what i ate wednesday: travel day
I thought you guys might be interested to see a WIAW for something a little different—a travel day. Last Friday, we were traveling from 5am to 8pm, so there was a lot of eating on the go. I’m pretty guilty of being a bored snacker, which is dangerous when you consider hours worth of layovers sitting in an airport. Even with all my usual snacking, I did pretty good during this trip. Because I’m so snacky during travel, I have a ton of photos for you. So instead of my usual WIAW format, I’m gonna go ahead and narrate my day of eats to explain what everything is.
Our travel day started with a five-hour drive to the airport. Which sounds insane, but flying out of Chicago is so much cheaper for us (as in, save $1000 cheaper). Plus, we don’t mind the driving—usually. We had a bit of a snow storm the night before we left, so the roads were pretty tricky during the first two hours of the drive. To keep on keepin’ on, I sipped on some green tea with honey.
Once we were closing in on the airport, I dug into a Larabar and a clementine.
Thanks to the tricky roads, we were actually cutting it really close for our flight—which I cannot stand. Like I mentioned in this post, I’m the kinda girl who likes to get to the gate two hours before take off, but we didn’t even get to the airport parking lot until about an hour before our flight. Yeesh.
Thankfully, all the TSA agents were super nice and let us scurry through the priority line at security. Our plan was to eat breakfast at the gate, but we barely had time to go to the bathroom before boarding. So we skipped breakfast and just planned on eating lunch on the plane.
Once on board, the free beer on the flight helped calm our shot nerves from the drive. As much as I love free beer, I only drank a few sips of this one before handing it off to Babyface. It just wasn’t good enough to justify the calories/dehydration. I stuck with the water.
But I did chow down on lunch. I packed us a whole spread.
To satisfy the veggie component, we ate some celery and carrot sticks with hummus (all of this was split between the two of us).
And then, for a main dish, I packed us turkey, cheese and crackers. I’ve done sandwiches before for flights, and they just end up getting smooshed and soggy, but cheese and crackers work perfectly! Yum!
And then, because I can’t go a meal without chocolate, we split this little dark chocolate bar.
Our first flight was pretty quick—from Chicago to Toronto—but then we had a mighty chunky layover in Toronto. Which normally is yucky, but the Porter Airlines (highly recommended) lounge at the Toronto airport is amazing. Free wi-fi. Super comfy chairs. Beautiful views.
And my favorite part—free food and drinks. I started our three-hour layover with a mug of green tea and a few leftover pieces of cheese from our lunch.
After an hour or so (and countless rounds of Candy Cane Saga and Song Pop), I decided to hit up the fancy free coffee drinks. This decaf cappuccino was awesome.
Our plane was boarding right around dinner time, so I did a little more nibbling before we boarded. Another clementine (which, I guess, technically, was contraband American produce…shhhhh!), a piece of turkey jerky and a handful of yogurt covered almonds.
Once we were in the air, I took advantage of the free booze on Porter flights (seriously, Porter rocks) and got myself a glass of red wine.
Along with my wine, I snacked on a few more yogurt covered almonds plus some cheese cubes I packed. Can you tell it got dark on this flight? My photo quality is quickly deteriorating.
Other than a short delay, our flight into Thunder Bay was pretty uneventful. We landed, gave lots of hugs to Craig’s family and then headed over to his brother and sister-in-law’s house for some “real” dinner. I was handed a beer. And I drank it. Happily.
And partook in some pizza. I had two small slices. Since I was so snacky on the flight, I wasn’t all that hungry, but I’ll never say “no” to pizza.
Then we all gathered around to watch some hockey, as any good Canadian family does, right? I was totally worn out though and barely made it through the first period.
It should be noted, I also drank an obscene amount of water, too. I didn’t track it, but I’d say I drank at least 120 ounces throughout the day. I think all that water helped balance out the beer, wine and pizza. And, I woke up the next morning and hit the treadmill. Woohoo!
Not a terrible food day considering we were traveling. I’m pretty proud of myself! Small victories, right?
Do you tend to eat well while you’re traveling? Or do you struggle like I do?
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I’m Cassie. I’m a Midwestern girl trying to live a healthy life without being too crazy about it. I’m a lover of fresh veggies, bright colors, craft beer, hiking, funky eyeglasses, and really, really dark chocolate.
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So proud of you for tracking all that
Hope you had fun in the northern tundra and that we’ll see lots of pics from your visit 
I’m so impressed that you packed your food to take with you. I usually have the best of intentions, but then never actually get around to packing the food. It all generally goes downhill from there. Hope you enjoy your trip!
How come you didn’t explore Toronto a bit? Not enough time with the layover? Just curious! (I live there! It’s fun!)
Our layover was about three hours, and by the time we got thorough customs and security, there just wasn’t enough time. We love TO though!
Yum! You are so organized with your travel eats! I always bring snacks, but end up running out
I should start to overestimate instead of underestimate. Have fun in Canada!!
Allie
I always feel so guilty eating a bunch when I’m traveling because I think “all I did was sit around all day!” but traveling also makes me super exhausted so I must be exerting energy somehow! Packing healthy meals and snacks on travel days is a MUST for me. You never know what you’re gonna find at airports and it’s easier to rely on your own food.
It looks like you ate very well! I certainly try to eat healthy during travelling but often don’t.
I absolutely LOVE Porter airlines. Travel a couple times a year for work from Ottawa to Toronto and the flight is just not long enough! By the time a get my wine, I usually have 10 minutes to drink it before we decent.
This post has given me a few ideas for my next trip. Last weekend I booked our honeymoon trip to Italy!!! It will be the longest flight and travel day we have ever taken.
I have digestive issues, so I always worry about food when travelling. The last thing I want is to be feeling crummy on my honeymoon.
I wish flying wasn’t such a pain in the butt now. It’s really hard to pack healthy foods when they have those crazy limits on liquids and stuff. You can’t even bring a container of yogurt on a plane!
We’ve never had a problem getting yogurt through. Although, I expect now that I wrote this, my yogurt will get confiscated next time.
Doing turkey, cheese & crackers is such a good idea for a travel day! I never would’ve thought of that… you’re so smart!
I’m Canadian and travel to US often and I take fruits and veggies…..just declare on customs form and tell them snacks and it’s never been a problem!
Good travel eats! Don’t worry, your clementine is indeed NOT contraband. I live in BC and do most grocery shopping at Costco in WA. Onky produce you can’t bring into Canada are root grown produce…things that grow in or on the geound…potatoes, turnips, etc. I bring bags of clementines and other produce back in plain view and have asked for specific clarification to ensure I’m legit. Going into America, you can’t have any produce or meat.
Mickeys!! Ah! I haven’t seen that since college!
I am HORRIBLE about eating when I travel. I pack so many snacks for the plane, and eat them ALL out of boredom! I’m pretty good about eating on vacation in general, but during the travel time (in a car or on the plane) I think I eat twice as much as I usually would.
And I ALWAYS feel hungry.