As many bloggers do at the end of the year, the last blog post is often dedicated to reminisce about the year that has come and gone so quickly.  As we reflect on Travel Chops and its main topics of travel and food, we have found this weekly blog post to be both informative and therapeutic.  Many people often don't understand why we travel as often as we do or why we changed our eating habits. Sometimes we travel fast and other times slow.  Sometimes our eating habits fluctuates between vegetarian to vegan to mediterranean diet (pescatarian).  However, what remains the same is our desire to see the different cultures of the world and the various foods that have yet to be eaten.  We desire a wholesome life full of discovery, experiences, and delight in both travel and food.  We have grown in our travels to be more tolerant of what is different, excites, or even scares us. We brought in the New Year in Paris and in the 12 months that have passed, we have also traveled to Phoenix, AZ to work the College National Championship; St. Clara, CA (San Francisco) to work Super Bowl 50; Park City, UT to volunteer for Sundance; Austin, TX to volunteer for SXSW; 5 day cruise to the Bahamas with neices; 8 day Mediterranean cruise to Spain, Italy, and France; and closer to home to Myrtle Beach, Aiken, Bonneau, and Alvin. Our health has sustained, and do not as of this writing have any health issues (Thanks be to God!!). Our immediate family are healthy as they too have made some dietary restrictions (though not as restrictive as we have). We will bring in the 2017 New Year in Tampa, FL to work the Outback Bowl, and the upcoming year will have us traveling to Ravello (Amalfi Coast),Italy for a week of rejuvenation; Park City, UT to volunteer for Sundance; a return to Austin, TX to volunteer at SXSW is pending; Los Angeles to network; Las Vegas with our parents and extended family; Fort Lauderdale for a family reunion; New York for a film shoot; and an undecided international destination in Nov/December. This year has been good.  Next year will be even better.

Where will the New Year 2017 take you?  

Have you ever wanted to book a flight but couldn't afford to fork over the full payment right then and there? Have you ever wished that you can put your airline tickets on an affordable layaway plan? Well, Airfordable can be the answer you've been waiting for.  It's been more than a year since they unveiled a soft launch to a few beta testers, and I'm glad to say it's in full operation.  There is no credit check, and other than an initial non-refundable down payment, this is a very viable option to some people.  The process is pretty simple with you first submitting a  screenshot of your proposed booking details from a replicable site (any airline, Google Flights, Expedia, etc), pay a non-refundable deposit (includes service fee of 10-20% of ticket cost), and make bi-weekly (twice  a month) payments until approximately 15-30 days out.  Once you make your final payment, you'll receive your e-ticket within 24 hours.

Want a $25 credit on your first booking...click here!!

​Sometimes even the most healthiest individual is subject to the need of additional vitamin supplements to maintain an overall healthy body.  A common deficient of vegan/vegetarians is iron.  Having already been diagnosed as pre-anemic even before we made the dietary restricts confounded the issue.  For a woman this is often combated with one's menstrual cycle, and fatigue takes effect.  So for the last several weeks we've added additional iron supplements to our juice and it has proven very helpful.  As the idea crossed our minds about this need to purchase these items over and over, we thought about taking ownership of the matter.  Two months ago we bought a website domain, and after several weeks of redesign, we are proud to announce our very own wellness and health vitamins/supplement online website, Shop Vitamins Online. It's still a work in progress but all the functionality works as far as ordering and shipping  We even got one customer review on the website.  Through Friday, December 16 we're offering 10% off your entire order with Promo Code 2222. To find out about more savings, LIKE our Facebook Page and FOLLOW us on Twitter.   Here's to a New, Healthier You!!!

A common question for health conscious people is whether or not you should eat or juice your foods. That question can be long debated as the profusion of juicers have marketed themselves as creating nutritional value.  And we have bought into it as well having recently bought our third NutriBullet in almost four years. I'm sure there's a warranty we can use but because of the daily use of the machine, spending $80 every 18 months or so is well worth the time and effort. We have a daily juices consisting of veggies and fruits, as well as flax seeds, chia seeds, and ginger.  As we've noted in a previous blog post, we get our fruits and veggies delivered twice per month, and the varied taste makes it so that no two days are the same.  To a point I've commonly heard, God gave us teeth to chew.  But in this hurried world that we now know (love it or hate it), it's sometimes so convenient to juice and go. 

What's your preference, eating or juicing your fruit and veggies?