Tips for flying vegan
With summer in full swing, you may have some upcoming vacations planned, which may involve hopping on a plane to get to your summertime vacation destination. If flying has you a bit rattled and nervous about figuring out if your airline can accommodate your vegan diet, you’re not alone. Traveling on a plant-based diet may seem a little complicated, and may be the last thing you want to worry about when planning your vacation.
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Getting out of town is a time for rest and relaxation, so we’re breaking down our top five tips for flying vegan, so you can fly without the stress of wondering how and what you’re going to eat.
5 Tips For Flying Vegan
#1 Pack Your Own Snacks: One surefire way to make sure you have something to snack on during your flight is to pack your carry on with all of your favorite vegan goodies. Pack things that are easy to travel with and don’t require refrigeration. Things like nuts, unsweetened dried fruit, vegan granola bars, and kale chips are all excellent travel-friendly options.
#2 Have a Layover? Plan Ahead: If you have a connecting flight, but have some downtime to grab a bite to eat, take a look at the restaurant options prior to landing at your next location. Scoping out the menu options at the airport restaurants can save you lots of time and frustration when you have limited time to grab a quick bite to eat before hopping on your next flight.
You can even find apps like Happy Cow that will help you locate a restaurant that offers vegan-friendly options. Plus, as more and more travelers are demanding vegan options, chances are, you will be pleasantly surprised to see that many restaurants offers quite a few options, some of which are even clearly labeled “vegan” on the menu.
#3 Choose a Seat in the Front of the Plane: When booking your flight, try to choose a seat as close to the front of the plane as possible to have the best chance of getting a vegan snack option when flight attendants come around with the snack and beverage cart. The vegan snack options like the bag of peanuts tend to run out fast, so you may miss out the further back your seat is.
#4 International Travel? Call Ahead: If you’re traveling internationally, and your flight ticket comes with a meal, be sure to call your airline about 72 hours in advance to put in your request for a vegan meal. The more time you give, the better!
#5 Start Your Travels With a Full Belly: The best tip for flying vegan is to start your travels with a full belly! Before you head to the airport, make yourself a nourishing and delicious vegan meal so that if worse comes to worst, you aren’t starving if you weren’t able to pack enough snacks, or if you have a hard time locating vegan-friendly options on your flight or at the airport. Having a meal before you depart is also a great way to prevent getting “hangry” and can just make your flight a bit more enjoyable because who likes to travel while hungry, right?
The Bottom Line
Flying vegan isn’t as much of a challenge as it used to be as more people are adopting a plant-based lifestyle. Airlines are more times than not able to accommodate vegan-dining requests, and restaurants are also jumping on the plant-based bandwagon and offering very clear dietary labels such as “V” for vegan, and apps make it easy to track down restaurants that offer plant-based options.
Gone are the days where vegan options aren’t available on flights and in airports, so with just a little planning, you can fly vegan with a full belly while traveling to your vacation destination.
Read more about 5 Tips for Traveling Plant-Based.
