When I decided I was going to do this post, I didn’t think it through in great detail. Travelling with dietary requirements is hard, no doubt about it. Even if you plan and take some food with you, there’s still an element of difficulty. I decided I was going to document how easy/ challenging it was. What I didn’t consider was that I was travelling over two days.
My flight was 9:30am from Heathrow, my home is about a four and a half hour drive from there. We drove down on Monday afternoon and flew Tuesday morning, so this what I eat in a day is going to be more of a what I ate in 24 hours. I didn’t see much point in showing you what I ate Monday morning at home, and I have an entire post coming on what I ate when I was away, so this post is only going to cover the ‘on the go’ part. Monday afternoon until landing on Tuesday.
What I Eat In A Day: Travel Edition
Monday car snacks
I didn’t really need food for hunger purposes, but who has a car journey that long without snacks?! On this occasion, I opted for some Urban Fruit. They’re baked fruits, those of you who followed my quitting sugar series last year may recall that I was obsessed with the strawberry ones. This time, I branched out and tried the pineapple – nice, but strawberry remains superior.
Service station
Ah – the service station. I went for a much needed coffee and found these pistachio bars in Starbucks. The vegan options in my local coffee shops are almost non-existent, so this discovery was quite exciting. It had an amazing texture, but I couldn’t really taste the pistachio which was a little disappointing.
Hotel
The original plan was to grab something at the service station to eat back at the hotel. That didn’t exactly pan out. There were lots of vegan sandwiches available from most places, but that was it. I don’t do well with gluten and I didn’t want to aggravate my stomach before my flight, so I ended up getting something at the hotel. This was the best decision ever. I had a salad, pretty sure it was called a superfood salad or something like that. It was amazing. The base was quinoa and it had pomegranate, sundried tomatoes and lots of seeds. The dressing was fresh and citrusy. I nearly got a side of new potatoes and some vegetables, that would have been a tragic error.
Breakfast
There was an option to get breakfast at the hotel, but the idea of getting up even earlier than necessary was not appealing so we made the decision to get something at the airport. As I mentioned earlier, it was Heathrow. A vegan option at T5 sounded like a doddle. Here’s the thing, I wanted an actual breakfast food, not a butternut squash sandwich. Or any kind of sandwich for that matter. There were a few places you could sit in and order a vegan breakfast option, but we didn’t really have time to do that comfortably. That left me with a fruit pot and a Trek bar. Which is fine, I love both of those things, but not quite what I was expecting.
Plane
The food on the plane was a small M&S menu. A snack pot of wasabi peas later and it was time to land.
Overall, it wasn’t hard to find food at all but finding something that I actually wanted to eat was a little more challenging at times. If any of you have dietary requirements/ allergies, how do you find it when you travel? I’ll see you next week with what I ate in Istanbul!
Until next time,
Sophie
I am actually obsessed with What I Eat in a Day videos on YouTube so I really enjoyed reading this. That pistachio bar looks yum. I’ve actually only recently got into Starbucks but I love their cabinet food a lot. I agree! Snacks are a must-have for long car rides
Travelling with dietary requirements must be so tough, I find it hard to make a decision on what to eat and I’ll eat pretty much anything haha! That superfood salad looks and sounds amazing- it’s a shame that some places only think to offer sandwich vegan options, you’d have thought they’d also offer a bunch of salads really!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com x
Getting around dietary needs when travelling can definitely be stressful. There’s always the chance shops and supermarkets, especially in foreign countries, don’t cater for your needs. I bet it doesn’t help with packing if you’re planning on bring some homemade snacks and food yourself. It seems like you can deal with it well.
Funny enough I’m working on a post on how to stay healthy and fit when on travels so to see your post has given me more thought towards it and what I could include.
Johnny | Johnny’s Traventures
That salad looks so good! I haven’t heard of pistachio bars before, how unfortunate that there was no pistachio taste though.
Good luck in Istanbul!
Loren | Plaid & Sugar
Those pistachio bars look so nice!
That salad looks delicious I’m currently eating less meat and looking for new meal ideas, I wonder if theres an alternative online for the salad
I get so sick of eating rubbish when travelling -but it’s just so easy! It’s sad that there really aren’t that many options catering to different diets.
I hope you had a great time away (or having if you are still there) looking forward to seeing what you ate in Istanbul.
Hayley | hayleyxmartin
The superfood salad looks delicious. I’m interested in what you find to eat in Istanbul.
GR | http://www.thegreat.uk
You are a bloody trooper Sophie, I’d be SO moody eating this amount of food haha I get so hangry! Back when my IBD was thriving there were quite a few things that I knew I couldn’t eat or would set my pain or symptoms off like crazy and it was surprising just how many dishes had them in and even if it said they didn’t contain them, I’d constantly be worried that they’d be hidden in there somewhere. I couldn’t eat beef at all and I remember I had some sausages once (I was usually okay with pork) but a few hours later I was in unbearable pain, to the point I was about to call an ambulance so I was 100% sure they must have had mixed meat in them. I really wish places catered with more variety for people with dietary requirements because this is pretty poor!
Alice Xx
4 and a half hour car journey! I’m sitting here wondering if you had your Spotify playlist all set before leaving the house! Of course with such a long journey there must be snacks – I’m hoping Urban Fruit makes it’s way to the US, because they sound like such a perfect snack!
I always get really excited for vegan/vegetarian options (although I’m neither, I sometimes prefer those options, baby steps!) So upsetting Starbucks didn’t deliver on pistachio – but! at least it was at least a little bit tasty!
The salad looks so delicious – I make something like it at home sometimes, and nothing really beats a good quinoa based salad with on point dressing! I’m laughing at ‘would have been a tragic error’ hahaha good thing you didn’t get the extra sides!
Fruit salad! Although great in the morning, sometimes a fulling breakfast before the fruit salad is better.
When traveling, I usually stick to veggie options, and sometimes the options available aren’t really what I’m in the mood for. OH WAIT YOU WENT TO ISTANBUL – I CAN’T WAIT TO READ ALL ABOUT IT NEXT WEEK!
This post has made me hungry! That salad looks delicious. I also love the Urban Fruit strawberries!
It is interesting to see what people eat. You can never go wrong with car snacks, hehe. The baked pineapples look delicious. YUM! You ate really well at the hotel. Everything looks so delicious. Glad you found some vegan options when you traveled!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
I love your what I eat posts a lot! I can definitely imagine that it’s a challenge finding ‘on the go’ food when you’re Vegan. But that superfood salad sounds lovely – I had something similar when I stayed in the Brooklands Hotel in January!
I love baked and dried fruit snacks x
http://www.ofbeautyandnothingness.co.uk
ooooh, that “superfood” salad looks so delicious. Yummy, I wish I would have had that one ♥ I must admit, I try to eat healthy on road trips but often it amounts to a big pile or rubbish. If I’d do such a post, I would look a bit different. Kudos to you for still keeping a healthy diet.
I am so unhealthy when I travel. I just pick anything I might crave – burgers, junk food, chocolate. So bad. Your edition is much healthier although still tasty! That quinoa salad looks lush!
The salad looks so delicious and yummy, I wouldn’t mind having some myself!
I like this post because you obviously eat very healthy, and you show us that it is possible to eat that way even if you don’t have time to cook.
I never eat airport or plane food because they are invariably all disgusting (or maybe that’s just Bristol and EasyJet, haha) but I have to admit that superfood salad looks delicious. I didn’t know you were going to Istanbul, I’m so jealous, I love that city, I can’t wait to see what you thought of the food there! x
Lisa | http://www.lisasnotebook.com
That salad looks delicious! Definitely a good choice to wait and see what the hotel offered! I’m slightly surprised the vegan option wasn’t as easy to get in the airport, but like you say; if you didn’t have much time to sit down to eat I guess the shops are a bit more limiting!
We usually buy something in the boots or WHSmiths to take onto the plane with us, and maybe get some form of snack box, depending on the flight and airline. We don’t have much dietary requirement so I guess that makes the options a lot wider, although I do prefer to get vegetarian options at the airport!
Looking forward to your Istanbul post!
Aimsy xoxo
https://www.aimsysantics.co.uk
Ahh I love this! Ive not tried those new Starbucks bars yet but I was curious!
Travelling as a veggie/vegan defs has some challenges but I think it’s getting better – I got an amazing tofu burger on a french mountain the other day heheh!
If I’m travelling with non veggies I usually go where they want to eat and if their isnt a veg option I ask the place to make me up a veggie plate and it’s worked amazingly every time – usually they go all out with veg and sides and stuff and I’ve never been charged more than like eight euro or something <3
My new fav for snacks- although if you're still of sugar then maybe not- is vegummies in the UK! They make up vegan picknmix bags and it is amazing!!
I love urban fruit, and you are so right, the strawberry ones are the best! I have them as my snack at work when I get peckish throughout the day, they definitely help to keep me going. I am yet to travel abroad as a vegetarian yet, and I am so hoping I don’t find it too difficult, where I’m staying it’s all inclusive, so it’ll be a buffet style spread for breakfast/lunch/dinner so heres hoping they’ll be a good amount of choice for me!
Chloe xx
http://www.chloechats.com
I really like these what I eat posts/videos because I’m trying to eat better. This all looks great!
I hear you! As someone with a dairy allergy it can be very difficult finding suitable food options. I usually take my own snacks with me for car journeys or on the plane and often ask for items off the pain menu with dairy products removed (such as cheese). Great post.
That salad looks so good, I never thought about adding quinoa to salad, I’m so going to try that. I have only traveled once long distance as a vegan, and I brought sushi I made on the plane.
It’s definitely never easy to travel as a vegan without planning, but it must be harder if your GF.
I personally always try to know where stores will be, and bring food with me. Last time I went to visit family I went by car, and I brought some tea bags, some vegan meatballs and supplies for that.
I actually love reading/watching What I Eat in a Day series! Also, wow, girl! The food you eat is definitely waaaay healthier than what I consume. Thanks for sharing – it was really interesting to read about!
☼ cabin twenty-four
Love this post! Travelling with dietary requirements seems to be tough, trying it could be best! I never tried that though! it’s shame how some places don’t have non-veg choices or veg choices alternatively! and while travelling if you can’t find what you need in one store, could be so time consuming!
Xoxo Babita
http://travelhues.com/
Must have snacks on road trips! It must be hard traveling with a vegan diet. In Shanghai, it is especially difficult to find anything vegan unless you cook for yourself.
All of these sound so yummy, I adore having fresh fruit for breakfast
With love, Alisha Valerie x | http://www.alishavalerie.com
I love what I eat in a day posts like this! Great to see a travel edition too. I love Urban Fruits! xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
I’m vegetarian and it can be an issue to get actual appetizing food while traveling.