Nothing is so certain that everything is uncertain. So is a name. A few years ago, I knew for sure that The Traveling Vegetarian would always be around. Full of energy, I set to work writing down my travel adventures, creating recipes and immersing myself in creating and maintaining a website.
In the meantime, I made the move from working for a regular employer to working for myself and started eating completely plant-based. For more than two years now. In these two years, I have learned so much about vegan food, a vegan lifestyle and especially traveling as a vegan. I also met an awful lot of fun and sweet (flexi) vegans in real life and on socials like Instagram.
New journey in an old jacket
During this trip, I also noticed more and more that the concept of The Traveling Vegetarian was beginning to pinch. I wanted to start sharing more about vegan food and my journey in it. Literally to other countries, but also my inner journey. What do I run into, how do others react and what does that do to me. My bloopers but also special and beautiful moments. More personal, in other words.
Trust your feelings
Of course this can be done on The Traveling Vegetarian, because my doubt was also: with Vegan in your name you are more likely to repel people. Vegetarian is more accessible in my opinion. Despite my doubts, I trust that when you follow your gut, it is always right. The universe will naturally guide you. So when the partnership between Sander and me changed last summer and I now do everything on my own (which is why it was quiet for more than half a year), I decided to change my name permanently.
A fresh start for everything. Literally.
And as of now is called The Traveling Vegetarian:
Vegan Travel Life
As you can see, I chose an English name. I did this on purpose. Indeed, during my travels, I am routinely asked, “Why isn’t your website in English? I would like to read your tips and try recipes”. The disappointed faces of all those people, also made me think. After all, why not make the website available in English in addition to my native Dutch?
A globe together
Of course it’s duplicative, but it gives so many more opportunities. This way I can inspire even more people with plant-based eating, all the (travel) stories and my personal experiences! At least, I hope so 😉 . Ultimately with the goal of making people on this globe more compassionate toward each other and animals. After all, we only have one globe and we all have to live on it together.
Lots of work
But pooh, converting your name involves quite a lot I can tell you! Things like a new logo, domain name conversion, redirecting your urls for seo, web analytics, checking everything, changing names on socials (Facebook is very cumbersome) and much more where I won’t tire you out 😉. And much more is planned.
I mentioned earlier about making all blogs and recipes available in English. This is a big project so this will be done in parts. That won’t be until next year. So poco a poco. Not all at once.
New fun things
So are things going to change on Vegan Travel Life? The concept remains the same, but I will eventually take the vegetarian recipes offline or come up with a vegan version for them. I will leave the restaurant tips that include vegetarian restaurants online, though. In fact, in practically all the restaurants I’ve been to, you can also just order vegan options 😊.
If you happen to be at one of the restaurants and it’s not possible, please be sure to let me know! Of course, I also plan to add some really cool new sections. I will talk about this in detail in a future blog post!
Love to hear what you think of the new name and my new logo! By the way, the logo was created by the super talented AND vegan: Linda Hirzmann. 😘
Love
Danique
