Hey, Vegan Travellers! Hey, Vegan Travellers! Brace yerselves! This is the last time I’m going to say this: It’s time once again for a vegan food round-up! But Ellie, you’ve covered basically every single place that you went in great detail… What is […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! I know it’s been a while since you’ve read these beautiful words, but guess what? It is once again time for a famous Ellie Round-Up! “But Ellie!” you say, interrupting my blog quite rudely, “You’ve been in […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! Ross and I just spent a couple of wonderful days in Munich, Germany! Spending a few days in Munich was not on our original itinerary, though. We thought we would spend some time somewhere fun in Switzerland […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! Whether you have been following along for the entirety of the journey or you are just tuning in now, you have almost certainly noticed that I am a vegan. You have probably noticed that one of my […] It is a truth universally acknowledged that a hungry vegan in possession of an empty stomach must be in want of a veggie burger. Not the most difficult thing to find on a menu, but often the most satisfying, a […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! I am writing to you today from what I think might be a dream. I am in Italy. I have always wanted to be in Italy. I am almost not in Italy anymore. I will soon be […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! Last Sunday I had my first experience with sitting in a cafe and working like a real live professional! Ross and I were in Prague at the time and needed a good environment in which to write […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! It has occurred to me that I am almost done with being in aeroplanes for quite a while. I realised that I’m actually pretty disappointed about this. I have been on over thirty-five flights in my life […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! I am currently sitting quite comfortably in the flat of a good friend called Roisin. Her flat happens to be located in one of the most amazing cities in which I have ever been- Prague. The three […] Our week in Vienna was an exciting one, filled with chocolate, cheese, ice-cream, and many, many more vegan delights. We could easily have stayed here for the entirety of our stay in Europe, just to indulge the tastebuds and probably […] It’s difficult to believe that almost an entire third of our trip was spent in Asia. The two months there went by incredibly quickly. We only had three stops in the continent: Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. But we had […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! This past week was a pretty great week for veganism and for travel. Ross and I are currently in Vienna, Austria where we are having a fantastic time. I was a little bit worried about transitioning back […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! No, I am not going to propose to you all. I just think it’s time we had a little talk. Specifically, I think it’s time we had a little talk about what happens to you, your health, […] We have just come to an end of our time in Thailand, and what a way to end a visit! The night before we were about to leave Chiang Mai our plans went a little astray. We both very suddenly […] Hey, Vegan Travellers! Could it be that it is already time for another round-up? Yes, yes it could. Could it be that I am once again agog and aghast at how quickly my time in a given country has gone […] Hey Vegan Travellers! I just had the most incredible week at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The whole week went by so ridiculously quickly that I almost don’t even know how to separate it out to find […] The first half of our Thailand visit has went by ridiculously fast. Our few days in Bangkok passed like a blur of delicious cake and curry; we had a few days in Kanchanaburi and a day trip over the famous […] Chiang Mai may very well be the happiest place on earth. Sorry not sorry, Disney. From the moment Ross and I arrived here, it has been a vegan dream. The cheapest place in town that had more positive reviews than […] After spending quite a bit of time in Bangkok, seeing some really beautiful shrines, visiting massive malls, and getting to know the local people and culture, Ross and I decided that it was time for us to have ourselves a […] The clock struck five on a cold, cold morning in South Korea. We groggily dragged ourselves out of our beds and dressed in the dark. This was the end of our time in South Korea, and we were headed for […] Hey hey, Vegan Travellers! We are no longer in South Korea. By the time Ross and I found ourselves once more heading into the great unknown of another country via aeroplane, we were ready for the change. Don’t get me […] Hey Vegan Travellers! It’s time once again for a great big round up! This time, it’s South Korea and it’s not as postivite as all the ones previous to it! I must have jinxed it when I said in the […] Contrary to what we’d heard over and over about how difficult it would be to be vegan in Japan, I had read that it would be incredibly easy in South Korea. Armed with this knowledge, I was incredibly excited for […] When I first found out about Vegan Travel, almost a year ago now, and I began to consider whether or not I would be able to apply for their Round the World trip, the biggest obstacle was going to be […] Hey Vegan Travellers! Ross and I have, very sadly, left Japan behind. I loved Japan more than I could possibly put into a blog. The people there were incredibly kind, the food was incredibly tasty, the nature was incredibly beautiful; […] As much as I would love for this blog post to be a massive list of the actual best things in life (y’know, chocolate, bread, vegetable gardens, new socks, haikus etc,) I was really just trying to be clever with the title. […] Hey vegan travellers! A little bit ago, I filmed a vlog about packing. In that vlog, I discussed the things that I am so glad we brought with us and the things that we probably could have left at home. […] Approaching the end of our time in Japan we were headed to Kyoto, the place I was most excited to visit. We were getting there at the tail end of the time before our rail passes expired, believing this to […] Hey, vegan travellers! It is once again time for a good old fashioned Ellie’s Roundup! Before I get started I just wanted to say that being vegan in Japan (at least in the big cities) is just as easy as […] We had been moving around Japan quite frequently. This is the simultaneous blessing and curse of the Japan Rail Pass. Ours were active for seven days, so in order to see as much of the country as we could, it […] When Ross and I left Tokyo for Kanazawa, I didn’t really know where we were going. I knew that it was going to be fairly easy to get there from where we were, via Shinkensen (famous fast trains in Japan) […] At the time of writing this it has been less than one week since Ross and I left New Zealand behind us, yet it feels as though it has been an eternity. I keep saying that these small increments of […] I don’t know why our time in New Zealand felt like it lasted forever, but it did. I don’t mean that in a negative way whatsoever. No, the three weeks we spent there were among the best of our trip […] Konnichiwa! We are in Japan! We have done so much already and yet so little compared to what we have planned for these next two weeks! The day we arrived, exhausted from travelling for many hours and from getting no […] I can’t believe that I’m already writing an “end of New Zealand” blog post! Our time in New Zealand went by so incredibly quickly and now I find myself in Japan, thinking back on all of the wonderful things we […] Out of all of the things that have been infinitely useful to Ross and I on our trip, I would say that my old iPhone 4 which I bought off a friend a few years ago has been the most […] We brought in the New Year in a spectacular fashion: huddled together, watching fireworks in the furthest place city from home I can possibly get to. It wasn’t our plan to be in Dunedin over New Year, it was just […] It has recently been brought to my attention that the Round the World trip Ross and I are on is nearly halfway over. I simultaneously can’t believe that it has been so long ago and yet only a few months […] Our time in the north had come to pass. Tired and intrepid, we stuffed our belongings back into our backpacks, said our goodbyes to our friend. It had been a pleasant few days in the comfort of the home of […] We just finished up an amazing week in Wellington, New Zealand. We had originally only planned on being in Wellington for a couple of days, but due to sanctuaries being on tight schedules, the holidays making it quite difficult to […] Hey Vegan Travellers! Ross and I have been in beautiful, sunny, windy, amazing, lovely Wellington, New Zealand for about a week now, hanging out with one of our old friends from Scotland, visiting sanctuaries in the nearby areas, and eating […] After taking a few days to settle and explore Auckland, the time came to explore more of New Zealand. We were unsure entirely what exactly we were doing and where exactly we were going. The plan was to get to […] Yesterday, Ross and I were walking through Wellington, New Zealand, desperately trying to find the place from where the free shuttle to Zealandia animal sanctuary would pick us up. With a screen capture of our directions and a vague idea […] I was not looking forward to the flight to New Zealand. I don’t do particularly well on lengthy sessions of transit, and this was going to be a big one. A five hour flight, followed by a seven hour layover, […] We are in New Zealand! While I am incredibly excited about being in New Zealand, I’ve got to tell you- I don’t feel like I’m in New Zealand just yet. In Peru, we struggled to get through conversations with local […] I will be the first one to admit that I was a big whiny baby about missing Thanksgiving dinner at home for the second year in a row. I can also admit that I became an even bigger whiny baby […] We woke after a night of little sleep. Lima is a noisy city and it always seems to be at its worst when you need it not to be. There was some sort of concert, playing loud samba music just […] Settling back into Lima’s bustling and busy state after experiencing the calm and quiet of Cusco was a little difficult. There are concerts held right outside our hostel every night, noise floating in through the door from the bar, and car […] As we say “adios,” to Peru and move on to our next great adventure, I remember the bread. Sorry, food! I meant to say food. Most of that food is bread. Anyway, Vegan Travelers, get ready, because it’s time for […] That’s right, folks. I am pulling no punches and beating around no bushes. Basically, I am not messing around. This blog post is all about bread and guacamole. “But Ellie, what do those delicious foods have to do with Peru?” […] This morning I woke up in the city of Cusco, well before my alarm was set to go off. Lightheaded and still half dreaming of the sunrise over the Andes and cocoa beans, I reached across the bed, grabbed a […] Peru was the first stop in our journey that I felt any sort of anxiety about. Not that we would run into any danger or anything – we were often told how dangerous Jamaica would be, which I didn’t buy […] Hey Vegan Travelers! I have so many wonderful things to tell you about in regards to Peru! Over the past few days, Ross and I have been exploring the absolutely beautiful city of Lima. It’s a huge city and has […] We’re in PERU! I have only been in the country for 17 hours and I have already experienced and learned so much! But before I get into all that, let me tell you about the travel. We left our hostel […] This blog was alluded to be a Montego Bay blog. However, time ran away from us there and we didn’t get to see very much of it at all. We only had two whole days there. One of which we […] It was no secret that it was going to be easy to find vegan things in New York City. According to a master-list I found after a quick google search, one could eat at a different vegan restaurant every day […] We began our departure from Kingston exactly as we spent our time there: realising we had nothing for breakfast and finding an excuse to visit New Leaf. We were getting our food to go, and asked the person who runs […] We arrived in Kingston after twelve hours of transit, and twenty-seven hours of consciousness. We were being picked up at the airport by the people we were staying with, but the driver wasn’t there. We waited at the airport for […] This morning I woke up in beautiful sunny Kingston, I packed a bag full of fruits, nuts, water, sunscreen, and towels. I pulled a skirt over my shorts, as I learned the other day that in Jamaica, a young woman’s […] Ross and I are in Kingston and we are having a blast! We’re staying in an absolutely wonderful villa. We have a shared kitchen, bathroom, and balcony, but a private room with loads of space for all of our stuff. […] It is no secret, at this point, that I really really like pizza. I would even say that I love pizza. I am committed to pizza. Pizza and I have a special bond, which I thought would be interrupted by veganism but […] I have never been so surrounded by such a variety of vegan eateries as I found myself in New York City. The trip got off to a shaky start with a four hour bus journey in which we were pulled […] I’m going to launch straight into this New York post with a picture of the biggest, most delicious pizza ever. This glorious pizza was purchased and eaten in full at a cute little omni-pizza place called Two Boots. It was […] I cannot think of a more appropriate day for a Vegan Traveler to post an update other than World Vegan Day! On any given day of the year, I am excited to talk about veganism. I am always very excited […] I’m currently lying content in a comfortable bed in Maryland. My experience of the US so far is that hospitality seems to be important. Everyone I have stayed with thus far had been very kind and have gone further out […] The last line in this title is totally cheating, but if you didn’t know- Baltimore calls itself Charm City. So there you go. I am great at rhyming. Do not question it. Moving on. Here are some little updates! THE […] The first thing we learnt about Boston is that the temperature is not to be trusted. We walked out of the train station to what we thought was a warm day, only to find ourselves shivering in a pavilion in […] I may not technically be lost in Boston, but I am quite stuck on it. The first three days that Ross and I were here went by way too quickly. We met the most amazing group of people while couch […] The past few days being back in Maryland have been almost just like any other time at home. I’ve been to a big Fall festival with my family (video coming soon!), had a campfire in my backyard, and have been […] We were only in Norway for a day and a half, but I miss it already. We got off to a rocky but fun start. After a surprisingly small amount of first flight anxiety we landed in Oslo at five […] In Oslo for a day! After eight months of being separated by the Atlantic Ocean (yet again…), my best friend and partner Ross and I received the most amazing news. We were contacted by VeganTravel and selected to be their […] VeganTravel.com is a place where vegans from around the world can share their passion for travel and adventure, help promote and grow interest in going vegan, shed light on the issues animals are facing around the globe, and help build a more sustainable and compassionate world. By sharing our collective experiences, we believe we can show the world how easy it is not only to travel as a vegan, but also spread a message of compassion with those we meet along the way.
It’s the end of the world! Trip! That I went on! And I am very funny!
Ross and I have returned to Scotland! We were welcomed back into this beautiful country in the best way possible- with grey and drizzly skies, potato scones on rolls, Irn Bru, a big long nap, and burritos. We then immediately fell ill with all of the things that we should have been falling ill with the whole time we were travelling. We slept for ages and awoke feeling that our trip had been but a dream. Flicking through photos and rewatching our videos brought it all right back, though. Reminded of the utter exhaustion that those eventful six months brought on sent me right back to sleep. Only just now have I really had time to truly reflect on the trip. I know that I have already talked about some of my favourite moments, updating you all as we went along. If you’ve been following from the beginning, there is no doubt that you know nearly every single event and every emotion following it. Therefore, instead of sharing events, I’d like to share some thoughts I’ve had in the restful aftermath of the most stressful and beautiful time in my life (so far).
Before my trip with VeganTravel I had been on a couple of journeys. I’d crossed the pond a couple of times by myself, I’d planned my own mini-vacation to Florida once, and had of course been on countless family road trips to visit various relatives. I thought I had a pretty good handle on travel. I knew to keep a small pouch separate from my purse to carry my passport, boarding pass, and a little bit of cash. I knew to wear slip-on shoes to the airport. I knew to pack a snack, always! I knew how to recover from a flight, deal with a delay, and get by without cell phone service. I always found travel pretty relaxing, probably because nothing had ever gone wrong for me in the airport or the plane. When we left Scotland last October, I was very much optimistic and I thought things would be breezy. We’d made it through security and customs just fine and we always would. That was all that would ever matter. I very, very quickly learned an incredibly valuable lesson- long term travel is VERY different from vacation travel. It is absolutely not all about getting through security, customs, and one flight. Oh, no. Long term travel is so much more than that.
I know that by a lot of peoples’ standards, six months is a cake walk. Six months could just be how long one stays in a single country on their life-long journey. For me, six months was a big deal. It was the longest I’d ever been away from home. It was six months of never being able to call in sick to my job of existing in a foreign land and being just a little bit lost all the time. It was six months of anything and everything being up in the air and able to go wrong at a moment’s notice. Together, Ross and I had to power through so many rainy days, lost in the middle of nowhere, where no one spoke English, there was no cell service, and we’d just missed the last bus. There were points in the trip where I thought I was done. I reached points where I couldn’t see how things could ever possibly be okay again- I thought we’d definitely miss a flight, die from food poisoning, or succumb to our mutual exhaustion on the side of the highway with our hitching signs held tight. Here’s the thing, though- we made it. It was really difficult, but we did it. We did it and I feel now we could do absolutely anything.
I will be returning to my own home fairly soon, having spent a total of nine months bouncing around the world like a rubber band ball. I will bring back with me my pictures of beautiful places, my stories of the beautiful people I met along the way, and a few humble gifts for my family who probably miss me as much as I miss them at this point. What I will not be bringing back with me, however, is the person I was before I left. Travel has most certainly changed me. I think it’s probably impossible not to be changed by travel. I may come back with a few more grey hairs, but I also will be coming back with a stronger sense of independence, of who I am as a person and what I am capable of doing and getting through. I will be coming back with a slew of new recipes inspired by all of the amazing food that I have been able to take part in devouring all around the world. I will be coming back wiser than my typical nine month academic year would’ve left me.
I know that in time, I will definitely begin miss the rush of stepping out into a new country, eager to trip over what little bit of the language I know to make a sincere connection with another person. I will miss laughing at ridiculous situations incredulously with Ross, as we tackled everything that life could throw at us. I don’t know when I will be afforded the opportunity of travel again. I do know that I am very grateful for the opportunity to be forged in fire instead of in a class room for a change. I am grateful for every smile from every stranger in every place that I learned to love and leave behind. But at this very moment, I am also grateful for the chance to just rest. I don’t think that these months of exhaustion and travel are done catching up with me, or even quite done with teaching me things yet.
Until we meet again,
Ellie Lebo
Additional Vegan Travel Blogs from Ross & Ellie:
Ross & Ellie’s Vegan Travel Videos:
I love these honest and reflective posts. It’s hardly all fun and giggles all the time, so I love hearing it from you post-travel frenzy! Welcome back and soon welcome back to America! 🙂