Our interviewee today runs a sustainable and slow travel blog. A longtime vegetarian, Charlie Marchant spends most of her time on the road with her travel companion Luke exploring and experiencing life like locals do in different countries across the globe. By traveling slowly and sustainably, they hope to see more of every place they visit that not many tourists get to experience. You can learn more about their travels, tips, and other stories on her blog Charlie on Travel.

Q: You and your travel companion are slow travelers and vegetarians. Can you tell us more about it?

For us, travel is more than just a holiday, it’s a lifestyle choice. Travelling slowly means we can experience and appreciate places in a different way and it also minimises our carbon footprint and impact on the environment. Sustainable travel goes hand in hand with our slow travel ethos.

We travel slowly and house sit when we can so that we can experience local life in different countries. We like to see tourist sights too, but we also want to experience a country in the most authentic way we can. That means seeing local neighbourhoods, eating local food, getting involved with community-based tourism and spending our money is a way that supports local people.

You’re right, we’re also vegetarian travellers! We’ve both been vegetarian for over ten years and so have always travelled vegetarian. For us, this is about lessening our environmental impact and looking after our health. There are so many wonderful foods in the world and many of them are vegetarian!

Me and Luke at a Guatemalan cooking class. We look young here!

Q: What was that life-changing moment when you decided to go vegetarian?

To be honest, no. Becoming vegetarian was a slow and steady progression for me – a decision that I made over some time. I was very fond of eating animals, didn’t like the flavour or texture, and learning where meat comes from, how it’s processed and how it negatively impacts our environment were all turn offs for me. I made the decision to go vegetarian aged 12 and never looked back. I’ve been vegetarian 14 years now.

Q: How has being a vegetarian slow traveler influenced your life and your views about traveling?

Being a vegetarian, slow traveller has been incredibly eye opening. The longer you stay in one place, the more amazing things you discover and the more local people you meet. We’ve made some strong connections with local people we’ve stayed with, expats whose homes we’ve looked after and people we’ve met while travelling – and I don’t think you can make those kinds of connections when you speed around and move places every couple of days.

The other thing that slow travel has taught me is that there’s more to appreciate in a place than just the main tourist attractions. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing iconic buildings, temples, museums and other attractions, but I also love just wandering around the streets, trying out new cafes, getting lost hiking in the mountains and all those things you don’t have time for when you’re travelling fast.

As for being vegetarian while travelling, it’s been amazing. One thing meat eaters often say about vegetarianism is “but you miss out on trying local foods.” That couldn’t be further from the truth! All countries have their own traditional dishes which often just happen to be vegetarian and we’ve eaten so many different cuisines! Some examples: rice and beans in Costa Rica, tavche grache (bean stew) in Macedonia, tacos in Mexico, curries and khao soi in Thailand and vegetarian pierogi (dumplings) in Poland. There are just so many examples!

Typical vegetarian tacos in San Cristobal, Mexico

Q: Why and when did you start your own travel blog?

I started a travel blog when I moved to Taiwan to work as an English teacher in 2012. Originally it was because I wanted to keep my mum and family updated on where I was and what I was doing – our timezones made it difficult to Skype often and a blog automatically sent out an email to all my family and friends. In 2014, I decided to dedicate more time to blogging about my travels because I loved writing it so much and I started Charlie on Travel. It’s grown a lot since then and I’m so grateful for all of the readers who follow my travels and are interested in reading about sustainable and slow travel.

Q: What is the biggest challenge for you as a vegetarian traveler? And what is the most satisfying thing about it?

I’ve been vegetarian for so long now and vegetarianism is so widely recognised that I rarely have any trouble here. I guess that language barriers, especially in more rural areas of Asian countries where locals might not understand why we would want a meal without meat, have meant that we’ve ended up with little chunks of meat floating in our noodle soups. To be honest, it’s rare but from time to time it happens. The most satisfying thing is when we’re able to successfully to order vegetarian food in a different language!

Q: Tell us about one of your most memorable experiences as house sitters. What would you say are the best things about house sitting?

I love house sitting so much! We have so many great experiences but perhaps my favourite is waking up to this incredible view in Costa Rica on our very first morning as house sitters. We just couldn’t believe how lucky we were. The best things about house sitting are discovering new places, meeting local people, having some lovely animals for company, being able to ‘cook in’ with herbs and spices and things you miss having in a kitchen, and having reliable wifi and a nice home base to work from.

Morning sunrise from our window while house sitting in Costa Rica

Q: What are the most vegetarian-friendly places you have visited?

We’ve been to many vegetarian-friendly places but at the top of the list has to be Chiang Mai in Thailand, Ubud in Bali and Berlin in Germany. Those three places are miles ahead in terms of vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Some more surprising vegetarian-friendly places we’ve been include Bulgaria and Poland!

Q: What was the best vegetarian meal you’ve had so far and where did you find it?

Oh, wow, that’s a big question! If I had to choose one, it would be this green Thai curry I ate in Bangkok. It was my first green Thai curry in the city. I’d thought I wouldn’t like it as I didn’t care much for coconut milk in food when growing up, but oh boy was I wrong! Green Thai curry is now my favourite food in the world. Don’t hate me, but I’m afraid I can’t even remember the restaurant where I ate this curry! It’s just a little place we stumbled on down a side street when we were lost one night in the city.

My favourite ever vegetarian green Thai curry in Bangkok

Q: What was the toughest place so far to be a vegetarian traveler?

Mexico. People are often surprised when I say this but Mexico was quite hard work. They eat a lot of meat in Mexico. Inside tacos, empanadas, burritos, fajitas, chilaquiles… Though you can often get vegetarian versions, the food is often corn-based and filled with mounds of cheese. It’s not very healthy and if you try not to eat too much cheese then it’s hard work!

Q: What do you do when a place has limited veg-friendly options available?

Eat a lot of bananas! I’m not even joking. You can get bananas pretty much anywhere in the world and they’re usually the cheapest fruit. They’re super filling and keep energy up for long periods. When food choices are limited, we’ll usually head to the supermarket and try to cook in with local veggies. If we’re really in the middle of nowhere, we take peanut butter with us and put it on bread or on sliced apples or on bananas!

Q: Do you have places in mind commonly believed to be “least friendly” to veg travelers but are actually the opposite?

Poland. There’s a common misconception that the Polish only eat meat and potatoes. Actually Poland has the highest rate of fruit and veg consumption in Europe. They have incredible traditional salads of all kinds including grated beetroot mixed with apple and shredded carrots. Bulgaria and Macedonia were two other countries that had great veg food.

This is Luke in Poland with a huge plate of vegetarian pierogi (dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese) and a plate piled with different local salads.

Q: What are some of the best vegetarian or vegan meals you’d recommend and where would we find them?

• Green Thai curry – Thailand
• Japanese curry – Taiwan (yes, they love it and often make it vegan!)
• Pho (noodle soup) – Vietnam
• Gado gado (steamed veg salad with peanut sauce) – Indonesia

Q: Where do you plan to go next? 

Sri Lanka! It’s a bit of a spontaneous trip. We were travelling in Bali and couldn’t decide where to go next, so we checked to see where was cheap to fly to and Sri Lanka came up. I’ll be writing about Sri Lankan food, hiking, safari and beaches on my blog soon!

Q: What advice do you have for vegetarian travelers?

Carry peanut butter and snack bars on you. It’s a great way to ensure you’re getting enough iron and perfect for emergencies.

 

-----

Follow Charlie on Travel on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Website: charlieontravel.com