Warm Vegan Travel Wishes, Still Stuck in the Snow

The Jersey Shore/NYC snow situation is still totally crazy!  My car has been completely snowed in for days because of the intensity of the snow.  Major highways have only now began to open one lane.  There's about three feet of snow everywhere!  My snowbound brain has led me to websites that show warm beaches.  My restless feet just want to go to the beach and take pictures.  It seems that other snowbound people have made some footpaths through the snow, so hopefully I can get up there today.  

I've been on a tight budget lately, so upcoming travel is going to be tricky.  I'm determined to make it work though, and dreaming is free!  I have miles saved up on a few airlines, so not including airfare, these options might actually work.  Since I'm surrounded by snow right now and really love the beach life, I want scuba, snorkel, and surfing experiences.  Delicious vegan food and good coffee are sort of a necessity, though I have been known to do without while traveling to really cool places.  Here is a random list of places I've been thinking about lately.

Puerto Rico

Kayaking in a bioluminescent bay, surfing waist to chest high waves, sipping pina coladas after scuba diving...sounds pretty good to me!  There's a bunch of vegetarian listings for PR on Happy Cow.

Costa Rica

Surfing, diving, hiking, I've always wanted to go to Costa Rica!

Miami

Flights from the NJ/NYC/Philly area to Miami are pretty cheap, and I remember finding a hotel bargain in a really good area smack dab in the middle of South Beach.  

Hawaii (remember, this is not including airfare)

I've been to Kauai, and to this day it's one of the best places I've ever been.  Now I'd like to try out Oahu or Maui.   There's gotta be some budget hotels there, right?  I'll find out and keep you posted!

Favorite Vegan Things of 2008

I've been thinking about all of the wonderful things that I've experienced in 2008. I've traveled to some pretty amazing places and I've eaten some delicious vegan food! Here is a list of my favorite vegan things of the year, in no particular order:

• Vegan blogs. Although I knew of their existence for a while, this is the year I really started reading them (and writing one!). It's so fun to see all of the inspiring food pics and to read about everyone's vegan experiences, whether they're product or restaurant reviews or travel accounts.


• Kauai. This trip inspired me to start my blog. Though I've traveled to many cities and countries around the world, I've only recently started to vacation to tropical places. My worst fear was to get stuck on a boring island with nothing to eat. This was so not the case with Kauai, a vegan paradise!


• Chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon. So easy, so good.

• Mini coconut milk ice cream sandwiches and ice cream bars from Turtle Mountain. YUM!!!

• Vegan Cajun etouffee sauce. A recent discovery, I didn't even know what etouffee was until my trip to New Orleans.

• SCUBA diving. I'm not officially certified yet, but I will be soon. Breathing under water is scary and awesome. I'm hooked!

• Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World took over my kitchen in 2008.

• Humpback whales, sea turtles, and monk seals. It was an unforgettable experience hanging out with them!

I'm sure there's a billion more things I could add to the list, but I'm going to stick with this. Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

Vegan Kauai Part 2

Photo taken at the top of Waimea Canyon, overlooking Na Pali, Kauai

When I was planning our trip to Kauai, I have to admit, I was nervous about what I'd eat there. I don't think the lack of vegan options should stop you from going somewhere you really want to go, but I'm always a little nervous when I'm going to a place (like an island) where I don't know what kind of options there are for vegans. I have been on trips where the only vegan options were potato chips, pretzels, peanuts, lettuce and tomato salads with oil and vinegar, a random fruit like a banana or apple, and Ritz crackers and peanut butter. When you eat like that for a while, you feel horrible no matter how fun your experiences are. I have to admit that over the years, the number of quality vegan options in remote places has risen dramatically. It's so much easier to be vegan now than it was, say, fifteen years ago. The fact that Happy Cow's Vegetarian Guide exists opens up a whole new world of vegan travel. There are definitely some places that are extrodinarily vegan friendly, where the food is as awesome as the scenery. One of those places is Kauai!

Before I set out there, I (of course) googled "vegan Kauai" (Sort of Obvious but Definitely Important Vegan Travel Tip: google the place you're traveling to with the word, "vegan" before you go. Print out or write down what you found, and bring it with you!). That led me to The Blossoming Lotus, which I've written about before. I knew then that at least there was a most likely delicious and wholesome vegan dinner option for us every night, even if it might be a little expensive. I also came across the Hindu Monastery in Kauai. I didn't have the opportunity to visit the monastery, but I heard it was beautiful. What is great about their website is that they have a list of vegetarian and vegan options for the Hindu pilgrims that make there way there. This list proved invaluable! The places we went to from the list were:

Blossoming Lotus

This is located at 4504 Kukui Street in Kapa'a, a city on the east coast of Kauai in the region known as the Coconut Coast. It's tucked away inside a little shopping area called The Dragon Building. There are a lot of raw options here, all of which are filling and satisfying. You can see their dinner menu here. My favorites included the Rockin' Moroccan Seared Tofu, the Thai Bowl, and the Monk Bowl. The summer rolls were an excellent appetizer and the desserts...oh the desserts! I still dream about them! My favorite was the raw coconut mango pie with macadamia nut crust and the raw fudge. Yum!!! Great place, highly recommended.

Lotus Root

From the same people that brought you The Blossoming Lotus. Located across the street, actually. This is a little bakery/cafe that offers many raw and vegan breakfast and lunch options. My favorites were the live pizza (so filling!), the scones, cookies, and chai tea (spicy!). They also had toasted bagels made with sprouted wheat and vegan cream cheese. This is a great place to stop before heading out to the day's adventure, get your breakfast and some lunch to go, and you're all set!

Papaya's Natural Foods and Cafe

Two locations: 4-831 Kuhio Highway, Kapa‘a in the Coconut Coast and 5-5161 Kuhio Highway, Hanalei (the beautiful, idyllic northern part of the island). This is a health food store with many organic and vegan options. We shopped here to stock our fridge (Vegan Travel Tip: try to stay in a room with a fridge and at least a microwave or toaster oven. That way you can buy food and prepare it at home. It's less expensive and gives you more options!). They had delicious homemade bread with sprouted grains. There is also an extensive natural "beauty aid" section with lots of shampoos and soaps and stuff like that in the Kapa'a store, in case you need some vegan soap-y products. The Kapa'a location is bigger, but they are both good resources for the traveling vegan with lots of mock meats and ready made options. There's also a cafe, though we didn't eat anything there. Both locations are clustered in a sort of nice mini mall.

King and I Thai

4-901 Kuhio Highway, Kapa'a, also located in a mini mall. This amazing Thai restaurant is not all vegetarian, so you can bring your omnivore friends there and they won't complain. The vegan options, however, are to die for! They were so rich and satisfying! The wait staff was very knowledgable about the many vegan options they had. My favorites were the pad thai, spring rolls, and the amazing coconut milk tapioca dessert. The service was impeccable!

Sukothai

Located in the Kapa'a shopping center, this is another Thai option. The food was good, the atmosphere was laid back. The stir fried eggplant with tofu and the satay tofu were very good!

Postcards Cafe

Located in Hanalei, just before the shopping plaza with Papaya's and Java Kai, is a little seafood restaurant. It's usually crowded because apparently the seafood is very good. There are some vegan options there too. We had the thai summer rolls, the Francesca (a puttanesca with differing types of pasta and sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and Kalamata olives, sautéed in a sherry marinara sauce), the Shanghai (sautéed tofu and crisp vegetables with roasted cashews in a tamari ginger sauce, served over rice pilaf). They also had "Postcards’ Famous Chocolate Silk Pie" otherwise known as "The Vegan’s Delight" and coconut sorbet, but we realized halfway through our meal that they didn't take credit cards and we didn't have enough cash for dessert. Bummer! This place was a bit expensive for what we had (pasta and veggies), but I imagine that it would be great night out if you were traveling with fish eaters.

There are a bunch more veg-friendly options on Kauai listed on the Hindu Monastery website, but we didn't get to sample all of them. Also, if you love coffee as much as I do, you can't miss...

Java Kai

5-5183C Kuhio HWY in Hanalei (right by the Hanalei Papaya's) and 4-1384 Kuhio Hwy, #105 in Kapa'a (right near Lotus Root). Great directions are available on their website. They have delicious smoothies and oh so perfect coffee with soy milk. They serve the incomparable Kona coffee there. Nice people, relaxed atmosphere, and top notch coffee! Highly recommended!

Above photo taken in Allerton Garden

If you're traveling to Kauai, I also recommend renting a car so that you can travel the island (there's poor to little public transportation). The Na Pali coast is unbeatable, the best way to see it is on a boat, where hopefully you'll also see some spinner dolphins, humpback whales, monk seals, sea turtles, and maybe even a whale shark. We went with the Holo Holo boat charter. The captain and crew were so nice and knowledgable, and the sights were unbeatable! Don't miss Hanalei Bay, Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific), Allerton Garden, and Poipu Beach (lots of sea turtles and monk seals). Staying in Kapa'a is a good idea, since you'll be centrally located (there is basically one major highway that goes three quarters of the way around the island) and most of the good food is there.

Vegan Travel Tip: check out happycow.net before you go to get a listing of vegan options and reviews. Also (very important) post your reviews to help out other traveling vegans! In my experiences there's a lot of vegan restaurants missing from Happy Cow. The more places that are listed, the more options we traveling vegans know about, the less stressful our trips will be. Happy traveling!

My Sea Glass Beach Photos

Yes, at this magical beach there was sea glass and odd-coral bits instead of sand. Apparently there was a dump nearby, where people threw glass and other debris into the ocean. The ocean reponded by spitting back polished and tumbled sea glass. Just one more reason Kauai is one of my favorite places on Earth.

Humpback Whales

This is one of my favorite humpback whale photos, I took it when we were "mobbed" by a few humpback whales on a boat in between the islands of Kauai and Niihau. They swam under the boat and would surface a few feet next to us. They surrounded us and basically forced us to stop moving for about an hour and a half.

They are massive, yet gentle. They were methodical but playful. You could feel their power, as they could have easy overturned our boat if they wanted to. Instead, they simply swam and surfaced and sang. We had an underwater microphone on the boat that picked up their vocalizations. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced in my life.

Coconut Mango Heaven

I still day dream about the delicious raw vegan coconut cream pie with mango sauce and macadamia nut crust from Blossoming Lotus in Kauai. We'd end the day of snorkeling, swimming, hiking, or kayaking with a delicious vegan meal, and top that off with a ridiculously delicious vegan dessert. The other day I saw Organic Rice Divine vegan ice cream at my local health food store. I just had to try the coconut mango flavor, and while it wasn't the same as the live coconut cream pie, it didn't disappoint. I really didn't taste the mango, it was more like coconutty-creamy goodness. Yum!

Adopt an Endangered Species

One of the coolest things about Kauai was the monk seals. Monk seals are incredibly endangered, with only about 500 in existence today. They beach themselves during the day to rest. It's a crime to harrass or disurb a Hawaiian monk seal, and when we were lucky enough to share a beach with one, we found everyone to be super respectful of this magnificent animal. I found this great "Adopt a Monk Seal" website where you can donate anywhere from $20 to $75 to Defenders of Wildlife, and they'll give you a stuffed animal version of a monk seal, an adoption certificate, a photo, and more information about monk seals. They also have many other animal "adoptions" to choose from, if monk seals aren't your thing.

Vegan Travel Tip

Vegan Travel Tip #1: Try to stay in a room with a kitchen, or at least a microwave and a refrigerator. Many condohotels have this feature, resorts usually don't.

The last few snorkel-friendly destinations I traveled to were very different in terms of vegan foods available. Kauai was a vegan's dream, especially since we stayed in Kapaa. The vast majority of the vegan/vegetarian restaurants were in Kapaa, a short drive away from our hotel. The Safeway and even Longs Drugs had some vegan food for sale.

St. Thomas was another story. Luckily, our room had a full kitchen. While we had a delicious vegan dinner at Havana Blue, an expensive restaurant right on the beach about an hour from our hotel, we mostly cooked in our room.

St. John has the Starfish Market, a cute little grocery store that had soy milk and tofu. We also enjoyed eating at The China Shack, a chinese food restaurant located in the same complex as the Starfish Marlet. They had numerous tofu-based options.

Books to read if you're going to Kauai

Two travel books were very helpful in planning our trip. The first one is The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook by Andrew Doughty, and the second is Lonely Planet's Kauai by Luci Yamamoto.

Vegan Kauai

A salty tide pool filled with marine plants and animals:
It was a trip of a life time! Kauai's balmy winds, soft beaches, and salty tide pools were more than I could have imagined they would be. And the food! Our day typically consisted of waking up to fabulous Kona coffee with soy milk (check out Java Kai if you're ever out there), eating some sort of raw vegan breakfast pastry at Lotus Root, then embarking on some sort of new physically taxing adventure (kayaking, surfing, hiking), and ending the day with a ridiculously delicious dinner that was equally healthy. Our favorite restaurants were Blossoming Lotus and King and I (Thai).