The Raw Girl's Travel Guide
[ 10 June 2008 ]
The essentials. Yes, fabulous shoes are an essential!
Going away on holiday is fabulous. There are hundreds of things to see, great food to eat, intense shop-a-thons, amazing parties, delicious food, mind-blowing art galleries, little streets to explore, fabulous food…
Yes. Like it or lump it, eating is a huge part of the travelling experience. We all need food to live, but we’re never so aware of this fact as when we’re on holiday. Usually you just eat at your desk or make some toast & watch television, & don’t give it a lot of thought. But when we’re trawling the streets for treasures, walking miles a day & staying in a hotel room, it seems like we need constant nourishment. Stopping off at every pizza joint, bakery, ice-cream shop & hot dog stand in your destination is expensive, not to mention unhealthy.
So what about those of us who have experienced the glee of raw food? How are we supposed to eat while we travel? What can we do to make our travels less of a trip to the bloat buffet & more energising, fulfilling & fun?
I hate to say this, but a lot of it comes down to your level of self-control & how you view food. Do you see it as the enemy, or just something your body requires? For me, if I see a cupcake, I’ll buy it & eat it. I don’t believe in dieting, & I had such a restricted view of food for years that these days, I’m pretty chilled out about what I eat. I don’t do guilt over cupcakes, ice-cream, cookies, whatever. I think that if you want it, you should eat it. Being on holiday is pretty much the extreme end of the scale, presenting thoughts such as, ‘Oooh, world famous cake? I better have a slice, since I might never come back…’
However, I also know that if I gorge myself on pizza, bread, pasta, whatever, I don’t feel very good afterwards. My energy slumps. I feel sluggish. My skin performs its own ugly little dance. I get grouchy & I think, “Ugh, I need to eat more raw food”.
Because being on holiday (or “vacation” as you Americans call it!) is so taxing, & because there’s always so much to do at any given moment, the key is to making eating raw as easy as possible. It needs to be even more easy than at home, because odds are good that you’re not going to have your usual things with you. The items in my kitchen that I took for granted, like balsamic vinegar, a blender, salad bowls & sunflower seeds, are going to be in short supply in a hotel room or a sublet apartment. (My kitchen in New York has tools but nothing else.)
Juice
The first & best thing you can do is to hunt out a juice bar in your local area. Use Google, ask locals or if you’re in the United States, utilise the power of Yelp! (I love Yelp.) Don’t be tempted to order juice from the hotel — it will be something like $6 for orange juice. Not very economical & you can get one that’s much larger & better for you for about the same price. Find the juice place, & decide to make it your morning routine. When you wake up, maybe even before you do anything else, chuck on some clothes (& dark sunglasses if you don’t look too fabulous first thing in the morning), make your way down there & order yourself a mammoth green juice. It doesn’t need to be all greens but at least ask them to throw some spinach in there. You can’t taste it, it will give you a huge energy kick & your body will soak it up lovingly.
if you have a big ol’ juice in the morning, you’ll find that it will keep you going for quite a long time. Most raw foodists who have been “in the game” for a while find that a decent green juice in the morning means they don’t even think about eating again until late in the afternoon — somewhere around 3 or 4 o’ clock. Though of course, your body may work differently, & you should always eat if you’re hungry!
Vitamins
The second thing I would recommend is hitting up your closest health food store for some vitamins. If you don’t normally take them, now might be a good time to start. Holidays, while typically considered relaxing, can be anything but. People to meet, places to go, lots of walking to get there… it can be exhausting! Couple that with the fact that it may be warmer or cooler than you’re used to, you’re probably drinking less water than usual, & your eating habits are a bit unsettled, & it’s a recipe for feeling run-down. A lot of raw foodists believe that if you’re eating raw you don’t need any supplements, but I’m not sure I agree. I have been taking a women’s multi-vitamin & three Omega 3 tablets every day for a couple of years now, & it has made a huge difference to how I feel day-to-day. I often feel like my brain doesn’t operate at full power until I’ve had my Omega 3 capsules.
Omega 3 capsules don’t need to be fish oil. They can be, if you really really want, but it’s not compulsory. I buy flaxseed oil ones & they work just as well. You may not be able to buy your regular multi-vitamin brand, but speak to someone in the shop & see what they recommend. The other day I bought vitamins that are made wholly from raw food, which is amazing to me, & they’re great.
While you’re in the health food store, you might like to pick up any superfoods or other supplements that you like to have on hand. Then you can just throw them in your juice or whatever works for you. I recommend buying it all when you arrive, not before. Trying to import food into a foreign country can be a nightmare, & if you’re trying to get it into somewhere like Australia or New Zealand, you’re going to be upset when they biff it all in the bin.
Snacks
I am a huge snack lover & I much prefer to snack on small things throughout the day than have occasional big meals. You’ll make things much easier on yourself if you have bits & pieces scattered throughout your room/apartment/suitcase to eat. As well as saving time — I mean, going out in hunt of breakfast every morning? What a time-suck! — you’ll be less inclined to buy a slice of the incredibly tasty & tempting pizza next door.
What makes a good snack? Well, fruit is the best thing. It’s small, cheap, portable & easy to get your hands on. Pre-chopped vegetables are great too — you can buy them in the fresh section of any supermarket, & they’re trivial to throw in your purse & eat during the day. Other than that, you’ll be surprised by what your nearest health food store carries. I have been amazed to find all manner of packaged raw food snacks, like chocolate/coconut/almond bites, chocolate, crackers & nuts. Even more incredibly, a lot of those things I discovered in a supermarket in Gainesville, Florida — so it can be done!
Stock up. Keep a bag of raw nuts on you at all times. They’re good for you & will help tide you over when you get peckish.
Water
Remember to make an effort to drink lots of water. It keeps you feeling energised & fresh, & helps your brain stay alert. It can be easy to forget to drink water, especially when you’re walking for miles & miles & don’t want to lug a huge bottle around with you. Unfortunately, if you leave it at home, by the time you return at the end of the day, you’ll probably be grumpy & dehydrated with a headache. Not the most fun thing!
Buy yourself a water bottle & start toting it around with you. Glass bottles are the best, though they also tend to be the heaviest & have the highest pain-in-the-ass factor, since they can break quite easily. Stainless steel bottles are probably the next best thing, & companies like Sigg make really cool ones that come in a multitude of sizes & patterns. After that would be plastic, which is best avoided.
Meals
Find some places that serve the kind of nosh you’re into. Soystache has a list of raw food restaurants around the world, but We Like It Raw trumps all with a Google map of raw food restaurants in America, a New York-specific map, & a raw food restaurants section on their site with constant updates on new joints to check out worldwide. Woo!
Decide to eat a real raw meal out at one of these places two or three times a week. You will have some incredible meals this way. There will be some misses, too, but it’s all part of the experience. Sit down, savour the food, enjoy yourself. Sometimes raw food restaurants are expensive, that’s true. But honestly, you’re on holiday, food is pretty much always going to be one of your biggest expenses, & you might as well spend the dough on food that is going to make you feel GOOD rather than awful. Make the right choice for your body!
When you’re not out wining & dining, assess your neighbourhood to see what you can use to make yourself meals. If there’s a greengrocer, you might like to start making yourself salads. This can be a little labour intensive though, & there’s nothing to say you shouldn’t just eat a cucumber & a bunch of grapes. You may also choose to up your juice intake & just have one solid meal a day.
Being prepared & flexible
It’s really up to you, but I think the key is to be prepared. Imagine yourself as a girl or boy scout, & think ahead of time. If you only ever leave your house to buy a meal, eat it & then go back home, next time you’re hungry you’re going to be in the exact same situation. Do some shopping, stock up on things you like & know you can eat, & then you’ll never be in that desperate, frenzied, slightly rabid stage of hunger where you could eat anything as long as it might fill the gap!
It might also help to regard your holiday as just that — a holiday. Not an opportunity to prove yourself to the Raw Police! Of course, when you find something that works for you, it makes sense to stick to it, but if you’re stressing out about finding bee pollen when you could be meeting new people, dancing & swooning over architecture, then you might as well have just stayed at home. Allow yourself exceptions. My exception will always & forever be cupcakes. I just love them. This is not to mention the times that you’ll go out to dinner or lunch with a friend & the only thing that looks slightly raw is a salad that consists of some limp lettuce leaves, two pieces of tomato, an olive, an enormous pile of cheese & a litre of creamy dressing. Eep!
Just chill out. Having a sandwich won’t kill you. I always feel like if raw isn’t on the menu, something vegan is my next best bet, followed by something vegetarian, & then ye olde normal food. But hey, you don’t have to be a saint, & you don’t have to prove yourself. I say, if you want to eat something, eat it. Pepperoni pizza, a chicken sandwich, macaroni & cheese… what the hell, why not? Life’s too short to give yourself an ulcer over what you’re eating. Just enjoy it, & remember to focus on the brilliance of what’s really happening: you’re travelling!
Note: Obviously, if you’re staying in a rural area, you might need to cover your bases early. You’ll probably need to be more self-sufficient, & stock up before you go! Really though, just remember to be flexible. When I was in Norway a couple of years ago, I stayed in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with someone else’s family. They served whale for dinner. 
I really didn’t want to eat it, but I also didn’t want to be rude & there was no other food in the house, so my options were pretty limited. I ate some of it, fought off the impulse to gag, devoured the vegetables they served alongside it, & tried to fill up on soft drink. Situations like this are going to present themselves sometimes, & we just have to do our best.
Extra For Experts:
Raw On The Road by raw model, Anthony.
How To Travel In The Raw, a check-list.
Juicing On The Road — tips from the Juice Feasting Prince!
Airport Musing From Sarma, the owner of Pure Food & Wine in NYC.
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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i’m not raw, but i totally agree with this! when i was in new york (admittedly it was only for five days!) i ate SO MUCH junk — pancakes and hersheys were pretty much my diet staples when i was out there, and by the end of it i felt absolutely GRIM. on the second to last day, i paid a visit to duane reade (i LOVE those places. they have everything!) and got a 2litre carton of orange juice for like, $3, and drank it all over the course of that night. the next morning i woke up, slugged back a load of water and felt 10000x better!
i vote to add elizabeth arden’s eight hour cream to the list of essentials, especially when flying. after an eight hour flight my skin was on the verge of falling off completely and didn’t recover for the whole week, but on the way back i coated my face in eight hour cream and went to sleep and my skin coped so well!
i’m spending a week in berlin in august, i’ll definitely be referring back to this :D how about a guide on how to pack light and still look good? i am terrible at packing light… xx
I’m about to write another article on stylish travel, because I’ve learned so much since I wrote my old ones! So sit tight, little lady! Oh, & they will be non-raw-specific, unlike this one :>
I’m Norwegian and I’ve never known anyone who actually ate whale! I’m so sorry! Hopefully it hasn’t put you off from coming back some time, I’ll make you salads and cupcakes. ;)
these all sound like great ideas. i do have one question!
what do you think of the pre-packaged 100% fruit and veggie drinks/smoothies? like odwalla, naked, etc. i know that fresh juice at a juice bar would certainly be best, but do you think the pre-packaged stuff is equally as good for you? it came to mind because i know that in addition to fruit blends, those brands also have green superfood varieties. i’m actually itching to pick one up right now!
i’m a little torn though, because juices also tend to have a lot of sugar, which usually makes me sluggish after awhile… hmm…
thank you!
I so agree with you, travel is so tough, especially when you are not traveling with other raw foodists. You really learn how much you can depend on yourself.
I like to make a couple of green smoothies for the road, carry them in my ice chest, so when the trip first starts, I’ve got my comfort in a bag with me. By the time I am ready to eat, I have left myself plenty of time to scout.
Fortunately a couple of my favorite festivals serve raw food! This makes a magical festival experience. lightninginabottle.org, is truly magical, and I recommend it to everybody!
I use to be really hard on myself when I yoyo! Now, I embrace, love, live, and get back on track so much sooner than the past.
Be light, kind, and always smiling, makes it easier when you are battling the traveling raw adventure.
thank you thank you
it especially feels so great to find another who is loving raw, not 100% raw, and feels they don’t have to be extreme one way or the other.
great getting to know you magical goddess
Hanne — Hahaha! No, not at all. Norway was beautiful. & the whale was served to me by an Australian who is now living there… so maybe he was just trying to show off?! ;D
nerdyspice — I think they’re great in a pinch. You know, there is a sliding scale, which would go something like: fresh juice from a juice bar, water, juice from a bottle, soft drink. A lot of bottled juice is pasteurised so it loses its goodness pretty quickly, & even then a lot of them also have sugar, concentrate, colouring etc. I can’t name any good brands because I don’t know them, but I would encourage you to read the labels!
georgette — Ah, the benefits of travelling by car! They’re not so fond of weird substances carried onto a plane, unfortunately! I love your insights, & you’re so right. Feeling conflicted & anguished about eating something cooked is ridiculous! If we can forgive ourselves we progress much faster. xx!
So I find the idea of a raw food diet endlessly intriguing but I’m about to start a new Cross Country running season, and I’m really not sure if it’s safe to be starting that kind of diet. I mean my coach is a vegitarian and the guy can run circles around me in spite of being about 20 years older, but raw food is really a completely different can of worms.
Not to mention the fact that I live in rural Virgina which doesn’t have anything to speak of in the way of raw food oriented shops or resteruants (though I’m sure if I order a few recipe books and visit my local farmers markets I could manage)
Anyway I wanted to ask what you thought.Should I wait to go Raw until Cross Country and Track are out of the way or should I jump in with both feet and stop if I start feeling woozy?
Gwen — I don’t know for sure, but there are a bunch of raw athletes who have energy & stamina for days. Check out this group: www.giveittomeraw.com/group/ra… They will have lots of info for you!
Thank you for this Gala, it’s a lot of great advice. Plus, I can implement a lot of these things here at home as well. :)
(I threw some spinach from my salad mix into my lunch smoothie because of this article. Delicious, I will have to get more spinach to do this more often!)
Great Great Great post!
Cheers!
I totally agree with this, specially since I’m on a holiday now and my water intake just catapulted through the ceiling just because it’s so hot here.
This is good advice for everyone raw or no raw. Food is something you struggle a lot with, specially on holiday.
LOVE this post!!! I just drank my cucumber,celery,kale juice…yummy! just started reading your blog and I am moving to NYC in August and you are making me sooo excited to get up there!
“Most raw foodists who have been “in the game” for a while find that a decent green juice in the morning means they don’t even think about eating again until late in the afternoon — somewhere around 3 or 4 o’ clock.”
Depending on who you ask, a large glass of green vegetable juice will contain something between zero and fifty calories. Gala, I accept that you have researched the raw lifestyle and know what you’re doing, but are you really suggesting that skipping two out of three meals is healthy?
I’m going to be harsh and say that I don’t care how energetic raw juices make you feel and how enthusiastic raw foodists are about them; unless you are a medical anomaly, your body needs calories to run efficiently, not just the vitamins, minerals and water provided by vegetable juice. A glass of juice does not contain enough calories to sustain a person for twelve to eighteen hours. I know I’m not the only person here who has or has had an eating disorder; suggesting that going without food for much of the day is healthy is, to put it mildly, not very helpful. I hate to make negative comments, but this just adds to the reservations I have about the raw lifestyle.
Hey Gala, off topic but, is Cupcake on hold or is it just me? I miss them!
“Stopping off at every pizza joint, bakery, ice-cream shop & hot dog stand in your destination is expensive…”
then again, so is stopping off at every “raw food” place. studies have been proven to show that junk is less expensive than healthy options.
variety is the spice of life, having a hot dog or slice of pie (pizza or other!) now and again wont kill you. i love your blog gala, but the many posts about raw food diets turn me off.
Now I want a pom SOOOOO bad!
Keep up the raw food posts-I love them!
Jami — That’s awesome! Spinach is like a wonder food, gives you such a boost. I love it!
Kristen’s Raw — Mwah! Thank you honey!
ss — Yum, that sounds fabulous! I had an amazing smoothie today, acai, mangosteen, pomegranate & blueberries with a bunch of spinach blended in. It was SO GOOD, the perfect thing for all this heat!
Alice — People who juice feast drink 4 litres/1 gallon of juice a day, which weighs in at 1500 calories. Obviously you don’t need to drink all of that if you’re eating other food, nuts, avocado, coconut, seeds etc., which all have a high fat content. There are plenty of calories to go around! If you want more info, check out rawmodelcom.blogspot.com/searc… www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/20… www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/20… www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/20…
MB — It’s on holiday… like me! :D
sd — Did you read the bit where I said you should eat what you want?
Butter Eater Lis — Haha. I hear you! After I wrote this I went out & got a juice, then stocked up on raspberries, blueberries & cherries!
wow this article is excellent! I’m not a raw foodist, but strategies to eat better on vacation are super helpful (and much appreciated, since I’m about to leave for japan for two weeks. eeeep!). I especially agree with the tip to find a juice bar (or generally healthy breakfast place in my case), having a good solid breakfast makes me less likely to eat junk food later in the day, plus then I’ll have heaps of energy for adventuring. snacks are another excellent idea… I’m off to stock up on nuts and dried apricots (the unsulfured kind are incredibly delicious) and finish packing!
terribly random but I was browsing ebay for vintage fabric and I saw some cotton with cupcakes printed all over it and i thought of you.
I wish people would read your blogs better and not miss bits, I’m not raw, I probably never will be and there’s still tons of goodness about how to enhance my diet and lifestyle!
So in brief!
1)Gala doesn’t even advocate skipping meals.
2)She totally makes exceptions for the things she loves!
3)This is her blog. Skip the posts that ‘turn you off’.
I love love love this post!
Normally your raw food articles turn me off, but I was slightly intrigued by this one; only because I like the thought of eating healthy, but not depriving myself of foods that don’t fit into the raw category. I know you said you can eat whatever you want, whenever, but there still has to be restrictions somewhere!
Great article, though.
Norway! Cabin! Middle of nowhere! Wowwwww! (Apart from the whale bit. Shh.)
This article is really interesting, raw or cooked, since food-while-travelling IS such a major. Great tips.
Water – here’s my water tip: (may possibly only be relevant to NZ travel . . ) Instead of lugging a heavy bottleful around, I carry an empty bottle and fill it at a tap when required. Yes, I said tap. They have them in bathrooms. And Christchurch, for one, has delicious tap water.
I find this quite interesting and have always tried to apply this in not only my travels around the world but in everyday life.
There has been no mention of skipping meals, but it is true that if you eat/drinks the nutrients your body NEEDS to function and not fill up on empty calories. Doing this means that your body doesn’t feel the need to have more, though we do need to re-fuel at some stage. I don’t encourage people starving themselves but agree this is not what this post is about, it is about looking after yourself as you travel. I find eating wholesome real foods (raw and cooked) means I eat less because I am getting the right amounts of everything.
And whilst the empty calorie food is cheaper, you tend to need to eat more meaning it could cost the same as something wholesome and real.
Hydration is also very important as it is quite common for people to mistake dehydration for hunger.
sheena, just because you “love love love!!!!!!!!!!!11111” this post doesnt mean we all do. you’re allowed your opinions just as we all are. in fact gala often asks what other people feel about her blog, so i dont mind mentioning my likes and dislikes.
anyhoo, i did read the part about eating what you want, but then there wouldnt be need for food trends like “raw food diet”, there would just be “eating what you want”.
i want to take what ashlea said and bring it a step further.. im sure many girls on here are young and impressionable. it didnt take me long to find this study www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15… which suggested a raw diet could lead to osteoporosis. i just hope that people do their research before they read these posts and decide to follow foodie trends.
Unfortunately any diet can lead to something like osteoporosis which is why it is very important to do research & take supplements etc.
You are not just limited to dairy products to get calcium ; however, it’s important to know how much of other things to eat to ensure you are getting RDIs.
I think it’s time questionable nutritional advice should be published with a disclaimer?
Okay. If you don’t want to hear about raw food, then don’t read the articles. If reading it truly upsets you, please feel free to go elsewhere.
I’ve changed my life in ways that work for me, to make ME happy — I will not change my life, my website or my writing to make you happy. Over 20,000 people come through here every day, & I cannot delight you all simultaneously, nor am I interested in doing so.
I’m not going to argue niggly pedantic details about raw food or anything else. I have my opinion, you have yours, & I’m not interested in changing your perceptions. It’s not my job. If you want to get into the nitty gritty of raw food, there are plenty of other websites which cover that stuff, & you’re more than welcome to take it there.
Seriously guys, make your own choices & stop expecting me to limit what I write just because you disagree.