Hey There Vegan Travelers!

The Meet,Plan,Go travel conference in Boston was a total success this past Tuesday!! We had a panel of nine speakers sharing stories and advice about their world travels. I was one of the speakers on the panel. I represented vegan travelers!! My talk included information regarding how I found great vegan meals in the most unexpected of places: South Africa, Brazil, and the Patagonia region of Argentina!

The goal of the conference was to inspire attendees to take long term or career-break vacations. Each panelist gave interesting and exciting testimonials as to how their travels enriched their lives. They shared information regarding how anyone can take a career break and travel the world far less expensively than you would assume. A few of us on the panel wore traditional clothing we purchased during our international journeys. I wore a native Egyptian, “galibya” which I purchased during my trip to Egypt. It was a long blue dress embossed with a goldtone image of King Tut.

I shared information on just how easy it is to travel the world as a vegan using sites such as HappyCow to find world restaurants, couchsurfing to find free accommodations with a vegan host, and PointIt! or Vegan Passport guides for language translation. I also mentioned the fact that vegans should not avoid travel to any destination for fear that there may not be anything veggie-friendly to eat there. I found vegan-friendly food in some unexpected global destinations.

Jessica and Tim divulged how they saved money for a year and a half by selling their couch and everything they owned. Lillie(our host) spoke of volunteer teaching jobs in Ghana . Ryan gave wonderful insight regarding the appreciation you feel after volunteering for a community service project to build a school in Peru. Rob told of his life transforming experiences while volunteering overseas during his college years. Every traveler on the panel conveyed the feeling of ecstatic appreciation for world travel and expressed their desire for continuing to travel on a regular basis. Panelists shared their stories of travel to such varied global destinations as South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Thailand, Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Micronesia.

STA was on hand to provide attendees with information packets on travel insurance and travel guides. Participants at the conference enjoyed the trivia contests for which they could win travel books, trips, and other prizes.

Amanda Pressner of “The Lost Girls ” book discussed her story regarding how she and her two friends left their cushy jobs as magazine writers to travel the world. Matt Kepnes (#2 travel blogger in the USA) was also on hand to inspire and answer audience questions.

Everyone on the panel was enthusiastic to answer attendee travel questions during the question and answer session. One of the evening highlights for me was the mingling time after the event when attendees approached me and told me that they are either going to benefit from my information themselves or that they have friends who will benefit from sharing my vegan travel advice and stories.

It was a magical, fulfilling evening!!

For those who did not attend this inspirational event, you can still visit the Meet,Plan,Go (meetplango.com/bootcamp) website to learn about an upcoming online, travel class. It is a career break “bootcamp” regarding how to go about planning your “career break” world travels!!

Attendees left the event with a plethera of travel resources, inspirational travel stories fresh on their minds, and a feeling of excitement which will fuel their next steps toward planning their own world adventure!!