6/15 The Best Laid Plans
Sandy and I were travelling with a friend of ours over the weekend to the lovely west coast of Michigan and stayed at a B&B. Last week (6/10) I posted about how happy I was because I had worked out the vegan thing with the B&B ahead of time. They would provide a vegan breakfast just because I had asked, there was a fridge to put the rest of our vegan edibles in, and…they had a grill available for us to use so we could grill anything we wanted dockside!! I was thrilled and empowered because I made my needs known and they were met just like that! Wow!
Once we were there…everything unraveled. They had decided not to provide anything vegan (but never shared that with us until the first morning) stating they had already done their shopping for the week. We were not allowed to use the grills (that no one was using) because we were not in a suite. Another disappointing aspect was that guests were stealing our food from the fridge where we stored our other vegan edibles!! They even went so far as to open and use our coconut milk creamer that I bought to try and review!!
I am sharing this because this was a very real life situation that we faced while trying to transition to an all plant based diet, away from home. Life is messy and continues to happen regardless of how buttoned up we try and be.
Planning ahead and bringing food was our saving grace. We brought lots of salads, fruit, nuts and sandwich fixins. Fortunately, we had plenty of food and found several amazing wineries to visit. Wine is vegan and this makes everything better.
We found a beautiful store in Douglas, Michigan called Summertime Market that sold all locally produced products.
Photo By: S. Duquet
Photo By: S. Duquet
So, we continue to learn new ways to navigate all situations while working toward an all plant based diet. The most important travel tip I have found is to create your own opportunities for success. Bring food when possible, research restaurants ahead of time and prepare to be flexible and creative.
Tomorrow I will share two more treasures we found on our weekend getaway.
Travel on! Have a great day.
Tags: 30 day challenge, buy local, compassionate eating, local produce, locally grown, Summertime market, trying vegan, vegan experience, vegan travel, vegetarian travel tips
June 15th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Oh no! That’s too bad the B&B was not cooperative, but at least you were prepared. You’ve probably already checked this out…but http://www.happycow.net allows you to search zip codes for veg-friendly restaurants, grocery stores, co-ops and farmer’s markets. It is my best friend on the road!
June 15th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Thank you Jennifer. I have never been to this site and I love it. Makes me want to plan another trip right away to test it out! Sandy loves a good research challenge.