Who Moved My Cheese? How To Travel With Compassion

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The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.

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There are Vegan Travel Agents. Who knew?

Sometimes you encounter something new, like when I discovered dessert hummus in the grocery store. How did I not know about this?

Kim Giovacco (center), with Santa Fe animal activists JC and Rae. Travel and vegan tours. — Kim Giovacco (center), with Santa Fe animal activists JC and Rae.

Finding a vegan travel agent was like that for me. I had no idea they existed. When I met Kim Giovacco, owner of Veg Jaunts and Journeys, a new world opened to me. (Note: As of August 2025, the new name of Ahimsa Travel Club.)

My tours and custom vacations are crafted exclusively for travelers who follow a vegan lifestyle. Of course, I seek out all vegan restaurants for us and engage travelers in vegan-friendly activities and excursions along the way—such as visiting an animal sanctuary (I really love taking people on their first visit to one!) or taking a vegan market tour, along with activities that reflect the history or culture of the destination. -Kim Giovacco

I signed up for my first vegan tour.

A Vegan Tour of Italy

Many of my friends laughed when I said I was taking a vegan tour of Italy. The usual response was, “Why? Why would you go to the country of parmigiana, Romano, mozzarella, and Bolognese and refuse to consume any of it?” I was undaunted, though, because (1) Italy was on my bucket list, and (2) I wanted to travel with compassion.

Italy has so many things to offer a visitor. Beautiful and varied countryside, well-preserved historical sites, and my favorite opera composer – Puccini. I didn’t bring my husband. He’s compassionate and vegetarian but not vegan, and his main interests are not healthy eating and animal rights. I put myself in his shoes and imagined myself going on a tour focused on his interest – sports. There would be people who play sports and talk about sports all the time. We would do sports and attend sporting events. Our meals would be hot dogs and nachos. We would watch sports on TV. It would be awful. Coming back from my daydream, I realized a vegan tour wasn’t right for him. I signed up to travel to Italy alone.

What I Expected from my Vegan Tour of Italy

Here is what I expected from a vegan tour:

Visiting the iconic Italian sights.
Someone who could find the best places for vegan food and order it for me.
My own room as a single traveler.
My tour guides would point out interesting stuff.
I would not have to plan anything.
Someone to navigate the language barrier.

I got all that, but also so much more.

What I Received from My Vegan Tour of Italy

Fantastic Food

I’m not a good enough writer to describe how much I enjoyed the food. Kim found the best vegan options across Italy. But I also learned that Italians understand veganism and usually provide vegan options anyway. Italy is quite vegan-friendly. Even restaurants that are not on Happy Cow (an app for locating vegan and vegetarian food) have vegan options. They don’t label them as vegan.

Wendy Werneth and Kim Giovacco at the Bologna VeganFest. Travel and vegan tours. — Wendy Werneth and Kim Giovacco at the Bologna VeganFest.

I learned from one of my guides, The Nomadic Vegan Wendy Werneth, author of Veggie Planet, that much of Italy’s cuisine reflects the food of those who live in poverty, which is naturally vegan. The first pizza didn’t have cheese or meat.

At the beach, I found a vegan croissant. I found the best pastry I’ve ever eaten in a beach bar with foosball tables and sand on the floor.

I learned that excellent vegan cheese is not an oxymoron. But we can’t get it in the United States yet. One of the restaurants we visited, Dall’albero, was over a vegan cheese laboratory. Using cashews as a base, they create soft and hard cheeses. Our tasting platters included these as well as a tasty (and beautiful) beet hummus, pasta with a vegan cheese that mimics a typical Roman dish, tiramisu, and a truffle cookie. Hands down, this was the best cheese I’ve ever eaten – and it was vegan!

It is easy to order vegan food in Italy. Just learn the Italian word senza, which means without, and you are in good shape. Senza latte, per favore. No cheese: senza formaggio. Senza octopi (I ate in a seaside restaurant that had a majority of dishes with octopus.)

Wonderful Experiences

Vegans are a minority in most of the world. That means many things vegans find uncomfortable, like watching people eat meat or hearing them talk about hunting, are considered normal. A vegan tour is a sanctuary from this omnivore-based world. I don’t have to sit across from someone eating surf-and-turf and ordering seconds. Or explaining to strangers every night about my eating choices. It may seem silly that I don’t want to hear about Siena’s famous horse race because I see it as exploitation. That I don’t want to hear about the fantastic arrays of meat you can try in Bologna. On a regular tour, I’d have to step away. On a vegan tour, I am free from a pro-meat environment. We saw the iconic sights – the Coliseum, the Arno in Florence, Bolognese colonnades, and Venetian canals. And lots of churches. But we also experienced vegan-inspired extras. My favorite was a cat sanctuary in the middle of Rome, the Torre Argentina. I was expecting a typical sanctuary but was stunned when we arrived.

Known as Largo di Torre Argentina, this archaeological wonder was excavated as part of Mussolini’s rebuilding efforts in 1929, revealing four Republican victory-temples that lie sunken 20 feet below modern street level. In addition to the remains of four different temples, Torre Argentina also contains part of the famous portico of Pompey, upon whose steps dictator Julius Caesar was betrayed and killed in 44 BCE.

How cool is it that there are cats all over this historical spot where Caesar was murdered, playing and sleeping in the sun? Another fun activity was Europe’s largest VeganFest in Bologna. I wrote about my experiences there in My Big Fat Italian VeganFest (and my Small Skinny Scruffy City one).

New Friendships and Inspiration

I treasured the people I traveled with and learned so much from them. We were a diverse group. Each had their own veganism story, which I’ve found is typical of vegans. Some went vegan to reduce animal cruelty. Others because of the impact of factory farming of animals on the environment. Many switched because of the positive effect on their health. I was right to go without my husband. He would have been tired of the talk about fests, activism, and sanctuaries in about 45 minutes. I, on the other hand, was hanging on every word. Multiple conversations whirled above our table at every meal. “There is a great sanctuary outside of Houston, where a lady turned her cattle farmer husband into a vegan.” “Which flax do you use?” “How do you deal with coworkers who don’t understand veganism?”

My Compassionate Travel Learnings

I just got back from a second vegan tour with Kim, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our tourist activities included the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, Georgia O’Keefe’s Museum and home, and Meow Wolf.

Memorial to the animals that lived at Kindred Spirits. Travel. — Memorial to the animals that lived at Kindred Spirits.

Our vegan-inspired activities included a cooking class and a visit to the Kindred Spirits Animal Sanctuary. Ulla founded this sanctuary to provide elder and hospice care for unwanted dogs, poultry, and horses. She helps them feel safe and happy at the end of their lives. After they cross the rainbow bridge, she makes sure they are remembered. It is a lovely place. I learned that super-yummy vegan cheese exists! When I changed to a plant-based diet I missed having traditional cheese. So it was delightful to know that I have choices that are delicious and cruelty-free. My vegan tours allowed me to sample many vegan dishes that were new to me. I learned that vegan tours are not just about food, but ethical living. That spending time with other vegans is an experience I treasure. Every vegan’s story is different and should be honored.

Who Moved My Cheese? How To Travel With Compassion

There are Vegan Travel Agents. Who knew?

A Vegan Tour of Italy

What I Expected from my Vegan Tour of Italy