Travel Treats and Changes in Air Travel

0400 wake-up call. Grum-ble.
0430 travel from home to RDU.
0500 arrive at RDU, park and check in for 0600 flight.

0610 - 0716 RDU to DCA
0807 - 1102 DCA to SFO

1 hour flight.
45 minute layover.
5 hour flight.

On that 5 hour flight, we're going to get hungry. We like food. We like to snack. We get bored really, really easily. We will have fully charged iPods, a fully charged Kindle and some magazines we have been waiting to read until we were on the plane. We are prepared with our gadgets and other ways to pass the time. Now, we need to focus on food and the trip itself.

Many years ago, the airline industry changed their food service, how they do business and many other good things. I remember when I was a kid, we would be so excited to fly! We would scramble onto the plane and find that for the four of us, we had 2 full rows all to ourselves. Mom and I would sit on one side, Dad and Drew would sit on the other. Yay! Open seats to stretch out into! We would scramble around, getting pillows and blankets to get comfortable for a long flight. Once we were in the air, the flight attendants would come and find us and take us up to the cockpit. We got to meet the pilots and we got airplane wings for being good kids on the flight. We would get fed. Our parents didn't have to pay. We just got to choose what airline meal we wanted to try during the flight. As kids, airplane food rocked. Flying was so much fun. I remember one flight where my brother and I got to sit in first class because it just wasn't full. We didn't get the champagne first class treatment, but we did get to sit in big, comfy seats for the long flight from LAX to BWI.

Today, things are a little bit different. You still get free non-alcoholic drinks. That's it, though. There are no blankets or pillows to be found, except maybe in First Class. Who can afford First Class? As for food, expect to pay and pay a lot for a very small amount of food. Since we are both big eaters and don't like to pay an exorbinant amount for snacks at the airport, I've made a lunch bag to take with us for our 9 hour (barring any delays) trip.

Breakfast

Lemon Blueberry Loaf. I got my recipe from The Realistic Nutritionist. I have made it three times already and each time it is absolutely delicious. It's the perfect breakfast for on-the-go. I can place a couple of slices in a baggie and put that in my purse so it doesn't get crushed in my laptop bag.

Snack
Some Favorite Granola bars

I carry these with me wherever I go anyways in case we need a quick pick-me-up. They're perfect to throw into a purse or carry-on for a snack if you feel like it.  Ps....have you ever had a Mojo bar? They are absolutely amazing and delicious. They're definitely my favorite of all three of these bars.

Lunch
Apples and Peanut Butter. 

Honestly, I'm not sure if the peanut butter will make it through security. I'm taking it in a small Tupperware container, but we'll see if security lets me carry it through. I'm taking an apple corer/peeler with us to create slices of apple to dip in the peanut butter.

Cheese and Crackers. 

I bought some yummy cheeses from Trader Joe's last weekend. Dubliner Cheese and Smoked Gouda. I cut it into small slices to top Wheat Thins. Another option - especially if the peanut butter is confiscated - apple, cheese and Wheat Thins. Mmmm.

Sweets
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and Harbo Gummy Bears

The cookies offer an escape from the chocolate craving the gummy bears give you sweet with a chewy texture.

I figure we're saving about $16 by taking our food on the airplane with us. On the airline we're traveling, snack packs are approximately $8 each. Small containers of chips, nuts and candy are $4 each. This can add up fast. We will wait until we're on the plane to get coffee or juice, saving us another $10/each. Airplane coffee is no where near as good as Starbucks. Honestly, it's bad. The only redeaming factor to airplane coffee is that it is free. If we really need the caffeine, we can get soda. If we want juice, we can get that. If we want a Bloody Mary, we can get the Bloody Mary mix without alcohol. That will save us another $10. So, we're saving a total of $26 by taking our own snacks/food.

I thought about going through the costs of everything I bought to take on the trip with us, but then I realized the only thing I purchased specifically for this trip was the gummy bears. We had the cheese and crackers from a previous grocery trip, they are both something we eat daily. We stock apples and peanut butter when we go to BJ's. The cookies and blueberry loaf were made with ingredients we had in the house. I actually had a carton of blueberries in the fridge but normally I would just use frozen ones. I feel good about the items we are taking with us and think they will tide us over until we get to San Francisco and can find a good, filling meal when we get there.

When you travel, do you take snacks with you? Do you find air travel as ridiculous as I do these days?