Traveling while Vegan: East Coast Edition

Wednesday May 9, 2012

7:55am Pacific time, 10:55am Eastern time

-Flying LAX to CLT-

As I write this blog post I am looking out the window of an airplane at the Rocky Mountains below. I love the window seat because it just blows my mind being so high in the air and seeing the landscape below. When we took off I was thinking, I’m not a pilot, but I’m pretty sure we are going the wrong way, as we flew west away from the California coast line over the pacific ocean for about the first five minutes after take off. Don’t worry, we turned around, and I am now en route to Charlotte, NC. From now on the time posted on my blog will be in Eastern time.

I will be in Salisbury, NC from today, Wednesday May 9^th until next Wednesday May 16^th. On May 16^th I will board Amtrak in Salisbury at 2:30am and head for Penn station in NYC, where I will be visiting for a week from May 16^th until Wednesday May 23^rd. I am flying home for the first time in a year, since I moved out to California last June. My mom is graduating from Catawba College! I am so proud of her.

But since this blog is about being vegan, of course, I am going to write about traveling while vegan, and also about eating vegan at home with my family, hopefully letting them see how easy it is, and maybe I’ll even find cool vegan spots in NYC and report back!

33,000 feet (pilot just announced)

Vegan options for in-flight food… that is, if you want to spend a billion dollars to buy overpriced peanuts on an airplane. But hey, we’ve got 4 and a half hours, why not take a look at the options, just for fun J

I am on US Airways.

For a vegan snack on board:

-Blue Diamond Almonds – Roasted Salted - $5 (definitely vegan)

-Blueberry Pomegranate Trail Mix Crunch - $4 (possibly vegan)

-Late July Organic Sea Salt Chips & Zesty Tomato Salsa - $4 (possibly vegan)

They also have snack boxes, but you wouldn’t want to spend your money on them as they come with mostly cheese and meat stuff.

For meals:

-There are no breakfast options for vegans

-For lunch or dinner they have a Mandarin chicken salad for $8 that possibly you could ask for without the chicken. Who knows, I didn’t try.

Also, such a California thing, avocados... I am taking 6 avocados and 1 lime home to NC so Mommom can make awesome guacamole for mom's graduation party! Yummmmm!!

So they just came around with the food to buy and the nice Italian man beside me wanted a cheese and fruit platter ($8), but he didn’t have exact change or a card to buy it, so I used my card and bought it for him, and he gave me the three one dollar bills that he had. It was then that I learned that he is Italian and doesn’t speak much English. So of course I get excited and say “Io mi ciamo Gina!” Which of course is like all I can remember how to say. But I did remember “Grazie” and “Prego” and I told him I know “Forza Italia” and “Basta Basta” which made him laugh. He did offer me some fruit when I told him “vegetarian” but I didn’t want any. I really wanted to know how to say “random act of kindness” in Italian. He asked where I’m from and of course I’m wearing my Salisbury, NC shirt like a dork, so I told him Salisbury and I said “mi familia” He told me my Italian is better than his English. I don’t know about that. But it’s stories like that which make me love to travel.

I got a free orange juice.

Well, time to zone out. See you on the East coast!

-Happy Travels! Happy eating!

-Gina

Wednesday May 9, 2012

11:59pm

I am about to go to bed. I am safe and sound in NC in my mom's wonderful new house with my wonderful golden retrievers. I just wanted to add that the nice Italian man gave me the rest of the $5 for his cheese and fruit platter once we got off the plane. So nice. 

On the drive home from the airport we stopped and got late lunch/early dinner at Carabbas. This is what I got, the Tag Pic Pac (whatever the heck that means) with whole grain spaghetti (the only vegan pasta noodles there, which was fine, it was great!)

An awesome pasta dish and a salad with olive oil and raspberry vinaigrette. 

So, my first meal in NC as a vegan was epic and amazing. Score one for NC. My family is already really enjoying learning about me being vegan and the awesome benefits of being vegan and how awesome it is. We did a quick grocery trip tonight just for a few things. We got soy milk, cereal (yummy looking new cinnamon cheerios), hummus, triscuits, whole wheat pita pockets, oreos, trail mix, apples, bananas.... and other stuff. Tomorrow morning we are going grocery shopping to get stuff for my mom's backyard graduation party bar-b-que! We are going to investigate veggie burgers, but I don't think we'll end up getting any. I'd rather eat In-n-Out style and just put my lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and ketchup on a bun! Lots more stuff to come! 

See you tomorrow, happy sleeping!

-Gina