Travel Tips
There’s an old song that comes to mind as I write this that goes something like, “Be prepared is the Boy Scouts marching song. Be prepared…”
Traveling during the holidays can be a time of shared meals, fun and adventure, but there is also so much that is out of your control. Following a few simple tips can make the difficult times much easier to manage.
If you are flying or if you have special dietary needs always travel with food. This is true even if you are taking a relatively short flight. I have waited at LAX for 4-5 hrs for my flight back to Denver. I always bring a nourishing meal as well as emergency extra-just-in-case food. If it’s a long flight and you have perishables, bring a zip-lock type baggie and ask the stewardess to fill it with ice to keep things cool. I make my own trail-mix. I like to combine both raw and roasted salted almonds, pecans or walnuts, cashews, raisins and a handful of dark (preferably above 65%) chocolate bits. Putting together my own combination from the bulk bins is cheaper, fresher and tends to have less sweet gunk.
Be aware that if you have nut butter in your carry-on, TSA considers nut butter a liquid or gel and they won’t let your carry-on through. However, one time the nice TSA lady told me that if I spread the nut butter on the celery I carried in my food bag, the potentially lethal gel would transform into food. So I coated every bit of celery with the remaining half jar of nut butter and they waved me through.
If I am staying in a hotel at my destination I always ask ahead for a refrigerator in my room, to store my food stash.
These days I load my iPad with reading material and blogs of radio shows such as “This American Life”, “Fresh Air” and “Ted Talks”.
Sitting on long airline flights is hard on your circulation and in some cases can even cause blood clots in your legs. I have used compression socks for years. On my last transcontinental flight I decided to go a step further. During the flight I headed to the plane bathroom, removed my jeans, squeezed into a pair of support stockings and put the pants back on. That was way too much time in an airplane bathroom and not an easy task in that tiny space. I did notice less swelling in my feet and that horrible icky feeling I get where I feel like I absolutely have to get my feet above my head or I will be sick… was much less.
These days compression workout clothes are the latest thing in athletics. I recently purchased compression exercise pants at Target for between $20-30. I wear them like leggings and can avoid the bathroom-as-changing-room drama. I highly recommend them.
What Do I Do About My unusual and Some Might Even Say “Weird” Dietary Needs
My poor mother has seen it all with me. From ages 20-30 I was a strict vegetarian for “spiritual” reasons. If egg brushed against my lips or I discovered some remnant of chicken broth was in my soup, I was horrified. I tried every subset of vegetarianism. I ate raw food, I juice fasted, I didn’t combine proteins with carbohydrates, I was macrobiotic and on and on. I’m not a vegetarian anymore, but since becoming a healer, I admit that my food dramas have continued. Over the years I have arrived at my mother’s house with various protein mixes, pills and lately my own special gluten free bread.
On a recent “This American Life” broadcast one of the producers brought her mother on to discuss the list of 7 things the French think are boring to discuss at the dinner table. One of them is diet or special dietary needs. I have broken this rule so many times. If going gluten-free has saved your gut or your brain, it may be best to keep it to yourself. If being a vegan reamed out your arteries, think about basking in it quietly. There’s a good chance that talking about your special diet makes people feel uncomfortable, vaguely guilty or eyes-rolling-into-the-back-of-their-heads bored.
I sometimes let my host know ahead of time about my dietary needs, but other times I just do my best to eat what I can. You can always slip the offending food to the dog under the table. Again I encourage you to be prepared because one time I arrived at a holiday party ready to chow down only to find that the hosts kept things simple and only served cheese and crackers. I really am better off not eating those things, so now I always keep my trail mix in the oversize purse I lug everywhere.
Gratitude
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is low hype and fundamentally about coming together with loved ones and feeling gratitude. Gratitude is a good starting point for a wonderful life and I think that is where health begins. Enjoy.