Eating While on Vacation

I recently went to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, for a couple of days, and it may not surprise you to know that I thought a lot about food when planning my trip. I probably thought about it more than I needed to, but it’s a habit that’s hard to break.

I also suspect I’m not the only one who thinks about food and what they’ll eat while away from home. So, in case it helps anyone, I thought I’d share my approach.

Breakfasts

For a long time, one thing I’ve focused on especially is bringing breakfast foods with me whenever I travel. One reason is that I get up very early, and I’m also hungry an hour or so after I get up. Usually, that still leaves me with a while before the dining room opens, or, when I was traveling for work, when the conference started offering food. (I also don’t have any interest in paying a lot for room service.)

Then there’s what to eat. I don’t eat much meat or dairy these days, I can’t eat eggs (at least not without a mild but annoying allergic response to them), and I’ve gotten very used to having something hot for breakfast. Plus, most hotels aren’t near grocery stores, so it’s not like I could pick up food easily once at my destination. Given all that, it just generally seems easier to bring food.

For this trip, that meant instant oatmeal, protein powder, apples, and peanut butter. I also brought tea and my travel tea kettle because I wasn’t sure the room would provide tea or have a way to make hot water. It had both, but I was still glad to have the bases covered. I was also relieved that customs didn’t confiscate my fruit, which would have thrown a wrench in my plans.

Lunches

Before I left, I poked around online for some good lunch places. I found a few that looked promising, and on my first day, I treated myself to a meal at the Shanty Cafe. I had a good-sized lunch of lightly battered and pan-fried haddock, a cup of vegetable soup, and a homemade roll:

It was all excellent, and while it was more than I usually eat for lunch, I wasn’t too worried about it. I was doing a lot of walking, and I knew I could wait until I was hungry again to eat.

The second day I went to a place near my hotel called Old World Bakery and Deli, where I had a big chicken sandwich on a ciabatta bun and a side salad. No photos, but you can get an idea of their food from their Facebook page if you’re curious.

Those were the only times I ate out (unless you count the ferry – more on that in a bit). I realize that most people would be disappointed by that, but it worked fine for me. It’s not as if I could take leftovers home, after all, and while I don’t feel the need to “clean my plate”, I do feel a bit bad about not finishing a meal and food going to waste. And after a good-sized lunch, I didn’t need a big dinner.

Snacks, dinners, and the ferry ride

I’m grouping these together because I mostly did just snack for dinner. I’d also brought some pears, cucumbers, carrots, nuts, and protein bars, and that was really all I needed in the evenings. Well, on the second day I also bought some fancy chocolate, so I had some of that as well.

The benefit of having my own food was that I could eat a little bit at different times, and it helped me remain more mindful about how hungry or full I was than if I’d gone out to dinner.

The snack food also helped while traveling on the CAT ferry. They did sell food, but a lot of it was heavier and/or greasier than I might have liked, especially since I was already feeling queasy. I did get a sandwich for lunch on the way back, which was decent, but I didn’t feel the need to try more.

In retrospect, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to bring something with ginger on the ferry (ginger helps with an upset stomach). I’d never gotten seasick before, or motion sick in general, so I didn’t prepare for that. And I was surprised that the ferry didn’t have any seltzer water or diet ginger ale. Had I known that I might have brought my own carbonated beverage (carbonation also seems to help settle my stomach), and/or some ginger chews. At least I know now if I ever take the ferry again that it makes me queasy.

Individual preference

I suspect most people wouldn’t want to worry about packing that much food for a short trip, especially when it’s supposed to be a vacation. Some people may also not feel like they need to think that much about their eating choices.

But this works for me. I find it actually gives me a bit more flexibility, and having familiar foods helps feel good physically. So, from that perspective, I consider the effort worthwhile.