve driven to and taken cabs to places that were closed on the day I went or no longer offered the vegan options in the ad that caught my attention. (“Oh, we stopped serving seitan cutlets a few months ago, sorry.”)

    One item not mentioned which is becoming more and more critical to me is packing a bottle of VEGAN SALAD DRESSING. It seems that almost every place has a salad bar but the dressing is the fly in the ointment. If you’re traveling by air just throw it in your luggage, (someplace in the middle, surrounded by soft clothes to prevent breakage, and if you have room, you can put the bundled bottle in a hard sided, (plastic kitchen storage box), to further protect it.

    Yet another issue for me is to find a hotel with a fridge and microwave. They’re becoming more and more available but if you call ahead you might be able to arrange a fridge through housekeeping. It will most likely arrive in your room warm, just beware of putting cool food from your cooler into a warm fridge. Best to let it cool down a bit first or you’ll have an incubator on your hands. Once you have that you can usually get to a supermarket where there usually is a vegan frozen option or two in the freezer section if not a health food store.

    Marty
    Marty’s Flying Vegan Review
    http://www.martysnycveggiereview.blogspot.com
    @veganpilotmarty

    1. Great tips, Marty.

      I insist on a refrigerator at hotels! Great way to keep leftovers when you do find the perfect vegan dish when dining out!

  6. Excellent. I def. follow VeganBackPacker. I have a Europe trip coming up this summer and am trying to plan…..this will come in very handy. Thanks!

  7. oh one more thing. I’ve looked for that Vegan Passport. It seems so silly to have to order that one thing all the way from England. Too bad they don’t have a downloadable version. Or is there someone that sells it in the U.S.??

      1. Didn’t know the vegan passport could be found in iTunes…that’s great because shipping from England is pricey!

          1. Just read the reviews on iTunes for the Vegetarian Passport app, apparently there are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors in English, and this has folks worried about the accuracy and usefulness of the app in other languages. I’m not going to use this for now.

  8. Hi Jill! If there’s a vegan travel expert, it’s Jill, so much to learn from her site.

    I too pack lots of food because being gluten-free I can’t rely on plain bread like other vegans can. I have to say it was really easy traveling in China where the staples were rice and veggies.

    1. How great to eat with ease in China. Funny thing, I’m always reticent to eat bread when out because I’m just not sure how they’ve made it!

  9. I loved this post! I travel extensively and recently moved overseas, so I can definitely relate. Finding a place to stay with a kitchen is a great tip. Snacks are also key and make any trip vegan friendly. Thanks for the post 🙂

    1. LOL, me too! I’m gearing up for another trip (but staying in someone’s home and access to a grocer) so I’ll just pack some of the more “exotic” stuff, like hemp seeds and some of my raw, dehydrated snacks.

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