Travel and deal features Sophie from England, a 23 year old vegan traveler and activist who runs her very own blog on ethical living and traveling! Here’s what she has to say:
My name is Sophie, I am 23 years old living in England, working part time in retail and I have a vegan lifestyle blog called www.sophveganlifestyle.wordpress.com. This is where I like to write about my travel experiences and share with people all things vegan that interest me.
I have always had a great passion for travelling, especially since the first animal rights protest I attended in 2015 in London, which brought me out of my comfort zone and helped me to create relationships with other like minded people.
My motivation for travelling is to learn. I would say I am open minded and therefore always willing to learn about new things and find out what else is out there to increase my knowledge. Especially when it comes to food, because since going vegan I have become much more interested in what I put into my body and how it benefits me. I have started to cook more healthily and I am not afraid to follow recipes like before where I would worry about them not turning out – life is all about learning and mistakes help you to grow.
Since going vegetarian at the age of 12 I had made the connection towards animals being equal and the cruelty of the meat industry fairly young. But I wasn’t aware of the cruelty connected to the dairy and egg industry too. This came a while later when in my late teens I started to learn more and experiment with my diet. It just seemed wrong to use animals for their bodies and for what they could produce, when it isn’t necessary to – despite what you were taught in school about having a balanced diet including dairy, meat and fish. I have been vegan for 2 and half years now and I would not go back to eating animals. This is part of my lifestyle now and it’s not just a diet to me.
In the past few years I have traveled to many destinations in England such as Manchester, Brighton, London, western super mare, Norwich and Cambridge. I have also been abroad to other countries such as Sweden, Germany and India, India being my most recent. I don’t think I can say I have a most or least favorite trip because they all taught me different things and all were equally interesting.
My trip to Berlin, Germany with my partner was very much about the vegan food because Berlin is often referred to as being ‘vegan heaven’. India was a short trip but I had such an amazing taste of the culture. The whole trip was very eye opening for me. Sweden was also a great holiday experience as we were staying at my friend’s house and visiting the local area where his family lived.
(Photo credit – Sophie Nuttall)
Being vegan whilst travelling is not all that hard, if you know exactly what is safe to eat and what isn’t. It always helps to be with someone who knows the language, for example in India I travelled with my friend Raj who could speak some Hindi and Punjabi and is a lot more clued up on Indian food and culture – plus the fact that most of Indian food is vegetarian anyway is a bonus. We even came across a restaurant called Vegan & Raw in Varanasi which catered for us perfectly.
Photo credit – Sophie Nuttall
In Berlin the word vegan was always clear on menus and most of the locals spoke English too. In England it is very easy to travel as a vegan, with more and more vegan places popping up all over the country as the demand for vegan food increases. I think travelling as a vegan can be achievable anywhere, even if it means eating meals such as rice, vegetables and potato.
Tips for vegans travelling; be prepared – always do your research on places you can get food that are local to where you are visiting – this will help a lot and save time too. Also being clued up on your staple foods is a good knowledge – things such as rice, beans, lentils, potato and of course vegetables and fruit are easily accessible wherever you go. When eating out don’t be afraid to ask questions, most meals can be made vegan by not including one or two ingredients and restaurants are always happy to cater for your needs.
For more inspiring vegan lifestyle tips and adventures, visit Sophie’s page at www.sophveganlifestyle.wordpress.com
