Staying Fed

I grew up in the Deep South where probably most people can tell you the location of "their" Waffle House. I spent a lot of years on the West Coast where they not only don't have Waffle House, restaurant staff look at you like you're crazy if you ask for grits.

True story: I tried to order grits at some restaurant in some city in California and was told "I've only ever had one person try to order grits here before. That was about a year ago." And I told him "That was probably me. I was here a year ago."

You get as far West as Utah and grits don't exist anymore. And possibly sooner than that.

Anyway, I have returned to civilization where they have Waffle House and ma'am is a common word. I had no idea I needed Waffle House back in my life.

They appear to have a national policy of delivering between 9pm and 8am. So when I had a five hour delay on my bus trip and got to my destination at two or three A.M., it was a Waffle House that delivered my middle-of-the-night meal. 

I have a serious medical condition and special dietary needs. Twenty-four hour breakfast is a life saver when the smell of meats like chicken turns my stomach. I'm probably still okay with bacon and eggs and if I'm ordering from Waffle House, I'm eating hash browns, grits, bacon and toast.

So if you are planning a trip and may be arriving in the middle of the night, check if there's a Waffle House in delivery distance of your hotel. Other options include Denny's, IHOP and other diner or breakfast-themed places that are sometimes open twenty-four hours and frequently offer delivery in the middle of the night.

If you are somewhat trapped in a hotel with no grocery store nearby and traveling by bus or train, pizza places are your best bet for ordering drinks to keep on hand. Most restaurants deliver a drink in a cup, but pizza places typically sell 2-liter bottles of sodas and some sell things like tea.

You do need to make sure you have cups on hand. Hotels often have a few cups in the room and I travel with disposable cups. They are bulky but lightweight and a few cents apiece and then you have a clean cup available any time you need it without having to wash dishes.

We somewhat often are parceling out food and doing things like dividing two restaurant meals between three people. When there's a shortage of plates, we use a cup as our extra plate. 

I also typically have disposable utensils on me. If you don't want to buy a fifty count of disposable utensils, get in the habit of setting aside extras they may have sent you with your meal. If you do this BEFORE you start eating, it shouldn't cause hygiene issues. It's just a clean individual packet of utensils.

Stick it in a Ziploc bag to keep it clean. I typically have Ziploc bags on me to organize the contents of my luggage and keep things clean, both in the sense of germ control and making sure things like toothpaste don't accidentally get on anything else in my luggage.

I somewhat often also have travel friendly snacks on me, like granola bars, dry roasted nuts, dried fruits and -- if it's not too hot -- chocolates. Dark chocolate is not very sweet. I have blood sugar issues and I limit sugar in my diet, but I'm fine with dark chocolate.

If you are reading this and your blood pressure is rising about the amount of trash that sounds like I generate, if you drive, you are spewing toxic fumes into the air and leaving behind residue from the wheels of your car and probably sending several thousand pounds of junker vehicle to the junkyard every few years. My environmental footprint is probably smaller than yours.

Get back to me with your prejudiced, judgy nonsense when you have figured out how to live life in the modern world without generating waste, mmmkay?