Come fly with me...

This past week had flying down to London for work, staying overnight and flying home the following evening. While this was kinda fun, getting out of the store for a couple of days, flying through the skies in a big metal bird, staying in cheap nasty hotel that didn't have a toilet in the room (I mean, what hotel in a major city doesn't have a toilet in the freaking room?) - there was a down side.  Food when you travel kinda sucks ass...

This was the offering on the flight down. 2 rashers of bacon, a sausage, 4 button mushrooms, some kind of tomato sauce, and you see right behind the bacon in the corner? Right behind the bacon? That yellow stuff peeking out is egg. Apparently. Add to the mix, a tiny white roll, some butter, a tiny carton of orange juice and a coffee, and there you go, a hearty breakfast to set you up for the rest of the day!

It doesn't stop there. No sir! The airport, the train station, underground and most of the shops on the route, sell nothing but processed crap that give you loads of extra carbs, some taste and nothing in the way of nutrients. If you do find healthy options, they cost the price of your first born child and come in tiny packets.

 So, you  have 2 options, take the carby, sugary, nutrient free crap that makes you more sluggish than your typical tourist within a few hours, or plan ahead. Take enough snack sized packs of nuts, fruit, and decent food with you that you don't need to take option 1. I am getting better at this, my first couple of trips with work, I ate on the run most of the time, and by the end of the trips, I felt crap. Now I plan ahead, I took a couple of wraps made up of grilled chicken, peppers, guacamole and spinach with me. I had a couple of apples and a banana with me along with a bag of almonds and a bag of brazil nuts. I picked up a couple of cartons of low fat milk when I was thirsty, (not to mention a coffee or 3!) and plenty of water when I was at work. With this, I felt so much better at the end of the first day, the couple of beers I had when I briefly met up with friends after work on the Thursday night were pretty good too!

Next day, breakfast at the hotel looked pretty abysmal. More of the processed carb offerings that would have done me no favours at all for the upcoming day, not to mention costing an arm and a leg for the privilege! So on the way to the tube station, I found a supermarket, where I loaded up on fruit, nuts, a couple of wraps of falafel and humous and a bottle of water, and had me a good start to the day.

Due to the nature of the day, and the pain in the behind time I had to leave to get back to the airport, I ate lunch kinda late at the airport. I had a chicken salad, when I asked for no dressing I think the waitress was gonna call security on me, as I was obviously a crazy!  It was good though. Kept me going till  I got home and then we had a pizza... Come on! It was late and I'm only human...

By the way, if you want a good snack to have in your bag on the go, get some unsalted mixed nut, a small amount of salted peanuts and some high cocoa dark chocolate squares, divide them all into smallish portions and bag them. When you are hungry they do a great job in filling the gap and keeping you going till chow time!

You can get me on facebook, or on twitter.