Healthful eating in the midst of travel madness

Jet setting doesn't bode well for healthful eating and tends to result in food waste. July has been a whirlwind of travel. I was gone the first couple days of the month, home for about 2 weeks, gone for a long weekend, home for 4 days, and I'm about to head out again for a long weekend trip. During this time I did not have a car, so getting up to Aldi for my usual grocery routine wasn't an option. A combination of bike and public transportation have worked out well even to get me to the big chain grocery store around the corner.

I've only recently addressed some of the travel-related food challenges.

• Airport food: I've been using the airport as an excuse to eat Chipotle. My mom and I used to go to Chipotle almost every Tuesday. Chipotle brings back happy memories and it tastes so good! This last trip I had YoBerry. It's an excuse to get a treat, but usually it's a treat I don't really need.

•  TSA: As it turns out, a lot of food can get through TSA screening. I'm trying to be better about packing a meal with me to eat in the airport. Sandwiches, fruit, salads with dressing in jars less than 3 oz all get through TSA. Ice packs get through so long as they are frozen solid. Gel packs, and melted ice do not. I suppose ice in  a zip lock bag could just be thrown away and your food will stay cool enough to get through security and eat it on the other side. 

 

•  Nothing to eat for lunch on "travel Mondays." I go strait from the airport to work and might have a bit of fruit with me.It only just occurred to me after a year of this travel routine that I could leave something in the freezer on Thursday and it would be waiting for me on Monday. So far I'm just leaving frozen burritos that I made a while back.

 

• Food waste: Part of my food waste problem was solved when I started packing meals to eat in the airport. I'm usually only gone for 4 days at a time, so a lot of foods won't go bad.  The hardest part might be the grocery shopping for 3-4 days rather than a whole week in between trips. Here's my loot from the other night. Just enough for 3 days. Cost was $19.57. Way cheaper than eating out for 3 days! 

My travel mishaps

Me on one of the 2 days I was in Taiwan.

I travel quite a bit. There are folks that travel a ton more than me, but compared to the average Joe, I'm in airplanes more often than most. Considering my carbon footprint, I should probably consider an electric car! Generally I fly about twice a month. You might think that I have the system down pat, but the reality is I don't. Occasionally, I still forget to take my shoes off at security. All this traveling just puts me at a higher risk of something going wrong!

The worst thing that happened was when I missed a flight to DC. I was sitting in the gate! Granted I was probably in my own little world, I was still there. I never heard my name called and the plane ended up leaving a little early! The desk attendants were super nice and re-booked me for the following morning and it all worked out just fine.

My first ever day skiing, and I was skiing in the alps.

I hate packing. I forget something almost every time I travel. My domestic travels are the worst, but my international travels aren't immune to bad packing. I mostly blame my ballet friends. When I was a kid and we had spontaneous sleep overs, they had everything I needed. I didn't have to pack pajamas or anything. At least I don't remember packing anything. So now I forget stuff all the time! Usually it's a hair brush, something cosmetically related, or most recently I forgot my running shoes. I've compensated to some degree by leaving extras of all my toiletries at a certain someone's place so that I don't have to worry about forgetting that stuff. On my most recent trip I bought a $25 pair of decent running shoes at T.J. Maxx. Now that problem is solved too!

Knock on wood, but I've never actually lost my luggage. That's a blessing I try to remember to be thankful for often! Just so you know, if you buy your plane ticket with a credit card, or buy the $13 extra travel insurance you usually get something like $100 to buy new clothes to get you through till your luggage arrives. That extra insurance is always worth it for international travel! I seriously doubt that your current insurance covered much of anything internationally. I know someone who had a medical emergency that caused a plane to land in London. Not only did that $13 cover all her medical expenses for the brain tumor that was discovered, it covered expenses for her husband who was with her. Then, they flew them home first class. That insurance might actually be $40, but trust me you want it.

JFK Memorial in Dallas.

My other travel woes seem to happen in the parking lot. Ive never lost my car, because I always take a picture of the sign marker closest to my car with my phone camera. One time I left my window down the whole time I was gone. Another time I completely lost my parking ticket thing. Luckily if you show your boarding passes, they'll only charge you for those days. Whew! So my most recent travel mis-hap stems from trying to get to the airport by 5 am. That's why my alarm was still set for 3am yesterday. Arg. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got to my car in the airport parking lot only to find I had a dead battery. Turns out I left the dome lights on. Oops! Lucky for me, the airport provides a free jump-start service. Obviously I'm not the first one to need a jump. The guy told me they jump about 10 cars per day. Sadly, I didn't have any cash for a tip. I did have a Starbucks gift card that was empty, but registered. I gave him the card and told him I'd add money to it from my phone. Which I did. Weird thing is that because the card is registered, I can see the account balance on the card. The guy hasn't used it yet. He seemed excited at the time, but maybe he's just not the Starbucks type. Maybe he lost it. Maybe he's saving it for a present. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before using it!

What are your crazy travel mishaps? Did everything work out ok?

It's about to get crazy!

I'm heading to Australia tomorrow, so things are getting crazy. Despite all my traveling, I hate packing. This time I have a packing list and I'm sticking to it! Hopefully that will prevent over-packing. No promise that I will remember everything I need though. I'm always liable to forget something. Here are the top 5 things I'm most excited about:

1. I get to present my research in Melbourne, Australia! I mean really...it's pretty awesome.
2. I finally get to drive on the wrong side of the road without being yelled at! We rented a car to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne along the coast. I've heard it's one of the mos beautiful drives ever. I'm thinking that me driving on the wrong side of the road for 13 hours with my mom in the passenger seat could be a little stressful, but I'm still excited!
3. I have 3 days to roam the streets of Sydney. Oprah house, the Rocks, cool pubs....fun times!
4. I got some really good deals on hotels and the car. In Melbourne we got the room for $75 less per night because my mom is a "senior." In Sydney, we got 1 night free! They had a deal if you drove a car one way from Adelaide to Sydney or Melbourne. $5.50 a day! Even with insurance, it was only $40 for 3 days!
5. My dad doesn't know it yet, but he's getting a Nook color today so that he can keep in touch with us better while we're gone. He doesn't read my blog, so we're safe announcing this!

Alright, well laundry and packing are calling my name. I can hardly wait for the 16 hour flight! Not true. Obviously that didn't make the top 5 list of exciting things. In fact, I'm kind of dreading the flight. Anything over 2 hours is too long if you ask me, but alas...it's quicker than a steam boat! I will be blogging from Australia, so stay tuned!

One last thing to check off...

Yesterday a few of us went to Belfast. I really didn't want to go home and have to say that I never made it to Belfast the whole time I was here. They're kicking off a Titanic festival there and a part of the not-so-festive-festival was a free bus tour to the shipyards and around the city. It was actually quite interesting learning about the people who made the Titanic, Olympic and Britannic. We were allowed in the dilapidated buildings that once housed the drafting room where the ships were designed. We walked around the dry docks where the hull of the ships were launched into the water and the dock where the ships were held while they were cleaned and had finishing touches put on. It was quite spectacular to imagine the sheer magnitude of workforce needed to build the ships. I really enjoyed the tour. If you're up towards Belfast I recommend you go. Free tickets are available through the Tourism Information Office and the tour leaves daily at 2pm from the front of City Hall.

Knitting is going well. I've turned the heal on the socks I'm knitting for my swap and hope to have them done by the time I get home. The double magic loop method has gone by the way-side for the time being because it's just not fast enough for me. My so called scarf is now more than 1/3 of the way done and it's really beautiful! I'll have to post a photo soon.

I'm leaving Ireland on Friday and I've said it before, but it's still true...leaving Ireland is horribly sad, but I've got so much to go home to. I'm dying to see my little niece and nephew again. My sister has a new dog, Albert and that awesome new van that I haven't seen yet. Of course there's Baxter who I can hardly wait to start running around with again. Keeping busy shouldn't be a problem! Keeping busy before I leave shouldn't be a problem either. Packing is a pain. (it's my own fault for having too much stuff) Speaking of packing, I better do a bit of that before I head out to lunch.

I love Patrick!

Actually I have no idea who Patrick is other than he's some guy who works at iTunes and gave me all my music back! I figured I had nothing to lose by asking, so I wrote iTunes customer service, told them about losing my computer and back-up to the flood, and listed the order confirmation for all the iTunes I bought ever. This Patrick guy emails me back telling me all my music will start downloading the next time I open iTunes. It doesn't end there. He gave me credit for 5 free songs too! Isn't that the greatest? There was only one album that couldn't be replaced. Not too shabby if you ask me! Thank you Patrick!

AnnLaura's house is no longer an infirmary! I'm feeling decently healthy now and no one else here is getting sick. Martin and Annie have the refugee center, AnnLaura has the infirmary...what an accommodating family I have!

Tonight AnnLaura's friend Gia came over for dinner and brought her wonderful baby boy Ari. It's funny to watch babies interact together. Ari is only 4 months and Aurelio was trying to teach him a few things. He would give Ari a toy, then take it back and show him how to use it, then give it back to Ari, then get frustrated that Ari still didn't know how to play with it. I think they'll be good pals and get into lots of trouble together some day!

I'm pretty ready to get back to Ireland. Not that I don't enjoy being at AnnLaura's house, but my system is ready to be in Ireland. I'm ready to take long walks into town and see friends and hang out in a pub. I'm even ready to complain about the crap weather! Can't say the plane ride is something to look forward to, but it's not really anything to complain about either. So off I go...across the big blue pond...

I love the zoo!

Today I got to go to the Brookfield Zoo with my sister and my most wonderful nephew. So much fun! It was fridgid cold, but we did inside things so it didn't much matter. This was Aurelio's first dolphin show! It was so cool! He tensed up in excitement every time they jumps and tried to mimick their noises. The polar bears were the only outside animals that weren't bothered by the artic weather. Oh and some dear type mountain goat thing. The monkey house was pretty nifty. They divided it by country/region. There were the South American monkeys, African monkeys and Asian monkeys. But maybe the coolest thing...other animals were mixed in. Like an aardvark! I mean, when was the last time you saw an aardvark? And better yet...a sloth! And I got to see the sloth move! Sssssllllllllooooooowwwwww motion for sure! It was awesome!

Nearing the end of an era...

I've just boarded my plane in the Netherlands and in about 2 hours will be back in Dublin. This is the 44th plane I've been on in the last 435 days and marks a sad closing of sorts. It was my last eruo-trip with Big John. We've had at least 16 trips covering more than 12 cities in 8 countries. Ironically, we've nevber really hung out in our home town together. Another fun stat...I have only 4 more spaces for stamps left in my passport. So, in less than 48 hours, I'll only have 3 stamp spots left in the passport and I'll be boarding flight number 45.....home sweet home!

(just a note: I wrote that on the plane and posted it when I got home. The dumb guy at passport control in Dublin used a whole new stamp spot to stamp me back into Dublin. That was annoying since they usually just stamp on the Visa page. So now I have 2 real spots left and another place where a stamp could fit even though there are already 4 on the page. 3 Spots left. Also...now it's only really a little over 24 hours till I'll be on my way home sweet home.)

Prague

Random things happen sometimes that turn out to be fantastic. I signed up for Facebook a few weeks ago thinking I was going to get 5 free itunes. That didn't happen, but it did put me in touch with some old friends. I suppose that's the purpose of Facebook and MySpace and such. Anyway, turns out this guy, Scarpacci, is in Prague. So we were able to get in touch and met up in Prague while I was there. Ended up being the most fun hanging out with him.

I can see why people love Prague. It's gorgeous! The food is really good. Well, except I had one strange meal. Not bad, but really strange. A chicken breast with apples, caramel sauce and melted cheese. The caramel sauce looked for all the world like brown gravy. It was a mind game every time I took a bite! "This is going to taste like rice and caramel" take a bite..."Ooh, yeah that's not brown gravy. That tastes like caramel." It was an exhausting experience for my taste buds. The only bad thing about Prague is that despite the small size of the city, it's remarkably easy to get lost! I don't know how many times we walked in circles or just entirely in the wrong direction for 5 minutes before we realized we didn't know where we were. Oh well, got to see more of the city that way, I suppose!

When I'm flying I almost inevitably get so bored that I start reading the airline magazine. I try to save it till I'm really bored though. So when I reached this point on my way home from Prague, I grabbed it from the seat pocket. Usually I've already read it, but I haven't flown Aer Lingus for over 2 months, so this issue was new material for me. Then it clicked and I frantically flipped to the movie listing pages! Guess what flight are on my flight home next week! Hairspray and Transformers. I've seen Hairspray, but I'm excited to see it again. It will be hard to control myself from singing along with all the great songs. I haven't seen Transformers, but everyone said it's pretty good. Woohoo! Exactly 7 more days till I'll be on my way home to see my family, my dog, my friends and hey....I'll have good movies to watch on the way!

Surf's Up!

For once, I was not looking longingly at the car with cool sports equipment tied to the top! I actually got to give surfing a go! The boards they gave us through the surf school were practically pontoon boats! Huge foam things. Even when there wave died, I could still manage to balance a bit. Might even get to go back next weekend. Hopefully the waves will be bigger and I'll have more exciting stories to tell about getting creamed by waves. Who knew I'd be surfing in Ireland!