Travelling with raw intent.

[Fragola]

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can tell me if they find it restrictive to travel and maintain a raw (and organic?) lifestyle. Do people prepare foods in their hotel/guesthouse room or do you find it easier to go self-catering in general?
Alissa, how did you find travelling in Italy? Although we offer a lot of fresh and wonderful foods here, the common mentally is that these things are there just to make the pasta look brighter!! Well maybe that is a little exaggerated, but only a little! :)
I would like to travel and I would love to stay eating as healthy as possible for me and the planet, but it seems as if doing this is so expensive that it remains out of the budget of most.
Any suggestions or experiences that you have had will be greatly received.
Best regards,
Sara

[tglasco4]

Hi Fragola,

I find that as long as one plans ahead it is fine. I traveled abit last summer (which was after I went raw). I didn't have a problem. I ate lots of fruit and nuts as that was what was available (I was in Idaho, Washington and Montana). I did eat some roasted nuts but that was the only cooked. I carried a bag of trail mix I put together and fruit on the plane. It went well overall. Also, the hotels usually have fruit platters with the continental breakfasts. Now if you want to be all organic, well that would probably be a little trickier.

[vegbaby]

Hey Fragola,

I used to live in Italy (Vicenza) and loved it! Anyway, my family lives in Mongolia at the moment, and we travel quite a bit. I just got back from six weeks in the States. Going back there I was able to try some new things (to me) like young coconuts and eat avocados to my heart's content. :) I was also extremely busy so it worked out well eating simply. So I did really well for the first month. Then my kids and husband joined me and we went to our home in Minnesota. Because we were staying in our unfinished house, we had no appliances, and I sat and watched my family eat veggie burgers and soy ice cream, which we can't get over here, and I remember one particular meal where I thought I was going to lose my mind I wanted to eat with them so badly! It started by my using bottled salad dressing and progressed to a bite here and a bite there of cooked food. If I'd planned better, I know it never would have happened...but it did. By the time we made it to my parents' house in Virginia, I was eating cooked cooked cooked and feeling awful, but I couldn't stop. So yes, planning does have a lot to do with it, but old patterns enter into to the picture, too, and boy are they hard to break!

I found that I was always able to get a salad, but I wish in retrospect that I'd taken the time to either make some salad dressing and take it with me or buy the ingredients once I got there and make some. If I had it to do over, I might also have splurged and bought some raw crackers, had some young coconuts sent in to Minnesota, and stocked up on raw comfort food - hindsight is 20/20!

Now I'm back home and back on track, but I'm having to break through some old patterns all over again, and that's hard.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Fragola,

Although I'm not 100% raw, sometimes I'm pretty close. When I am, and I'm traveling, I look on the Internet to see if there is a health food store/care in that town. I also take my cooler and I get a motel that has a refrigerator in the room.

I was at a seminar once and the instructor was telling the students that eating is important and that they should eat their fruits and veggetables and he listed some foods and one was an avocado. One little girl asked what an avocado was . . . and I just happened to have one out in my cooler in the car :) I was so surprised that the instructor told the students to eat fruits and veggies!!!!

Anyway, I just make sure I have food with me and have a refrig and I'm all set. I also bring a knife, a bowl and a plate.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[Curtis]

Hi Sara,
I just got back from seeing a friend in Texas and her whole family is into the meat thing in a big way.:( Kind of makes me sad their whole family is overweight or has health issues. Anyway I took bananas with me and made a batch of Alissa's date nut torte without the frosting.
Ate mostly fruit for breakfast and salads for lunch. It can be done but planning is important to do.

[Alissa]

Hi fragola,
I totally agree with what everyone has said here. I little planning goes a long way. Even just having a large batch of crackers that you can later put an avocado, tomato and onion slices on when you get sick of salads, or a bunch of nuts and dried fruits, etc... I found it helpful to plan a little that ways in between my fruit and salads i can have a little variety. A client of mine just came back from Africa last year and traveling there with a big batch of flax seed crackers in her luggage!
When we were in Italy, i ate allot of salads and fruit. The fruit was delicious! The grapes were amazing! I really didn’t see any problem there as the food was really fresh and clean and although im sure not organic, it was local and there was no lack of fresh produce. We even found a vegetarian restaurant in sienna and they made us a few raw dishes, they were heavenly! The owners were really nice, i forget the name of the place but ill have to look it up as we found it before we went in one of the travel books.
You really get used to traveling raw, it just takes some practice. Certain places are harder as the lack of produce and abundance of meat related restaurants are more, but most of the time i don’t have a problem finding what i need. Oh, and its a LOT cheaper then eating cooked and traveling! In the past i would have been in every restaurant in Italy eating eggplant parm and tiramisu! That cant be cheep!

[marigold]

if i am out all day i wizz up puddings to take in my bag and some flax crackers etc or nuts..

my parner travels overseas and takes as much dry stuff as she can..and can usually buy fruit and veg while there to keep her going ..

i read the boutenkos got all their planned fruit and veg taken by customs and ened up being v hungry so they now take dry stuff on planes ..

yes forward planning and take more than u think u would need

if i was in a hotel i would def make my own up in the room!!

[Olive]

I wonder about camping and being raw. I tend to camp a lot, and while I don't think it will be a problem when I car camp, since I can bring a cooler, I do wonder about backpacking. Any thoughts?

I'm also a big fan of hitting up the natural food store when I first get to town, even if I need to take a taxi. I find that it saves me money and stress in the long run.

[Fragola]

Ciao all,
Well, thank you all for your advice and comments. I understand your comments on preparing well for all trips, I just need to put it into practice!! :)
I think that the travelling raw is not so much an issue from general opinion, it is organic that will probably create upset!
I appreciate Olive's perspective as people ask me to go away for a weekend or a week camping, and then the turmoil of whether to take clothes and a sleeping bag or food dissuades me. Also, when travelling with 'normal' eaters they often do not appreciate the importance of eating the way I do, and it becomes an inconvenience to them!!
Anyhow, thank you all for your comments.
Love and peace,
Sara

[smasty]

I find it really easy to be raw while traveling....I eat very clean though when I travel, mostly mono eating....by the time I get home my mind is SCREAMING for raw gourmet...something heavy and complex (after days and days of fruit and salads). Anyway, the first thing I do when I hit town is find a grocery store (Whole Foods please!!) and load up my room with fruit and gorp. Then find the salad bar for lunch and dinner. So far it's been easy, what a nightmare though on international travel to hear about having customs confiscate food!

[Gosia]

I do not travel a lot, but I do go to conferences. This year I went to Beijing in China. I was pretty concerned about the availability of raw foods as I read not so great things about the hygiene in China. I survived. The mornings were easy as I lived off breakfast bar in the hotel, where there was plenty of fruit to chose from. During day, I had to go hunting for some foods, between the seminars. I managed to get some bananas, grapes and oranges. I also had some nuts with me. Although I did not have a great deal to eat, I did not starve either. I discovered that the fruit in China were not as yummy as at home though. And, I hated having to bargain for them!!!