Summer Vegan Travel Vibes

Traveling is my happy place.

In an airport or on a plane, the rest of the world and its grippy anxiety just falls away and I feel as free as if I’m swimming in a cold, fresh mountain lake in the woods.

Another of my happy places.

My eyes pop open before my alarm. My DNA hums with bliss and excitement, intuitively knowing all the steps, like a choreographed dance on the world’s most exciting stage.

From cozy bed to “0-dark thirty” dog walk; gulp down yesterday’s leftover cold coffee; half-assed teeth brushing, hair combing and final packing; zip suitcase; goodbye hugs, treats and kisses with my pups; husband-chauffeured ride to the rail station while I talk too much for such an hour; walk to the train platform; goodbye hugs & kisses with hubs, hourlong DART train to DFW, foot trek to the terminal, carry suitcase upstairs because I hate elevators, breeze through TSA, escalator to Skylink to departure terminal, down escalator to gate, restroom stop, water-bottle filler, Farmer’s Fridge, (in hopes they have a plant-based option available) and if not, to secure a hummus and pretzel situation (despite my prepared snack stash), and finally, to a bar while I await a seat since I’m “stand-by”.

Exhale. Bellissimo.

I first planted my tush on a barstool at the iHop bar which has a great view of the tarmack and lots of space, but the hospitality experience left me less than enthusiastic, so I jetted off to find a better vibe.

I snuggled onto the barstool at Love Shack and ordered a 7am, 9-ounce Pinot Grigio, my travel breakfast beverage of choice. In the immortal words of Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”.

Pure relaxation after what already seems like a very long and productive day.

Finding plant-based food to take onboard is a gold mining expedition, at best, when it comes to airport options. Today I came armed with snack bags of leftover brussels sprouts, (so sorry to my row-mates, but you were munching a bag of very "unappealingly aromatic" beef jerkey...ugh!)  my frozen homemade seitan, mixed nuts, dried berries and a small, most likely expired, bottle of truffle hot sauce. To my delight, the Farmer’s Fridge had a new Shawarma Chickpea wrap that I’m excited to dive into midflight.

Later, upon further inspection of my mini hot sauce, and already having consumed half of the bottle, it expired in 2023.  Whoopsie. It was sublime on my shawarma wrap though! Wish me luck!

You’d think I haven’t eaten in decades the dogged way I scout for food at an airport and often it’s an all or nothing pursuit, sometimes successful. It’s a game to me and as a vegan, I’m often not on the winning side.

It’s a daily reality for those of us who don’t eat animals in America. For some reason, our leaning into compassion is seen as an afront to our culture. I still don’t get it.

Today I packed and prepared for my four-hour flight, in case of emergency, and still found a good option at the Farmer’s Fridge, but there have been times when the pickings are slim, the chickpea wraps sold-out and the Sabra pretzel hummus pack and Smokehouse almonds from the 7-11 are my salvation.  

When departing before 10:30am, there are usually only breakfast options available, so a side of potatoes or toast is this carb-lover gal’s go-to. Hot sauce and guacamole is a much loved addition!

Since today I landed at a burger joint, Love Shack, to await my seat assignment,  I hoped I could order an “Impossible” burger to slip into a plastic storage bag and add to my onboard food collection. Unfortunately,  only the breakfast menu was available, which included just one burger, The Dirty Love Burger.

I politely asked if I could order the “Impossible” Dirty Love Burger which was priced $1 higher than the original.  My very sweet server checked with the kitchen and reported that it could not be ordered since it was not loaded in the POS system for breakfast. Damn.

It seems like it would be considered basic hospitality, programming prowess and good business sense to have a way to charge for something that was obviously in demand, and in the kitchen, but instead, they lost a sale.

I was offered French fries as an option but, hello, now we’ve circled back to fried potatoes for breakfast, which I do shamelessly enjoy and order often, but today I was hoping for something more multi-dimensional.

Looks like it will be me and my snack bags, shawarma wrap and canned white wine for the duration of this flight.

And I couldn’t be happier or more content.

Cheers and Safe End of Summer Travels!