Planning for Travel 101

Preparing to leave on a trip can be both exhilarating and anxiety producing. I am traveling with fellow macro KO and our styles are similar to the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, me being the hare and he being the tortoise. A week ago I came with my lists ready in my hand and presented him with the mother of all suitcases for us to share. He looked at me quizzically, as if to say "Is it already 2 am the night before the flight?" ( Is this a guy thing?) Since I am a person who makes the proverbial bed when someone gets up to go to the bathroom and KO never sees a need to make the bed at all, you can realize the challenges this might present. KO smiled and said, "Put everything you want to take here, next to the suitcase, and leave it to me." Since I remembered that he packed his entire week for the Holistic Holiday at Sea in a medium backpack, I felt the pressure to downsize. I reluctantly put half the stuff I thought I needed back into the drawer and called him over. Well, if there were a prize for Super Duper Packer Extraordinaire, KO would win it hands down! He fit all our things for 15 days into two carry-ons! It was like watching a slight of hand magician as he gently smoothed the garments, coaxing them to lay comfortably together in a space sardines squeezed into a can would find cramped. Then he asked, "Why are our suitcases packed and in the car trunk four days before we leave?" Only I know the answer to that one and it is the same reason that we have all our train tickets, hotel reservations, restaurant destinations and contacts in a color coded folder tucked neatly into my backpack! Other crucial preparations include clueing my 22 year old daughter in on the culinary needs of my adorable cat Mitzi and my plethora of thirsty plants. I have created a colorful calendar for her detailing the days and amounts needed to provide them with sustenance in my absence. Hopefully I will not return to an overflowing litter box teaming with, well you know what, and Mitzi laying listless with her tongue hanging out because she did not get her preferred organic canned food on time, which she just licks the liquid out of anyway. I am certain Ari (the 22 year old) will do these tasks after she finishes watching the Kardashian clan and Diners, Dives and Donuts, making her already beautiful hair more beautiful, creating lavish recipes she finds on food gawker, texting her friends, and throwing a big raucous drinking party in my absence. I am just kidding about the last one, I hope! Heading to the kitchen at 7 am this morning, I set my soaked rice to boiling and wrapped up the delectable fruit and nut bars I made last night. Stuck at Dulles airport on Monday night, while my friend's flight was delayed from Turkey, where she just barely avoided being sucked into the unrest, I noticed finding snacks at the airport was like trying to secure a Christian match on J Date. I ended up buying the nut bars offered by Starbucks but that just made me thirsty and more hungry, probably their intent so I would lust after one of those double chocolate chip with caramel macchiato frappacino drinks they are pushing. (Did you know Tom Hanks lost 30 pounds just cutting those drinks out for a year?) Plus they cost a pretty penny and are made with honey. So I thought, "I can make a better product with organic nuts, fruits and brown rice syrup, which as every good Macro knows, is less glycemic than sticky honey or, the devil incarnate, sugar. Here is the yummy recipe for all of you. 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, 1 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 raw walnuts, 2 cups rolled oats, 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds, sliced small organic dried apricots, sliced small organic cherries, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1/2 cup brown rice syrup or more if you want it sweeter, 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 cup of currants. Mix the dry ingredients. Stir in the wet ingredients. Pat into a pan with sides and bake at 250 for 45 minutes. Let cool in frig and cut into bars. I am also bringing a bunch of rice balls with ume plums nestled in the center, which keep for several days without refrigeration. Healthy snacks will keep us from careening head first off the wagon and grabbing our drugs of choice. Mine are baked flour in the guise of cookies, brownies and cakes, which as we all know, and Warren K has reminded us more times than I care to remember, are verboten for some conditions. KO's temptations are crispy salty kettle chips and sugary nuts from Fresh Market. I must admit I am prone to indulge in those as well especially when there is nothing else around. As travel is yang and chips and baked flour are yang, these are just the temptations we will be craving and will hurt us, if we do not offer ourselves alternatives. Finally, my goals for this blog are to create a global community of people who are interested in making healthy choices, whether at home or away from home. I want to feel like I can just ring someone up (showing my age here), or email them and meet up in London or Paris or anywhere to share a meal and chat about our lives. I began this goal with the creation of Macrotravelfriends on facebook, potlucks and bulletin boards at Summer Conference for emails. Connection is what is missing in our modern world and I hope in my small way, in our community, I can affect a change. In addition, I am striving to demystify traveling so even if you find it a chore to organize or afford a vacation now, I hope to demonstrate that it does not have to break the bank to get away from home and experience the world. My other challenge will be to open myself up to chance and not over plan every single second of the trip so that there is room for the impromptu discovery of a hidden gem that is not in a Rick Steves book. Thanks for following me on this journey. Next post LONDON.