How to Eat Vegetarian on Your Travels 11.7.12

Whether you’re a vegan or a vegetarian, finding things to order when you eat out can be difficult and there usually isn’t much variety either. At least you can go home and whip something up to make you happy. Unfortunately, when you’re traveling, it can be even more inconvenient to find something healthy and tasty several times a day to satisfy your hunger that still sticks to your food ethics. You aren’t the only one that has problems finding dining resources. There are also those with food allergies, gluten allergies, lactose intolerance…and those that just plain don’t like certain things. Restaurants are beginning to branch out and make a broader range of food selections that can satisfy more food restrictions, all while being a bit healthier.

Many vegan experts suggest packing your own snacks, like peanut butter and soy nuts. Happily, you can get specialty food items in almost all destinations, so you can save room in your travel bag for things you actually WANT to pack, like clothes. You also save checked baggage fees, because you don’t need to bring those items at all. With a little more education on the subject, and chatting with a few vegetarian friends, I’ve now learned quite a bit about what you can and can’t eat and the different vegan substitute products on the market. I’ve even purchased some myself, in an effort to save money and eat better. And yes, you can save money by buying and using some of these products, like egg substitute, which you can use in your baking. It saves you money, because it last so much longer than a carton of eggs and it doesn’t go bad. But enough of my frugal shopping habits.

As a vegetarian, you aren’t just looking for foods to eat at your destination, but on the way as well. I found a great list of dining establishments found in most airports that cater to your needs, so you can eat before your flights and on layovers without having to live on the baggie of carrot sticks you packed in your carry-on.

On the Ground

Argo Tea

• Chickpea Salad (vegan)
• Garden Lentil Salad (vegan)
• Parfaits: Acai Banana, Green Tea, Mixed Berry
• Ruggelah: Apricot Pecan, Raspberry Almond
• Signature Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Lemon Poppyseed
• Spinach Tomato Pesto Panini
• Tea Bite: Roasted Tomato Cheddar
• Tomato Garden Vegetable Salad

Au Bon Pain

• Apple Strudel (vegan)
• Black Bean Soup (vegan)
• Chickpea & Tomato Cucumber Salad (vegan without cheese)
• Curried Rice & Lentil Soup (vegan)
• French Moroccan Tomato Lentil Soup (vegan)
• Green Bean & Beet Salad (vegan without cheese)
• Portabello & Goat Cheese sandwich (vegan without cheese)
• Vegetarian Chili (vegan)
• Vegetarian Lentil Soup (vegan)

Auntie Anne’s

• Pretzels: Cinnamon Sugar, Garlic, Glazin’ Raisin, Jalapeño, Original, Whole Wheat (vegan without butter)

Charley’s

• Delight Grilled Vegetable Plate
• Philly Veggie (vegan without cheese or mayo)

Caribou Coffee

• Bagels: Cinnamon Raisin, Multi Grain
• Banana Bread – reduced fat
• Chewy Granola Bar
• Cinnamon Coffeecake
• Oatmeal: Classic, 7-Grain (vegan)
• Muffin: Better Morning, Blueberry, Cinnamon Streusel, Double Chocolate Chip, French Toast, Mountain Berry
• Pumpkin Pecan Bread
• Scone: Cinnamon Chip, Cranberry, Cranberry Orange, Lemon Blueberry, Maple Oatmeal
• Southwestern Black Bean Salad (vegan)
• Veggie Daybreaker Breakfast Sandwich
• Yogurt Parfait – low-fat

Einstein Bros. Bagels

• Bagel: Sundried Tomato (vegan)
• Bistro Salad (vegan without cheese)
• Chipotle Salad (vegan without cheese)
• Fruit Salad (vegan)
• Kettle Chips Classic (vegan)

Jamba Juice

• Any Drink

Moe’s Southwest Grill

• Burritos: Made to Order (can be vegan)
• Chips (vegan)
• Personal Trainer Salad (vegan without cheese)
• Tacos: Made to Order (can be vegan)

National Coney Island

• Hummus Veggie Sandwich/Wrap
• Vegetarian Pita with Fries
• Vegetarian Tuna

Panera Bread

• Bagels: Blueberry, Everything, Plain, Sesame, Sweet Onion Poppy Seed, Whole Grain (vegan)
• Classic Café Salad (vegan)
• Low Fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup (vegan)
• Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich (vegan without cheese)
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (vegan)
• Sourdough Bread Bowl (vegan)

Starbucks

• Cranberry Flax Muffin (vegan)
• Fruit Cup (vegan)
• Hummus Plate (vegan)
• Multigrain Bagel
• Oatmeal (vegan)
• Organic Fruit Scone with Pecans (vegan)
• Plain Bagel
• Protein Plate
• Raspberry Bran Scone (vegan)
• Ratatouille Sandwich/Roasted Vegetable Panini
• Veggie Artisan Breakfast Sandwich

In the Air

Cibo Express offers over 1,000 packaged, ready-to-go menu items that you can grab to eat on the plane. Many are vegetarian or vegan and are fresh and organic.

Most airlines don’t serve real meals anymore, but they do offer snack boxes. The airlines that offer vegan/vegetarian options are as follows:

American Airlines (vegan)

Continental Airlines (vegan)

Delta Airlines (vegan)

United Airlines (vegan)

US Airways (vegan)

Air Canada

British Airways

Aer Lingus (vegan)

Virgin Atlantic

Lufthansa

Air Malta (vegan)

Turkish Airlines

Qantas Airways (vegan)

Air New Zealand (vegan)

Indian Airlines

Cathay Pacific (vegan)

Malaysia Airlines (vegan)

Qatar Airways (vegan)

Singapore Airlines

Vietnam Airlines (vegan)

Unless you’re on an international flight, chances are you’ll be paying for these in-flight meals and snacks, so you may be better off bringing your own to begin with from Cibo Express or from one of the many other dining establishments above. If you don’t mind paying for a meal, make sure you request a vegetarian or vegan entrée well ahead of your flight to ensure the meal actually makes it onboard for you. Usually, you can choose food options when you book your flights. If that is a choice when booking, make sure you order it then, because some airlines will not let you change it later once your reservation is in the system.

Are you a traveling vegetarian? Have you found other food options at popular airport restaurants and delis? Had a good or bad experience with the meals on airlines? Let us know, so you can help your fellow trip-takers have smoother and more delicious travels! 

Racing Through California Adventure 11.5.12

Happy Monday! On Saturday I took you through my first day of Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure. We missed out on the FASTPASS for Radiator Springs Racers and the line was never less than 2 hours long, so we decided to try again on Monday when it was sure to be less crowded - kids were back in school, after all, and it was Monday.

Monday was crazy! The lines were longer than I’d ever seen and we hadn’t even made it to the security tables yet. The woman who checked my bag said it was like a weekend in Summer. We got in a lengthy queue to get into California Adventure to see if we couldn’t get on the super popular Radiator Springs Racers. No luck with FASTPASS again. People were lined up to for 45 minutes to an hour just to get one, so we just decided that waiting in line was a better use of our time. 90 minutes, but met a nice family in line and chatted while we melted in the 90+ degree heat.

So, our plan was still a bust, but we came all the way to Anaheim to experience Cars Land, and we had two more days at the parks and another half of a day at the main park during the Halloween party. Two hours out of our day was not going to kill us and it gave us time to really look at everything there was along the line. Unfortunately, after that last picture was taken - by our new friend in line - we were also dying for cold water and ice cream and looked like we just came from Zumba class. You can see how sweaty Eric was already after being in line with hardly any shade for just half an hour. By the time we were at the front, I felt like having another shower and burning my clothes.

There is plenty to see while you wait in the unreasonably long line. The whole beginning of Radiator Springs is there! See the Spring that started it all and amazing advertising for the town and Stanley’s Radiator Caps. You pass through the bottle shack made of recycled oil bottles. It’s pretty cool! Once you make it to the ride, you finally see why the line is SO LONG. For those of you who have been to Epcot and ridden on Test Track, it’s like that, but so much better! 

You ride through Radiator Springs and say hello to some of your favorite Cars characters, then you screech down the mountain and fly through Radiator Springs’ landscape, racing the car next to you. Maybe you’ll win, but even if you don’t, you’re still going to have a ton of fun! Cross the finish line and roll through the famous Carburetor Caverns where you are finally congratulated by Lightning McQueen and Mater. You’ll wish you could go again! And then you see the line and wander off to buy yourself a tire hat at Sarge’s.

On our last day at Disney, we went back over to California Adventure to check out the concept art for Cars Land at Blue Sky Cellars. There were miniatures of the Land, the cars, the artwork, the rides and Radiator Springs historical items, including Stanley’s first radiator cap sales stand. My favorite part of the display was a viewing of one of Mater’s Tall Tales that I had never seen before (and probably was made specifically for the exhibit) where you learn both how Radiator Springs was founded and how Stanley met Lizzie. Unfortunately, Stanley has passed on, but Lizzie talks to her beloved’s statue every day. True love!

What was your favorite part of Cars Land or what do you look forward to most when you finally visit?

A Car Show Every Day 11.3.12

Once I heard about Disney’s new addition to its California Adventure park, I started to get jealous of all the people who were going to be traveling to Anaheim this Summer. Cars Land was just another new thing to add to the list of Disney things that I hadn’t seen yet: Star Tours reboot, World of Color, Mulholland Madness replacement ride, The Little Mermaid ride. It’s no surprise that I was really excited about our back-up plan for our annual vacation. As disappointed as I was to not get to go to Europe, I was thrilled to share in the excitement of the new Land that little kids thought was the real Radiator Springs when they got to visit the opening day. I mean, how fun is that?

I had no idea just HOW exciting Cars Land would be for visitors. Our first day at Disney was a Sunday. Lines weren’t that bad, so we made our way to Toy Story Midway Mania (always a long line) and California Screamin’, then headed over to Cars Land. Uh, apparently, this should be your first stop. At 8:30 the FASTPASS machine was out and the line for Radiator Springs Racers was 120 minutes. Mind you, this is 30 minutes after the park opened. Yikes! We decided to put it off until early the next day and did other things. We enjoyed walking around the rest of Cars Land and riding the super-fun Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Flying Tires.

Since the lines for things seemed ridiculously long, we chose to eat at Flo’s V8 Café for breakfast. Eric had the chicken tamale breakfast and I thought bananas fosters French toast sounded like something I would enjoy. It was much like eating bread pudding covered in caramel sauce. Not bad, but not really a great breakfast meal. Soooo…if you want to not eat dessert for breakfast, I would suggest choosing something else. I kinda wish we had gone back for lunch to try different food, but we didn’t.

Eric thought the best part of Luigi’s was the line, which was not a total overstatement, especially when the line was 30-40 minutes long many times. Listening to Luigi tell you about the ride and send people on their way was pretty fun, as well as all the reproduction tires and race memorabilia. Guido loves to photobomb all the great pictures taken when Lightning McQueen wins a race. The ride itself is a unique twist on bumper cars. You don’t get to steer. Instead, you lean to move your tire on a giant floor that blows air to keep the tires afloat.

If you love the teacups, but hate having to do all the work to make them spin, then you may love Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. You sit in baby tractors while they “dance” to 8 original songs sung by Mater – THE greatest part of waiting in line, too. The tractors drag you behind and spin you in an arc, so you slide from one side to the other instead of a circle. It helps if you REALLY like the person you’re riding with on this one. The concept is that you are at a square dance and the tractors dance in a figure 8 in a really genius dance floor construction.

After getting our fill of all that is Cars Land, with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers (curses!), we explored the rest of California Adventure and checked back every so often to see if the line for the Racers had gotten any shorter. It didn’t. We did, however, come back to grab a snack at the Cozy Cone. I was determined to get churro bites (no trip to Disney is complete without a churro in my opinion) and then we saw some fancy frozen apple drink at one of the other cones, so Eric went to get one while I stood in line for our treat. You are going to wait in line for a looong time at some of these stands, because there is one person inside taking money and also making your snack/beverage. Worth it? I think it was, just for the experience – and I also got my churro.

Did I ever get to ride Radiator Springs Racers? I did! Guess how long we waited in line in the comments and then find out the answer in my special Monday post.