What I ate in Geneva

Traveling with other people whilst being Vegan isn't easy.  I'm going to be 100% honest with you all, I didn't remain vegan in Geneva. I tried my best, but I did eat Vegetarian for some meals. For me Veganism is about Ethics, the environment and my health, however this shouldn't come at a cost of others. I know the perception of vegans is that we are all hippies and force our lifestyle onto others, that's not the case. I wanted my family to enjoy their selves and eat the way they want like I do. They respect my choices, so I should accept theirs.

The first night in Geneva, my meal was vegan. My mum found a restaurant called Pizza Leggera. On the menu they had pizzas as well as pizza bowls (a dough bowl filled with salad).  I thought that it might have been dry, but it was really lovely! It was nice to have something unusual for a change.

Dad pleased with his salad bowl 

For lunch the next day we ate at the Manora which is essentially a buffet. There were lots of separate stalls selling food, you collect what you want and pay by the size of your plate at the end. Just remember the bigger the plate the more expensive it will be. Me and my sister shared tomato pasta with some vegetables and another plate of mash potato and baby potatoes baked in herbs. The atmosphere in there was buzzing! The pasta was more than likely to be vegan, but I'm sure the potatoes and mash weren't.

That evening we went to a restaurant called Chez Ma Cousine DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SIGHT OF MEAT! There speciality is whole chickens with potato wedges and salad. I had the wedges and salad which had a creamy dressing. It was really enjoyable and relatively cheap for Geneva with a quick turnaround without being rushed.

The next day after our long walk (see next blog post) we needed some lunch desperately, about a minute walk from our hotel we found A Pougnier . This was full of different sandwiches and pastries. I asked the waitress if they had any vegan sandwiches she said yes vegan. She returned with a salad sandwich which unfortunately had cream cheese in. I am pretty sure that the sandwiches are premade, but you could try to ask with one without the cheese. I wouldn’t recommend this place however, the staff weren’t that friendly and didn't know much English.

After this I was craving something sweet so I went to a bakery which sells vegan cakes. I went for the lemon and poppy seed cake which was so moist. They also have other options which change daily. 

That evening we went to a restaurant called Hotel Les Armures which can get busy as it is a hotel.  I had some vegetarian pasta with a rich tomato sauce. The pasta was fresh so would have been made with egg. The service here was brilliant, the waiters were very happy and made a real effort. This was a very welcoming restaurant and I would recommend this to anyone traveling to Geneva.

The next day before arriving at the airport we stopped at a supermarket to get some lunch. They had such a wide variety of vegan foods making it extremely easy to be vegan if you went self-catered. After debating what to buy, I decided on some vegan ham with paprika which I put in a baguette with some crisps. Also, in the supermarket there was plant-based milks, cheeses, burgers and a lot more to choose from.

Travel adventures in 2018

In terms of traveling, 2017 opened my eyes to the world. I found that traveling is something I have a passion for, it allows me to meet new people, develop cultural experiences and be myself.

This year I am going to be extremely lucky, I will be traveling a lot. I have already visited Geneva with my parents, and sister. It isn't often that we travel abroad together which made it a special holiday. Geneva was beautiful, the French Alps and Lake Geneva was stunning (blog post coming soon). In March I will be traveling with my University to Malaysia as part of my degree. I am so excited about this trip, it’s going to be so hottest place I have visited, and we will be busy collecting research so I'm not sure how I will cope with the heat. With the hot temperature and mosquitoes, we have been told to cover everything with long sleeved t-shirts and trousers. We were all given the option to stay on for an extra 10, of course being me, I couldn't resist this. I will be traveling with a group of friends to Bali. Yes Bali, the dream place, this is going to be super exciting, I actually can’t believe I am going.

Then in July after I have completed my second year at University I will be taking a placement year, I will be working in Italy for 3 months helping to conserve the Marsican bears. When I visited Venice last June I had such an incredible time, I enjoyed the country so much and I feel like Italy is where I want to be in the future. I will also be getting a full-time job to allow me to travel even more.

I aim this year to focus this blog more towards traveling, to show you all different parts of the world.

Perkier Bar Review

Perkier bars are full of nutritious ingredients which comes in a huge variety of ways such as berries seeds and nuts. The Perkier brand is extremely well know and are found in stores such as Tesco, Asda and Holland & Barrett. I feel very privileged to be working with them.

I decide to take these bars on a walk with me to get some scenic pictures, they looked so delicious I couldn't resist trying one on the way back. The first bar I tried was the cacao and cashew. This was amazing! Its perfect for when you want to treat yourself, the rich cacao flavour makes it seem naughty but is high in antioxidants and magnesium. The nuts add a lovely crunchy texture and without the cashews being to strong.

Brown- Cacao and cashew

Pink- Goji and cranberry

Purple- Oaty cranberry and cashew

Green- Coconut and chia

Orange- Cashew, chia and pumpkin seeds

Red- Peanut

The flavour of goji and cranberry bar was very different,  it was very fruity which made the bar quite sticky.

The cranberry and cashew bar was my least favourite only because I could taste the cashews. I did however love the fact that it includes sprouted quinoa an buckwheat.

The peanut bar was amazing! The peanut flavour is really bold and has a mixture of textures from the crunchy peanuts and the smooth peanut butter.  

The only minor thing is that in hot weather whilst in your bag then they will easily break and become crumbly. This doesn't effect the taste, they are still delicious.

Wild thing snack review

Before I went to South Africa I was in contact with Wild Thing who kindly sent me some popcorn flats and some raw bars to take with me. 

When the corn flats arrived the sharing bags were unfortunately too big to take with me, so I took them on my family holiday to Devon. My whole family tried the Protein and Sunset burst popcorn flats, we agreed that the protein burst was our favourite. This was down to the different textures from the buckwheat, quinoa and chia as well as the simple flavour, with a hint of cumin which is one of my favourite spices. You could just snack on these or add different toppings like vegan cheese and tomato. I did find that when I got to the bottom of the bag the discs were in little pieces so I couldn't put on the toppings.  

The Ingredients: corn* (76.5%), buckwheat* (10%), lentils* (5%), quinoa * (4%), coconut oil* (1.5%), chia seeds* (1%), whole cumin seeds* (1%), sea salt. *Organic ingredients

The sunset burs flavour sounded delicious as I love carrot, beetroot and ginger, but I was disappointed. The flavour was weak and we couldn't taste all the ingredients like we expected.  

The Ingredients: corn* (87.7%), dried & ground carrot* (4%), dried beetroot* (3%), coconut oil* (1.5%), dried & ground tomato* (1%), ground coriander seeds* (1%), sea salt, dried & ground root ginger* (0.8%). *Organic ingredients

Both raw bars were amazing! I ate the Berries and seeds bar at the top of the sand dune in South Africa whilst watching the dolphins in the waters below. The pumpkin seeds were the strongest flavour in the bar which I love as with other bars you can't always taste the seeds. 

The Cacao and almond raw snack bar tasted like a raw brownie, and who doesn't love a raw chocolate brownie. I will be purchasing the Cacao and almond raw bar and the protein burst flats again.

Disclaimer- These products were sent to me for review purposes and I am very thankful to a wild thing, however all opinions are my own.  

Bamboo toothbrush- A fine choice

This toothbrush is not your average toothbrush It's BPA free, vegan, sustainable and made from biodegradable bamboo. Needing eco-friendly toiletries for my research assistant role in South Africa, I took this one step further and contacted A Fine Choice. Daniela then kindly sent me a biodegradable toothbrush to take with me on my adventure. 

When I first saw the toothbrush, the bright blue attracted my attention straight away, it goes great with the natural bamboo. This is so much more natural than plastic toothbrushes which cause harm to the environment and remain in landfill indefinitely. 

When I first used this toothbrush in Africa I was pleasantly surprised by how soft the biodegradable nylon bristles were. Even with them being super soft I knew the toothbrush was keeping my teeth very clean. This toothbrush is great to use as the bamboo is smooth and the handle is nice to hold. One minor point is that the paint is beginning to chip around the bottom edge of the brush. 

By purchasing a eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush, not only are you helping to reduce landfill, but the amount of plastic being washed up on the beaches. You can help make a difference my spending £3.99 that's it. 

Disclaimer- This toothbrush was sent to me for review purposes and I am very thankful to a fine choice, however all opinions are my own.  

Vegan Travel Snacks

When traveling abroad as a vegan you need to be more prepared with the snacks you take. Recently I returned from south Africa where I worked as a research assistant for two weeks. During this time, I was very unsure of what food would be available to me. I made sure I left with plenty of snacks. It just so happened that there were three vegans and in the first week we had Fry’s products which I don’t even buy in England. We were spoilt, but even with the delicious meals, putting a bar in my backpack to eat during the long days made a huge difference. 

Tropical Wholefoods kindly send me the Date and Walnut, 5 Fruit Salad and Apricot and Raisin bars to take with me. These bars were all different, the Date and Walnut was my favourite because it tasted like a very moist flapjack. The oats gave it a different texture from the other two bars. The 5 Fruit Salad bar had a very distinctive taste of mango which is 20% of ingredients in the bar, I really liked this taste. 

From N'eat I received the mixed sample box which contains all of the 5 flavours. 

Cacoa, coconuts and chia seeds bar

Apricots, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds bars

Banana, chia seeds and multi seeds bar

Blueberry and chia seeds bar 

Red berries and quinoa bar

I really enjoyed the Cacoa, coconuts and chia seeds bar, the flavour was balanced as it had just the right amount of cacao. I didn't like the Blueberry and chia seeds bar or the Apricots, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds bars. These had the least flavour and the chia seeds seemed to stick out making the texture odd. The packaging however is the nicest of all the bars I tried, the foil letters reflect the sunlight making the brand name jump out. Overall these bars were ok but I don't think I will be buying these in the future. 

Creative Nature sent me the Goji Goodness bar to try, this was especially nice as a strong berry flavour came through.  I expected it to contain more oats and be harder in texture, as it doesn't taste like a typical flapjack. Having said that I will definitely be checking out their other bars hopefully they will match up to this one. 

Disclaimer- These products were sent to me for review purposes and I am very thankful to all of the companies, however all opinions are my own. 

The perfect weekend in Venice

Me and my friend recently visited Venice, this is by far the nicest place I have visited and I would recommend it to anyone. 

We stayed at Camping Village Jolly in a Bungalow, this was extremely cheap and I would definitely stay there again. They have a restaurant, market and a swimming pool. They also provide an airport shuttle bus for €25 and a shuttle bus into Venice priced at €5. This was really handy at the campsite is in Marghera and there were still places available when booked the evening before. 

The shuttle bus took about 10 minutes to get into Venice, from there you can get a water taxi or walk like we did. You need either a printed map or an offline map. I used maps.me this was extremely accurate and had most sights and eating places downloaded. Now to the amazing pictures. 

 Day 1- We arrived in Venice, got the airport shuttle to the campsite, walked to lidl to get some food whilst waiting for the 2pm check in. We then got the 4pm shuttle into the centre and explored to get our Bearings.  

The flight was stunning! We went over the Alps which were snow capped and had beautiful blue lakes.





This is the Rialto bridge, we crossed this everyday to get to the other side of the grand canal.







These gondolas were there only traffic as no cars are allowed in the city which I loved, some of them have people singing and playing an accordion.

Day 2- We set off early and decided to let ourselves get lost as people had said that was the best way to see the city. We then went to climb Scala Contarini del Bovolo I think it was €7 to climb but i think it was well wort the money as there aren't many places in Venice when you can get above the stunning houses.  

 Day 3- On our last day we decided to visit Burano, if you are visiting Venice you must go here! It is absolutely beautiful. All of the houses are painted differently and are all unique, it was like walking into Balamory. We got the vaporetto and it was the first time we want on the water as we walked everywhere else which made the experience even better. 

What is it with Italy at leaning buildings? This bell tower was really wonky due to land subsidence. 

Just look how beautiful the houses are, this island is made for Instagram