USA 2015 Part 15: Honolulu and Home

Heavy sigh. It was a sad, sad time when I woke up at stupid o'clock, after only a few hours sleep, and had to say goodbye to Seattle. I had a quick snack of some So Delicious yoghurt and leftover Field Roast maple breakfast links and said a sad farewell to Helen and Zeno. Then it was off to the airport for my flight from Seattle to Honolulu. I was pretty tired, so I fell asleep almost straight away for a bit, then woke up hungry to crack into my stash. I started with the Wayward Breakfast Sandwich, which even without being heated was extremely yummy. I also got some fruit from the airline, and had a snack bar as well.



I napped a bit more, then had my Wayward TLT. This was OK, though seemed to be mostly wrap and almost no tomato.



I napped a bit more before we landed. I had to spend a night in Honolulu, so I caught a shuttle to my hotel (I was able to check in early, which was nice), and then hopped a bus straight to Downbeat Diner. If you are even in Honolulu this place is a must visit! Almost everything on the menu can be made vegan. I had the breakfast burger with curly fries, which was huge and delicious. I also had a banana milkshake. Unfortunately since I was here last year they must have changed their vegan ice cream to be a heavy coconut one, because I could tell from one sip that this had too much coconut fat for me. But I felt awkward about leaving it, so I drank most of it, and then felt kind of icky. I'm an idiot, but at least I was spared the awkwardness of leaving most of a milkshake... I guess? Next time I will skip the milkshake.





From there it was a bus down to Down To Earth, a great organic/natural food shop that has a lot of vegan goodies. Their range has increased since last year as well! Normally I stock up on vegan meats and cheeses here, then freeze them at the hotel overnight, pack them in an insulated bag and fly them home with me. This visit I got some Daiya, Field Roast, Follow Your Heart, and some Gimme Lean sausage so I can make some recipes from Cookin' Crunk. They have Uptons, Treeline and Heidi Ho and more there as well! It is also just down the road from Peace Foods, where I picked up some sandwiches for plane lunch the next day.

I originally had big plans to go out in the evening for more delicious food, but in truth I was fading fast so I picked up a few things while I was shopping to have at the hotel. To be honest I was so sleepy I could barely make it through the Spongebob movie that I started watching at 6.30pm. My room had a microwave, so I picked up an Amy's frozen meal while I was at Down To Earth, I had the vegan Meatloaf Dinner. The meatloaf itself was meh (though I had a little bit left the next morning and it was much better as a leftover), but the mash was so creamy and tasty and oddly kind of solid. Unfortunately the gravy just kind of evaporated a bit with heating.



I slept early and well, and woke up about 6am. Thankfully I was quite ravenous, as I wasn't able to eat as much as I had thought the night before and I was worried I was going to have to throw some food out. I started my day with the Soba Salad I had picked up from Peace Foods.



I had a couple of hours until I had to check out, so I took a walk down through a park and towards Waikiki. It is quite a beautiful setting, and there are also lots of beautiful birds.









Back at the hotel, I heated up a frozen grain and fruit breakfast bowl I had bought, which was really yummy, and ate my final So Delicious yoghurt of the trip (I love So Delicious yoghurt, but you cannot get it in Australia, vegan yoghurts in Australia suck).



Then it was off to the airport. During my brief stop over on the way to the US, I had grabbed a vegan pizza (no cheese) from the California Pizza Kitchen at the airport (if you remember that long ago), however I had noticed a couple of other options while I was there I was keen to explore. One of these was Umaizushi, a Japanese restaurant. If you are looking for it, it is kind of as you walk towards gates 11 to 6, just before you leave the main terminal and start walking down the side of the road (terrible instructions, sorry). It is NOT the Samurai sushi place in the middle of the airport, which seems to have nothing vegan. As far as I can tell, Umaizushi only has one vegan option (and I did check with the kitchen to make sure it was in fact vegan), but it is lovely (though pricey, airport food!). The Maui Veggie has cucumber, avocado, seaweed salad, pickled burdock, squash and asparagus and is wrapped in green soy paper. It was really nice.



Then it was on the plane for a 10 hour daytime journey home to Brisbane. It was hard to stay awake, because even though it was a day flight they turned off all the lights and made everyone shut their windows. Because of course if you are leaving at 1pm and getting into Brisbane at 7pm, a 10 hour sleep is just the right thing to not screw up your sleep cycles? Thankfully I was able to keep myself awake with free movies and lots of snacks. I had some McDougall Ginger Soy Noodles, BBQ texas primal strip and a couple of snack bars as my first meal. And then a bit later on I had the Hanoi Sandwich I had bought from Peace Foods - tofu, veggies, aioli and peanut sauce. Yum!



And then I was home, and then I was really home, and then I was hugging my kitties in my arms and everything was right with the world. I am happy to report that all my delicious goodies made it home with no issues (I didn't even have to declare anything). And that was the end of USA 2015. If you have read all of these, thank you for indulging me... I didn't realise it would turn into so many posts! I have really been making the effort to get them all up and published quickly, because VeganMoFo is just around the corner and it is time to get prepped for that. Are you doing it? It is going to be so much fun!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Holidays are fun, and obviously being in Seattle is the most fun, but I always am kind of sad when I am away from my baby girls. Coming home to them makes my heart so happy! Even if the rest of me wishes I could still be in Seattle. Home is always where my cats are.