Last week I was on a business trip to Glasgow, Scotland. I had meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I flew out early and stayed late in order to do some sightseeing while in Glasgow. Anyways, let me give you the timeline of the past month. The week after I got back from Jamaica, one of the engineers that I work with suggested that I go with him to Glasgow for a meeting. He had seen my comments/questions on one of the sets of documents and thought it would be beneficial for me to go talk to our vendor in person. Early the next week (Jan 15) I sent in my travel authorization request form and waited to see if it would get approved, though I was not expecting that it would.
On the afternoon of Monday, January 28th, my supervisor told me that my travel authorization was going to be approved. By mid-morning on Tuesday, I got the official approved travel authorization saying that I would leave on Sunday, Feb 3, and return on Thursday, Feb 7. My company's travel agent started getting my travel plans made, but on Wednesday afternoon, one of the women handling my trip arrangements asked why I wasn't extending my trip to do sightseeing. So, I asked if I could extend the trip, leaving on Friday, Feb 1, and return on Saturday, Feb 9, and of course paying for myself on those days that I had extended the trip. On Thursday morning, the travel agent booked the flights and made hotel reservations for me. On Thursday afternoon, the updated travel authorization was approved.
On Friday afternoon, I got on a flight to Heathrow. My company has a policy that if your flight is more than 10 hours long, you fly business class. Fortunately, my flight time was close to 12 hours total. What this means, is that I got to sit in the British Airways lounge before my first flight (which comes equipped with chips, cookies, small sandwiches, beer, wine, and other spirits and mixers). This also means that my seat on the plane was one of those flat bed types. It was AWESOME! I was seated toward the center of the plane and my seat faced backward. The aisle seats faced forward and the window and center seats faced backward, which means that I actually had a seat buddy. He was originally from Amsterdam and was very interesting to talk to. And boy was he a talker! We talked for about 5 hours about engineering and shipping before I finally said that I needed to get some sleep. After less than two hours of sleep I was awake again, though I managed to sleep through breakfast.
Saturday morning UK time, I arrived in London, rushed through customs, and hopped on a plane to Glasgow. Another benefit of traveling business class is that you get to use the Fast Track lane. I landed in Glasgow around 10:20 am (6:20 am CST), and headed off to my first hotel, the Millennium Hotel, located on George Square (toward the center of town).
One thing that wasn't so great about traveling business class though is that it was difficult to stay Paleo. The foods that were available in the lounge at the airport were primarily breads and pastas, though they did have some celery and carrots that I managed to get (the gentlemen sitting in a chair across from me commented on how I made him feel bad about his food choices because he went for the pastas and cookies, while I chowed down on "rabbit food"). Also, the food on the plane came with bread, creamy sauces, and cheese. I ate around these non-Paleo choices as much as I could, but I can guarantee you that the oils that they used for cooking were not Paleo. Also, when you're traveling and tired, it's very difficult to have the will power to make those healthy food choices.
So, what I recommend for you travelers out there, is to come prepared with snacks (I had mixed up a Ziploc bag of pistachios, coconut flakes, raw cashews, raw almonds, and walnuts to hold off my food cravings). Also, if you're traveling on a flight where you will be served a meal, get onto the airline's website and see if you can request a special meal. British Airways does have options for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, Muslim, etc. meals, though for this particular flight, I did not have the option to order a gluten-free meal. Staying Paleo while traveling is all about being prepared. It's tough though, and I admit that I didn't stay strong for the entire time I was in Scotland, but that will come later...
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