This blog post is all about the 10 Super Tips for an Amazing Vegan Road Trip.
These are our 10 Super Tips for an Amazing Vegan Road Trip that you will remember forever. Do you like road trips? We have been vegan for 10+ years now and have taken quite a few road trips in the United States during those years.
Below are the top 10 super tips for an amazing and successful vegan road trip, just in time for summer.
logistics for a road trip
It’s easiest to get to most of the places mentioned below by vehicle. Our favorite car rental aggregator is DISCOVER CARS. Click HERE to get the best rates on car rentals. DISCOVER CARS LINK
Research your trip
Look at a map to discover where you want to go. I like to have a plethora of outdoor options nearby so we typically choose locations based on nature. For example, these are some of our favorite road trips that fit nicely together: (1) Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Arches NP, and Rocky Mountain NP; (2) Big Bend, White Sands; (3) Crescent City, CA, Redwood Forest; (4) Oregon – I grew up here so I have a lot of favorite places, but whenever I go back, we like to stay in Portland and drive to Hood River and stop at all of the waterfalls along the way on Old Hwy 84. The Oregon Coast is a super fun drive as well, starting in Astoria, stopping at Seaside, Cannon Beach, Pacific City Sand Dunes, Florence Sand Dunes and down to Gold Beach. (5) Door County, Wisconsin was one of our favorite road trips and we also went to Chicago and Springfield, MO so we could do the Laura Ingalls Wilder tour.
how to find vegan food on your road trip
After deciding where you want to go, look at Happy Cow. This is my FAVORITE website and app for traveling! Sometimes we even plan trips so we can go to certain vegan restaurants. We even stayed in Omaha, Nebraska on the Laura Ingalls Wilder road trip so we could eat at Modern Love, the restaurant by my favorite vegan cookbook author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It was absolutely worth it! Do you plan trips around food?
what to do once you’ve decided where you’re going
Make your reservations once you have decided on your itinerary. We typically stay at a condo or someplace with a kitchen so we can cook some of our meals. This is a good way to save some money. We typically eat breakfast at the rental and then have a big lunch out that fills us up and we have a small dinner back at the condo. This not only saves us money but also helps us eat a bit healthier than if we ate all of our meals out. We use Booking to make our reservations.
Once you have figured out the logistics, plan the fun activities! Ask your family what is one thing that they absolutely want to do on the road trip. We let our kids pick out one activity that is a must for them and start planning accordingly. Google or your preferred search engine is your friend and can really help you research what activities you can do in your destination.
how to stay organized for your vegan road trip
Get organized. I highly recommend that you create a simple Google doc to keep everything organized. We create an easy table that shows each place, what activities we will do there, and our food options. Typically, we have a list of alternative activities and things to do in case we decide we aren’t in the mood for the activity that was planned. For example, on our road trip to New Mexico, we were going to go to Taos, but it ended up snowing that day and we didn’t want to drive our little Prius to Taos so we ended up just walking downtown in the snow and enjoying an easy, unplanned day.
Put together car activities for the kids. Depending on the age of your kids, they may be able to put together their activities themselves. Our kids like to watch a couple of downloaded movies on their laptop. This is a super fun connection type of game for the entire family. And, this pack is full of fun games too.
be prepared for your road trip
Get the car ready for a long trip. Before road trips, we take the car to the tire store to make sure the tires are in good shape and if it needs an oil change, we get that done too. Basically, you want to ensure that your car is in great shape before going on a long road trip as it’s always a pain to deal with car troubles while away from home.
Make sure your house is taken care of while you are away. We have awesome neighbors who always look out for each other. My top tip is to be friends with your closest neighbors and ask them to water your plants, pick up your mail and look out for your home. You could always repay the generosity by doing the same for them when they are away.
snacks to pack for your vegan road trip
Pack vegan travel snacks! My favorite part – the vegan travel food! I always let the kids pick out a few food items that we wouldn’t ordinarily buy at home. It makes the road trip more special and something different. My kids’ favorite snacks are Beanfields nacho chips, Hippeas puffs, and Cocomels. Of course, we always pack healthy food too, such as fruit, carrot sticks and hummus, crackers, and vegan cheese. On our last trip, I made vegan kolaches that the family devoured.
make the most of your vegan road trip
Have fun and make awesome memories! That’s what life is all about, right?! I would rather collect memories than things and my favorite memories revolve around traveling and getting to see new sights. What is your favorite road trip?
car rentals:
This is the website we always use to rent cars in Europe. We highly recommend it! DISCOVER CARS
Check out this map to help you choose accommodations:
This post contains affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend items that we truly love!
The 5 items we were so happy to have for all of our trips:
- Merrell women’s light hiking shoes – these are amazing because they are lightweight, but are extra grippy and helpful! I also have this pair that I always get compliments on Merrell Rainbow shoes. Fernando loves his Asics trail runners which are also grippy and perfect for walking on cobblestone streets.
- Thermoflask water bottle – like a Hydroflask, but more affordable! We don’t go anywhere without these water bottles full of purified water.
- North Face Aphrodite 2.0 capris – I seriously wear these pants every.single.day! I couldn’t live without these ultra-comfy, lightweight pants that dry so quickly. They are 100% worth the money!
- Osprey Day Pack – this is an awesome lightweight backpack that we can easily put the belongings we need at hand for traveling around the city and on public transportation.
- N95 face mask – we bought a 50-pack of these and they have lasted a long time. Until Covid is under control, we will continue to use face masks.
must read blog posts:
22 Travel Hacks to Save you Money While Traveling
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