And we're off!

Finally, the day has arrived. This evening Dai and I are off to London, and tomorrow we catch the Eurostar which will take us to Paris. I've been brushing up my French, and have a workbook to do on the train. I've also been researching vegan places to eat. The BBC book we bought effectively warns vegans off trying to eat in France, and yes, I'm expecting some difficulties. But I have done my homework, and I shall attempt to prove them all wrong by having a lovely holiday which hopefully doesn't involve too much stressing about food! My strategy has been to do research: the Happy Cow site is invaluable as ever (it helped a lot when I first went vegan and we went on holiday to Edinburgh and London, we had a lot of fun discovering new places).

I also plan to maintain my normal view that if it goes wrong, so long as it's not too wrong, then I won't freak out or beat myself up: at the end of the day, I do what I can to the best of my ability. I don't mind making a fuss, and making an effort to help everyone understand, but I don't want it to ruin a good evening out or someone's day. Or in this case, a holiday. I'm not a vegan to make my life difficult, it's to make the planet's life easier. That's part of the reason we're not flying (although I've never promised never to, as I still want to travel. I haven't flown for many years now though). So I will do my best, and will report back on the whole thing when I return! After a few panics this morning, now the packing is done, I'm looking forward to the trip immensely. I haven't been abroad for so long, or on a holiday for ages! Yay!