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Being a Vegan Traveller By Plane ... As there is nothing to do at Airports (other than get confused by exchange rates, try and workout what the local currency is - at stopover airports only and then complain loudly about the price of a cup of coffee - necessary at all destinations no matter what the exchange rate) and long haul flights are designed to be unbearable shortly after first sitting down and fastening your seat belt, what sort of entertainment is available? There are the movies but lets face it the screen is always too far away to be able to see it and, on international flights anyway, the subtitles are illegible or make no sense. You could take a magazine, read in 20-30 minutes, or a book, half read before you get on the flight while waiting in the airport so it will take an hour max to finish. That assuming it's a good book otherwise even the illegible, badly subtitled films will do. Meal times occupy most people for about 20 minutes but me for 5. This is because after a brief prod I find two things I can eat. This is always the water and a small tub of fruit containing a hard unripe slice of melon, a wedge of dried up orange and a grape. Maybe you could take games? No room for cards, less room for monopoly and definitely no room for twister (mind you its like twister trying to get out from a window seat across some slumbering passengers to reach the bathroom… right foot arm rest. Left hand seat back. Right foot neighbours groin and so on). So what can you do on a flight? I had a think and have come up with the following all of which were tested on the return flight from New Zealand. Firstly there is doing nothing. Vacant staring can pass hours. The objective is to allow as few thoughts to enter the brain as possible and then pass it off as meditation. Secondly there are all the music channels provided inline for your comfort and entertainment. Long haul flights have an amazing range of extra interesting music channels … Korean pop, country and western, ballads, classical and the avoided if possible western music channel. And that's it. Really. Ok I lied here are some other activities that will keep you occupied on your flight (some are better used on the return journey)… spending as long as possible cleaning yourself with the wipes, avoiding conversations, avoiding slumbering heads and flailing arms and people who enjoy invading your personal space. To prevent people from coming into your comfort zone follow these guidelines a) cultivate an interesting body odour during your travels or at least prior to flight - various foods or spread on deterrents create interesting and nauseating smells which will keep everyone at bay or b) live in your hiking boots, tramp through fields, stagnant waters and bogs. Remove them, sharing their glory with the cabin. Remember that the air is recycled and will continue to be pumped back into the plane. Sharing is a good thing. So there you are. Loads to do... Airline food gets a bad press, and for good reason. Ok, so some airlines are better than others but there is still that lack of imagination. I would like to think that having paid my money I would be suitably fed for the journey. More often that not the majority of food is not suitable for vegans. I know this. I used to work at an airline catering company. I discovered that the chefs and other meal makers did not know what a vegan was or what they ate. This meant that supposedly vegan meals weren't always so. The pasta would be egg or the salad dressing would contain dairy by-products and, although it is required by law, meats and vegetarian/vegan foods were all cooked in the same fryers. I wont go into all the horror stories but when it comes to airline food I will pick out the things I know are vegan and leave the rest. As I travel with supplies of food I don't go hungry but I still feel that I should be getting the meals I request. The following are some foods that I take travelling although I have discovered that other people find my garlic based food nasally offensive ( i.e Hummus, tartex, garlic mayo). Special precaution needs to be taken on long haul flights to make sure that you don't get deep vein thrombosis. Make sure that you move about as much as possible by either walking about the craft or stretching your legs. For more information on this contact your airline. They usually provide some information on ways to reduce your chances of getting it. By car Lets think what could be more fun than driving hundreds of miles across the UK, continent or travelling within your holiday destination? Well in reality almost anything. Driving is tiring and driving is dull especially if it involves motorways. Its rarely fun for the driver as scenery is never viewed (unless of course you are one of those people who drives at 20 mph so that you can drive and see the sites while collecting a queue of traffic a couple of miles long behind you). One of the main problems with driving is that service stations in any country do not cater to the needs of vegans. They have burgers, meat sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, egg sandwiches, meat pasties, miscellaneous dairy products and countless dairy cakes and sweet pastries. If you are extremely lucky you will find beans and baked potato or the perennial favourite of beans and chips. What is vegan at the services can be bought in the shop and consists of junk food like crisps, sweets and chocolate. The following is a list of vegan snacks available at most service stations but remember be ever vigilant and check those labels because those undercover agents at the dairy bureau love to get companies to add useless and unneeded dairy derivatives to their products and then label them as 'improved'! Right... so although snacks are great they are hardly going to sustain you through your arduous journey. Its best to be prepared and take supplies. This can be the suggestions from the 'By Plane' section (obviously) but can also include a few other types of food that arent so easy to take on a plane.
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