travelling sucks

[+ Alabastrine]

middle of nowhere workaholic blues.... Nothing is open past 6pm, having to get dinner at convenience shops at gas stations. I'd love some cheese with my whine, but the gas station only carries pray cheese in a can and that doesn't count. 

[mike carey]

4 minutes ago, Alabastrine said:

middle of nowhere workaholic blues.... Nothing is open past 6pm, having to get dinner at convenience shops at gas stations. I'd love some cheese with my whine, but the gas station only carries pray cheese in a can and that doesn't count. 

It does suck indeed, I've been there once or twice. Any resemblance to food is purely coincidental. Sometimes those places will have some sandwiches which are meh but better than having nothing but a packet of chips. Spray cheese can be made sort-of palatable, but that would need something like celery sticks to spray it into, and those sorts of places sure as hell won't have that!

[+ Alabastrine]

yeah anything green is hard to find this late. In lieu of celery- which is a good idea - I wish I'd thought of pretzels when I walked by the cans of spray cheese... that might have gotten me by for the night. 

[+ Pensant]

Sounds ghastly.

[+ muscleboyinsd]

On 5/12/2025 at 10:05 PM, Alabastrine said:

middle of nowhere workaholic blues.... Nothing is open past 6pm, having to get dinner at convenience shops at gas stations. I'd love some cheese with my whine, but the gas station only carries pray cheese in a can and that doesn't count. 

I used to travel a lot for work...  places I thought of as "middle of nowhere".  But I could usually find a Chili's or something similar. 

So you must really have been in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

[Rod Hagen]

I get this sometimes when I travel and want to see something significant, but far.  You have the next day planned, but between check in and check out...nothing.  NO food.  Anywhere.  Grocery closes at 8 (7?!).  Too dark to walk around.  Cheese sandwich and night night.  I sympathize and empathize.

[dbar123]

When I travel to weird places I tend to bring a few protein bars, dried fruit and tea bags. If I’m driving, I keep a small frig in the car and bring sandwiches. 

[+ Alabastrine]

On 5/18/2025 at 10:23 AM, muscleboyinsd said:

I used to travel a lot for work...  places I thought of as "middle of nowhere".  But I could usually find a Chili's or something similar. 

So you must really have been in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

it's very close to being nowhere, there are one or two fast food chains that are open until 9 or 10pm unless I drive out a bit, but only one one of them is what I'd call "decent". There is a pizza place open until midnight but I wouldn't call it "pizza" (more like generic cheese and something resembling tomato paste on a thin cracker) so I'll pass. If it's a late evening flight I'm expecting to go to bed hungry. Business travel isn't very exciting, it's kind of overrated. 

[+ Alabastrine]

10 hours ago, dbar123 said:

When I travel to weird places I tend to bring a few protein bars, dried fruit and tea bags. If I’m driving, I keep a small frig in the car and bring sandwiches. 

Beef jerky helps, I usually have a bag of it on me, unfortunately I ate most of it on the plane. I should probably get one of those costco-sized bags next time. 

[+ nycman]

I had a friend that always travelled with a jar of expensive canned tuna and crackers for just such an occasion. It saved me more than a few times over the decades. 

[+ Alabastrine]

That's a really good option, I would have never thought of that. Thank you @nycman!

Edited May 20 by Alabastrine

[+ Jamie21]

When I traveled I sometimes ordered in from an online portal called Grindr. It sometimes served up something tasty and protein enriched. 

[Rudynate]

We've gone on quite a few road tips in remote areas of the southwestern US.  You encounter that predicament a lot.  We learned to plan for it.

[Danny-Darko]

For years now I have travel with food in my carry-ons being diabetic and knowing domestic carriers don't adequately feed passengers now in any class of service. Usually nuts, maybe a small bag of some sort of healthy chips and a few sandwiches from the supermarket deli that come sealed in plastic, so they last hours in or out of refrigeration and come with their own condiments separately packed. Recently I had to travel back to the Midwest for a family event and met up siblings at the airport each of us arriving on separate flights. We were going to have  late check-ins, so I knew nothing would be open that late in that small town. Hotel room came with a small fridge and a coffee makers. So I was able to have a nice sandwich and a cup of decaf before going to bed and still had another sandwich I put in the fridge for backup if I needed it at some point. That has always worked fine for me since I first thought of doing so years ago. Plus picking up a few extra snacks from on board the plane and taking them with me has always served me well and rarely have had to use my glucose tablets if my blood sugar drops.  

[marylander1940]

On 5/13/2025 at 1:05 AM, Alabastrine said:

middle of nowhere workaholic blues.... Nothing is open past 6pm, having to get dinner at convenience shops at gas stations. I'd love some cheese with my whine, but the gas station only carries pray cheese in a can and that doesn't count. 

(if available) don't go for the gas station sushi....

 

 

[marylander1940]

a must have for all business travelers (including providers) with uncertain/busy schedules.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

This thread makes me thankful I'm a very frequent traveler who hits mostly major metros and doesn't have to endure long car travel. 

[Becket]

I'll have to try that new pray cheese.

[+ Just Chuck]

I spend a lot of time in small remote towns for work too.  When I'm lucky, they are big enough to have a Subway sandwich shop.  

The fact that little towns have minimal hotel options makes it worse.  I really like to stay in hotels where my room has both a refrigerator and a microwave.  But often, small town hotel rooms only have a bed and a shower.  

I try to do a little google research on the town before I go so I can pre-plan where to find food and when restaurants and grocers open and close.

Going by car helps.  I can pack groceries, a cooler, and even something to heat food with if I drive myself.  

 

[ShortCutie7]

18 minutes ago, Just Chuck said:

 

I try to do a little google research on the town before I go so I can pre-plan where to find food and when restaurants and grocers open and close.

Going by car helps.  I can pack groceries, a cooler, and even something to heat food with if I drive myself.  

Yes, advance research (including hours of operation) is key!  I used to go on road trips with relatives, and my aunt was an expert at this sort of planning- she would do a lot of research and find specific restaurants en route to our destination to eat lunch and dinner, and then would plan the “travel day” around getting to these specific restaurants at an appropriate time to eat these meals.