Awesome Travel Accesories

Yikes, it's been a while. I have much to write about my summer travel adventures. I'm kind of laying low right now, settling in for winter. I'm not quite ready to dive into a whole travel breakdown, so here is a small list of some of my favorite travel accesories. They make my life a little easier when I'm on the road or on a plane.

Ear Plugs

There have been too many times that these suckers have saved my sanity. Howling kids, screaming babies, annoying old drunk ladies, I could go on and on. While they don't block the sound out completely, they muffle it just enough to let me hang on to some dignity and not completely lose it. I'm loving Holly Golightly's purple tassled ones.

Eye Mask

You could go fabulous like Miss Holly, or you could go plain. Either way, it's nice to be able to block out the sun on an excruciating day flight after you've been up for way too long and all you want to do is sleep. Also good for situations when your plane neighbor insists on using his or her reading light or when you want everyone to just leave you alone.

Eagle Creek Compression Sacs
Take a whole suitcase filled with swimming stuff, warm stuff, and other travel clothing essentials and put it in a compression sac. Close it up, roll it, it miraculously gets all squished and vacuum packed. Now you can take more stuff. Just watch the weight limit if you're confined to carry-on only.

Inflatable Neck Pillow

The non-inflatables are more comfy, but who has room in their luggage for a neck pillow? I go inflatable when I travel. They roll up nice and small when not in use. Much more effective for preventing pulled neck muscles than a rolled up sweater or hoodie.

Lush Products

Baby Face Cleanser is a cocoa butter based bar that super moisturizing and effective. It's solid and it's perfect in a little Lush tin. Carry-on friendly.

Angels on Bare Skin is an exfoliating cleanser made from ground almonds and clay for when you need something scrubby to smooth you out. Carry-on friendly (meaning no liquids to worry about).

Breath of Fresh Air Toner lets you mist yourself with freshness when your skin is parched. Also good for getting rid of the remnants of Angels on Bare Skin. Get the small size as it's the limit you can take on carry-on.

Celestial Moisturizer smells heavenly and works well in a light way. Good for all seasons and climates.

Buffy Body Butter is a body soap, moisturizer, and scrub in one. Carry-on friendly, smells good. The only con is that it tends to melt away in the shower really quickly. Sometimes I just use Aqua Mirabilis as a carry-on friendly moisturizer.

And the obvious...

A fully charged ipod, a kindle, a magazine, or a really good paperback. I suppose you could also go with a laptop, but that's not how I roll. If I can get into a good book, I barely care what is happening around me.

More soon!

Vegan in Cairns

It's been a while since I last posted...busy as usual! I'm currently in Cairns, Australia. There are a few falafel places, a ton of Asian restaurants with great spring rolls and tofu dishes, and a bunch of coffee shops with soy milk. The soy lattes in Australia are some of the best I've ever tasted (especially in Melbourne, but I'll get to that some other time). I just stocked up the kitchen of the place I'm staying at with some tofu, soy crumbles, soy milk, pasta, spices, breads, fruits and veggies, and I'm pretty much set for the next few days. It turns out that being vegan here is not that hard at all. I'm taking tons of pictures, visited the reef (it was everything I thought it would be and more!), and I'm heading into the rainforest tomorrow. Will post more soon!

Vegan Key West

Key West, affectionately called The Conch Republic, is a warm and easy place that is quite vegan and eco-friendly. Surrounded by turquoise water and snaky mangroves, the streets of Key West are lined with Victorian architecture, art galleries, quirky shops, rowdy bars, and mellow restaurants. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour, and after checking into our hotel in the old part of town we had just enough time to walk down the warm, Victorian-lined streets to The Cafe, a delicious vegetarian restaurant at 509 Southard Street. After traveling for a few hours in the car through slow Keys traffic (there is only one road that connects the Keys), I couldn't wait to relax with a delicious vegan meal. Appetizers included spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and Un-wing Dings, which was fried BBQ tofu with a side of a tahini dressing (it normally comes with un-vegan blue cheese dressing, but our waitress subbed it with the vegan tahini).

The main course consisted of a coconut tofu dish with roasted red peppers and bok choy. It was smoky, creamy, and super filling. Good thing we had a fridge and a microwave in the room we were staying in!

One thing I really wanted to try while in the Keys was vegan Key Lime Pie, and it was here that I got my chance. Tangy, sweet, and creamy, the filling and raspberry sauce contrasted nicely with the crunch of the graham cracker crust. Stuffed and satiated, we soon had to head back to our hotel, where our ride from Blue Planet Kayak Tours was waiting. We headed to a dock on a bay, and hopped into a kayak along with the rest of the tour. We paddled our way through mangroves while the sun set, spotting all sorts of creatures along the way. We saw a GIANT, red hermit crab with eerie green eyes that made it's home in a huge conch shell, southern sting rays, three different kinds of sea stars, a sea hare, sea cucumbers, and whelks.
As the sun fell into the horizon, and the water went from clear to black, we put on headlamps (flashlights that you put on your head!), and continued to paddle through the mangroves, which started to take on a spooky appearance. The grand finale of the kayak tour was on the way back to the dock, when the sky and water were completely black, and our paddles stirred up some bioluminescent plankton that sparkled through the water like twinkling stars. The sound of the paddles through the water was only punctuated by occasional laughter when our kayaks got stuck in the flat, shallow bay and the occasional splash of an unidentified fish jumping out of the water. It was an unforgettable experience.

I'm Going to Oz!

I haven't even finished writing about my trip to the Florida Keys, but I am so excited about my next vacation I just can't keep it to myself any longer... I'm going to Australia!!! I'm not really exactly sure of my Australian travel plans yet, so far all I have are plane tickets.

I'll be sure to write about the rest of my vegan adventures in Florida this weekend.

Vegan Key Largo

Key Largo is the diving capital of the world, or so they say in Key Largo. After flying into Miami, renting a car, and stocking up in Whole Foods, we slightly settled ourselves into our condo/hotel that was set among the mangroves and faced the Atlantic. Most of the meals we ate while in Key Largo were in our condo. However, we did venture out to Cheng Garden, a Chinese place that served a few options with tofu. The Sesame Tofu and Szechuan Vegetable Tofu were pleasant, but not spectacular. It's worth noting that there is a small health food store and a Thai place that also serves tofu in Key Largo. Generally, everything is clustered in a mini mall on the Overseas Highway.

We didn't go to Key Largo for the food, we went for the diving, and the diving was excellent. Not having much experience, I hired a guide that started calling me the turtle whisperer after I spotted two juvenile Hawksbill sea turtles! While I heard mention of a fin popping out of the water from some of the snorkelers near the boat, I didn't see any sharks or dolphins. The scariest thing was a school of about 15 shiny and gigantic barracuda hovering above the reef. Yikes! There were tons of fish including French Angelfish, surgeonfish ganging up on territorial seargant majors, and many different kinds of parrotfish and triggerfish. I saw brain coral, the biggest lobster I've ever seen in my life, and I made a silent vow underwater to never dive without my camera again.

After two nights in Key Largo, we headed to Key West, but before we did, we stopped at the Key Largo Conch House. While not a very vegan sounding name, I couldn't resist checking out this restaurant/cafe set inside a cute peachy/pink house. I had a fried potato breakfast and we got an iced coffee with soy milk and a strawberry banana smoothie to go. Both were delicious, by far the best tasting thing we had in Key Largo.

Fueled by sugar and caffeine, we headed west. The incredible shallow blue water that looked warm surrounded the road practically the whole way. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour so we didn't stop for much on the way...

More about Key West next! I had a long absence from this blog due to computer issues that seemed to be somewhat resolved. I also have two trips planned for the near future, one is fulfilling a lifetime travel wish, but more on that next time!