It has been five years since my first international trip – eight days in the UK, mostly in London. Whenever I start planning a new trip like this fall’s jaunt to Europe, I can’t help but reflect on how much I have learned from travelling abroad and how much I still have to learn! I’m celebrating those five years with this reflection post, plus five things I learned about myself as a traveller during the trip.
We picked London as my first international trip because my SO and I had rarely had the opportunity to travel together and we wanted to go someplace on both of our bucket lists that was easy to get around and really vegan-friendly.
We used London as our base for the entire trip, staying in an apartment rental in Bloomsbury. It was such a good location between King’s Cross and Russell Square tube station. We mostly explored London, both visiting attractions like the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the British Museum and Westminster Abbey, and wandering around through the neighbourhoods like Soho, Bloomsbury, Covent Garden, Camden Town and parks like Hyde Park and The Regent’s Park.
It was so easy to find vegan options in London, although I hear it’s much easier now! The only pub we visited that didn’t already have a vegan option on the menu veganized a stirfry for me. I have to say my favourite place was definitely Norman’s Coach & Horses – it was the only place we ate more than once, and the source of the vegan tofush and chips in the photo gallery.
We did take two days to explore other parts of the UK, taking a bus tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath, and taking the train to Cardiff, Wales for a day.
It was such a great trip, we have plans to explore more of the UK within a few years.
And now on to the five things I learned about myself as a vegan traveller:
1 I’m a wanderer
The number one thing that I learned is that I am not much of a museum person and definitely prefer to wander around neighbourhoods and see parks, people, art installations, and architecture rather than go from museum to museum. So I need to plan wandering days with extra vegan snacks or vegan picnic lunches and always bring comfortable athletic shoes no matter how “tourist” they make me look.
2 I like planned and un-planned days
Trips work best for me when some days have scheduled activities and some days are un-planned. I use the unplanned days to do laundry, rest, wander aimlessly, check out things I missed from the planned days, and read at a coffee shop. I prefer to have one day planned, the next un-planned, etc., so I don’t get too overtired; but even one un-planned day every few days helps!
3 Short-term apartments are great for vegans
Staying in short-term apartment rentals is a great way for me to travel as a 30+ year-old vegan when I’m travelling with my SO. We had the privacy of a hotel room and the kitchen space of the hostels I preferred in my twenties. Having the kitchen meant that we could eat breakfasts before we ventured out for the day and we’d save money! Apartment rentals are way more common and easy to find now, but back then I’d never really considered them until I was researching accommodations for the trip.
4 I get hangry!
I really didn’t know this about myself until the day we couldn’t find a place for supper in Cardiff because there was an event and all the restaurants were full, and we hadn’t brought snacks with us. So now I bring at least an energy or granola bar or trail mix everywhere, and always have a reusable water bottle when I’m travelling.
5 Culture shock affects me
The last (and probably most important) thing I learned is that you can be affected by culture shock no matter how similar the country, language, customs, and food is to your own. Not too much difference between Canada and England, right? Even though I didn’t know much about culture shock at the time, it still happened to me and I didn’t yet have the skills to deal with it (I developed those preparing for my Netherlands trip, which I’ll post about soon). Now I know culture shock will happen to me every trip and I can minimize it with open-mindedness, relaxing activities and favourite items from home.
As I mentioned before, I learned so much about myself as a traveller on this first international trip. These tips might help you as you learn to travel, or you may already use them – in which case feel free to comment so we can discuss!