Confession time: Nothing makes me question this vegan lifestyle more than when I travel. NOTHING. I love visiting new places and one of my favorite things is indulging in local food. Unfortunately most of that food contains meat, dairy and eggs. Boo! Sure, I can have them make changes but I'll be the first to admit that it just isn't the same.

I won't pretend that I've never had non-vegan food on vacation.

I'm not perfect.

I will say that having a plan makes a world of difference as a vegan traveler.

Vegan Travel Tips:

*Bring snacks/meals on the flight

Pack wraps, a sandwich and/or salad for your flight meal with fresh fruit

Snacks: Pretzels, carrot sticks, celery and cucumber to eat with hummus

Whole fruit -grapes, orange slices, apples, and mango

Nut butter (almond or peanut butter) to serve with crackers, fruit or a vegetable

Larabars

Trail mix with nuts, seeds, raisins, etc.

I love how Virgin America has vegan options on their flights.

You should also check with with your airline ahead of time and ask them to prepare a vegan meal for longer flights.

*Happycow.net is an awesome resource

All you have to do in type in the zip code and it will populate vegan options near you. I use this site to find vegan-friendly restaurants and health food stores when I travel.

Bun Less Bowl from Sage Vegan Bistro, L.A.

*Consider staying in a house/condo or hotel that has a kitchenette to prepare your own food

When we took the kids to Disney World a few years ago, having a kitchen saved us tons of money. I wrote a grocery list and shopped at Publix when we landed in Orlando. Then we had a vegan breakfast at the condo (cold cereal, toast, smoothies, fresh fruit). I packed a vegan lunch (sandwiches, wraps, salads, fresh fruit, etc.) daily and we used Happycow.net to eat dinner at vegan-friendly restaurants near us. There was even vegan-friendly options right in the Disney parks.

*Use your hotel appliances to cook your food

If staying in a hotel is your only option and you want to eat more meals there, here are some tips from a video I saw a while ago:

Bring a small blender and blend fresh produce for smoothies
The coffee filter basket is an easy way to steam fresh vegetables
Use the coffee carafe to warm soups and beans (I really like this one!)
The ice bucket is handy for tossing salads
Bring along food grade peroxide to sanitize all the items

Watch the full video from Healthy Voyager here

Happy travels!