Helpful tips for Traveling Abroad as Two (Raw) Vegans

Well, it has been a few years now since we’ve had a more permanent dwelling place. Living out on the road, traveling abroad, trips here and there and just taking it a day at a time. I can’t say we set out with the intention or foresight of experiencing what we’ve experienced. But whoever does? It just happens. I think if we could’ve envisioned everything that’d come our way, I may have just passed out. Though no matter how difficult the moment seems or situation, surely there’s always a day, week, month or year later and it’s just a memory. Strangely, regardless of how overwhelming the experience, you might just look back and laugh. Although it's tough to remember this at times…
Living this way has made us very savvy travelers, but our knowledge was acquired over the experiences of many years, oftentimes learning the hard way. So here are some tips from two raw vegans traveling abroad that I hope you'll benefit from, making your experience a relaxed, smooth and enjoyable one!
  • For those long plane flights, you can carry as much food on as you’d like. You never know how long you might be stuck in the air or in the airport, so err on the side of bringing more than you need


  • NEVER rely on buying food in the airport. So so expensive, especially fruit, if you can even find it

  • Try to stay away from making meals of dried fruits or fat. For some reason I always get rather ‘backed up’ and dehydrated when flying, and it always helps to just stick with simple meals of watery fruits, especially ones easy to carry and eat (from experience: tomatoes, mangos, lychees, clementines, watermelon, pineapple)

  • Try to hydrate pretty well the day/night before and that morning. Coconuts, if possible, are the best. You can carry lemons on the plane as well to make lemon water


  • Pack light and stick to the essentials. It makes all the difference in the world when you just have one or two easy to carry bags. Mostly mental (though you can walk to a lot more places), but just such a breath of fresh air to not have much. I honestly wished someone would steal our big bags of luggage on some trips we’ve been on! 

  • Yoga before the flight. Try to make time for it. Running may not be ideal as your sitting for hours and might be a little uncomfortable after a tough run and a long flight

  • Yoga after the flight. Especially with those overnight ones, we usually just do it in the airport before leaving. You feel quite refreshed afterwards and aren’t as anxious in a new place

  • Just relax on the flight. It may be 14 hours, but also think of how many days it would’ve taken if you weren’t flying. Don’t try to just ‘past the time’. Just hang out and cherish the beautiful sounds of screaming children :-)

  • Always leave enough time. We’ve missed flights before and it really stinks. Better to just hang out and stretch for an extra hour or two versus rushing.

  • You can sleep in the airport if you need to - we've done it several times.

  • Don’t trust the transportation people in the airport, unfortunately. Our first time visiting what we envisioned the pure, happy, land of smiles (aka Thailand), where none would do us wrong, resulted in a cab fare of $45 USD that was suppose to be around $3 USD. Buses and Uber are good options as well

  • Always know key words, phrases in local language, especially vegan ones and market lingo (i.e. how much?) 

  • Find out where locals shop for their produce. Fruit can be expensive in most places in the world.  We’ve had many long rants about the state of the world, the madness of the journeys we’ve gone on to find fruit etc. etc. But there’s likely a local, cheaper market or a wholesale market somewhere


  • Dogs. Of course, never the strays wandering the streets, but some owned dogs can be rather protective and the owners are so considerate as to leave the gates open. Consequently, running can be a bit problematic. Pretending to throw a rock seems to work or picking up a stick. But just avoid looking at them or the house, stay calm and keep walking otherwise 

  • Unfortunately, you kind of have to accept getting ripped off a bit. Like everything else, you never really know, but for the sake of sanity, we usually just accept it. On the bright side though, it’s likely just a local family relying on tourists versus some large, evil corporation 

  • Know some of the clear do’s and don’ts of the culture

  • Just go with it. If you forget to pack an extra shirt or you miss a meal, you’ll be just fine! 

Ok, I’m sure I left some stuff out. I was just thinking back to our latest trip to Thailand. Traveling as a vegan can be enough to make you want to lock yourself in your room. Well, you might say the same as pretty much living anywhere in the 21st century. Hopefully, the word of our little community here will spread to others a bit quicker. Suffice to say, a nice big sigh of relief if you find a fellow vegan on here to stay with. Well, anyway, hope this helps!

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