On today’s show, Diane Sanfilippo and I ride around in our Uber mid-book tour to share our secrets for how to travel with less stress. .
We’re back with our 75th episode of the Fed+Fit Podcast! Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode and be sure to subscribe on iTunes!
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Episode 75 Links
- Fed & Fit / Practical Paleo Book Tour Stops HERE!
- Order a copy of Practical Paleo 2nd Edition HERE!
- Order a copy of the ‘Fed & Fit’ book HERE!
- Sign up for email notifications on the Fed & Fit Project HERE!
- More about TSA Pre-Check HERE.
- The Colloidal Silver I use HERE.
- The Magnesium Citrate HERE.
- Oregano Capsules HERE.
- More about Uber HERE.
Episode 75 Transcription
On today’s show, Diane Sanfilippo joins me while we’re riding around in an Uber mid book tour to talk about how to travel with less stress.
Cassy Joy: Welcome back to another episode of the Fed and Fit podcast! This is a unique recording {laughs} but you’ve got to do what it takes when you’re on the road. Diane and I are sitting here in the backseat of our wonderful Uber driver’s car in Chicago; we just landed!
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes we are. In some beautiful rush hour traffic.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} I think we’ve got a little ways before we get to our destination, so we figured we’d dial in, and now that we’re two weeks into this three week-long book signing tour, Diane for Practical Paleo second edition, which you can get in a hardcover or paperback; though we recommend the hardcover.
Diane Sanfilippo: We do.
Cassy Joy: {laughing} Pro tip; get the hardcover. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: It travels better.
Cassy Joy: It travels better, exactly. And then me, for my Fed and Fit book. So we’re really excited; we have a signing in Skokie today when this episode airs on Tuesday. And yeah, so it’s been a really fun trip. But a couple of weeks on the road, and you get pretty good at figuring out how to make travel less stressful. So that’s what we want to talk to you guys about today, is really how to make travel less stressful. There are some tips and tricks; Diane is definitely a seasoned veteran, and I’ve been a very coachable student. {laughs} in a lot of these tips, and it really has made a huge difference, some of these things we’re going to talk about today. Both general travel tips, and then also with regard to food and overall health. So let’s go ahead and get into it!
Alright. So our general tips to start off; first one we talk about is take Uber.
Diane Sanfilippo: Take Uber. Yeah. So a lot of times when you travel, you can rent a car and this is not sponsored, by the way.
Cassy Joy: No {laughs}.
Diane Sanfilippo: You can rent a car, but first of all sometimes renting a car is totally affordable, but sometimes it’s crazy expensive. It can be over $100 a day to rent a car, and if you just take an Uber a few times a day, you probably won’t spend that much. And also, I don’t know about everybody else, but if I get in a car in a new city, I don’t have my little holder for my phone in the car, and I’m trying to map around and just drive around and navigate the traffic and all of that; and it’s just so much easier to just go sit in a car, and someone else is going to drive, and you can check your map and see where you’re going and figure things out.
So, I love to just leave that to somebody else. Basically; oh, that’s my phone. Basically, you’re delegating. You’re delegating the driving, you know?
Cassy Joy: That’s true. I mean, it really is the concept; one way to destress in general is to delegate more tasks. Plus, you don’t have to worry about parking logistics.
Diane Sanfilippo: And being in traffic or worrying that; yeah, I just think driving in new cities can be really challenging in general.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm. Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve gotten lost many times.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: One time in Portland, I put Whole Foods into the map, and it apparently routed me; and this is like at 8 o’clock at night. It routed me to an office, and I was just trying to go to a Whole Foods grocery store.
Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh {laughs}.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I was like, well that didn’t go so well. {laughs}
Cassy Joy: Oh no. Ok, definitely Uber. Look into it, get it tied to whatever account you want, it just makes things really, really easy. It’s an app; if you’re brand new to this concept, it’s an app you download on your phone, and then make sure… A pro tip to using Uber is make sure you actually type in the address where you want to go or where you want to be picked up, instead of letting; because Uber will drop a pin, because it thinks it knows where you are.
Diane Sanfilippo: Never trust the pin.
Cassy Joy: Don’t trust the pin! We’ve been burned; I’ve been burned specifically.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think I didn’t tell you guys any of that.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Because I’m so used to standing outside my own home and watching it not have the right address, so I always type in the address or the specific hotel name; that will work fine too. But yeah, don’t trust the pin.
Cassy Joy: Don’t trust the pin, so type it in, save yourself a headache. And then maybe don’t Instagram when you’re being dropped off {laughs} because I was in the front seat when we were being dropped off at this one place, and I just had my head in my phone and we got out of the car and unloaded our stuff.
Diane Sanfilippo: We were at the wrong hotel.
Cassy Joy: And I was like, I don’t remember a revolving door. {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Oopsie!
Cassy Joy: Whoopsie.
Diane Sanfilippo: It all worked out.
Cassy Joy: It did. It did. So all that aside, though, Uber really is a way to reduce some stress. Ok, next up, one way to really expedite your time in the airport; because one of the biggest stressors of going to the airport is you’re worried about how long the security line is going to be, because it’s such a gamble. Depending on the size of the airport, or the time of the day; there’s a train going by.
Diane Sanfilippo: Is that the L? What is that? That’s the L.
Cassy Joy: It’s totally the L.
Diane Sanfilippo: Something.
Cassy Joy: Forrest Park. This is so fun. This is such an adventure.
Diane Sanfilippo: We’re traveling while recording the podcast on travel tips.
Cassy Joy: It’s kind of brilliant. {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: You’re welcome. {laughs}
Cassy Joy: Oh my gosh.
Diane Sanfilippo: Anybody need ideas, I got a lot of them.
Cassy Joy: Diane’s got the ideas. So, yeah airport security. One way to kind of help circumvent the stress of worrying about how long you’re going to be standing in that security line is to go ahead and apply for TSA precheck. From the outside looking in, it may seem kind of complicated, but it’s actually a pretty simple process.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: I think you apply online.
Diane Sanfilippo: So I did mine with Global Entry because we were doing some international travel, and when you get Global Entry, you automatically get TSA precheck. So that’s worth doing if you’re going to be; honestly, even if you’re going to do international travel once a year, because coming back into the country is so much faster, and that’s when you’re not in any mood to wait for an hour at the airport. You’re like, “my trip is over. I’m already upset that my trip is over, let’s not wait an hour in this line.”
Cassy Joy: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: So it goes much faster. But yeah, the TSA precheck is great. I would say for somebody who doesn’t travel a lot, if you’re going to look into TSA precheck, learn what the sort of, not rules, but learn what you don’t have to do anymore when you get in line because sometimes you’ll get thrown into the precheck line, and if you are not aware of what’s happening, you’re going to piss off everybody behind you.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} You don’t have to take your shoes off.
Diane Sanfilippo: You don’t take your shoes off, you don’t have to take your little bag of liquids out of your bag. You can’t carry; you have the same rules about what you can carry in, but you just don’t have to take it out separately. You don’t have to take your laptop out. Sometimes you don’t even have to take a jacket off, but you can ask.
Cassy Joy: It varies.
Diane Sanfilippo: Sometimes they’re a little more strict about it if they’ve got a mix of people in the line for some reason.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: But anyway. It definitely has saved us a lot of time. We had Moriah, who is on the trip with us, she got prechecked because we both already had it; and depending on what city you’re in, you can get it really quickly. San Francisco is not a good place to try and get things done quickly with travel because so many people travel there, that to get Global Entry we couldn’t even do it quickly in San Francisco, we had to; we went to Las Vegas to do it. Which was faster. But a lot of cities, you can get TSA precheck within probably a couple of weeks.
Cassy Joy: That’s about how long it took me.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: And the difference between TSA precheck and Global Entry I think is something like $15-20.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: It’s really minimal. So, to Diane’s point, if you are going to do any international travel, I recommend going for Global Entry. Plus I think, honestly, the registration process is even more simple than just a plain old TSA precheck.
Diane Sanfilippo: It was nothing. I mean, we just had to have certain paperwork and go in for an interview. You have to actually have a face to face.
Cassy Joy: Oh, yeah. And they last, what, 5 years? Does that sound right?
Diane Sanfilippo: I think so. Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, it’s a 5-year term. So that’s really nice. I highly recommend it, and what they do is they print it on your boarding pass and then you get to have at least a shorter line, and it’s a quicker process because you don’t have to take that stuff out or off.
Ok, next tip for general travel. This is one that I’ve learned the hard way, and Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: Is really, really good about this, and I’m forever sold on this one tip. But it’s to try; don’t take early flights. Don’t book yourself an early flight.
Diane Sanfilippo: Unless you absolutely have to for your schedule or you have to be somewhere or it’s the only flight available, or you are going internationally and it’s connecting and you don’t want to have a tight connection, that’s for sure if you’re traveling, especially internationally. But, I used to take an early flight, you know, a 7 a.m. flight, and somehow my brain would forget that meant you get to the airport at like 5:30, which means you’re awake at 4 a.m. which means you’re probably not sleeping the night before. So you’re kind of ruining that whole next day. But I would do it because I would see the price difference, either $50 or $100; usually not more than that.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Usually maybe up to $200 difference. But, look if you’re on a really strict budget, I mean I think if you’re on that strict of a budget, travel in general at that point, you’re going to blow your budget because traveling just will throw expenses into the mix that you don’t expect. So if the $100 is going to make or break you…
Cassy Joy: Don’t go.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, that’s.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: You know, incidental comes up, and something comes up. But honestly, it’s so much more stressful to travel and get to the airport for a 7 a.m. flight than it is for a 10, 11, 12 p.m. flight. Like 10 a.m., 11 a.m. And, the airport is less crowded after 10 a.m. So between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. is a really good time to travel just for a less crowded airport. And you know, we work for ourselves, so we can bring our laptop, and if you’re traveling, bring something to do. Bring something to read. Make it something where if there was something you were going to get done at home; maybe you were going to write something, just do whatever so you don’t feel like you’re wasting that time. That’s a big thing for me.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: If I feel like I’m stuck somewhere and I can’t get something done that I wanted to do, but I feel like if you bring that thing with you and you get it done, or you make a call you need to make or whatever it is. Every airport almost has free wifi now, so it’s no big deal.
Cassy Joy: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: But yeah, that’s been definitely a game changer. When we traveled for the Mediterranean Paleo Cooking tour, we had to go from Portland to Denver, and we had an event in the evening in Denver, and the only flight was like a 7 a.m. flight out of Portland. I just, for whatever reason, hadn’t checked the possible flights, so we were stuck with it, and we all had to get up. I forced like 5 other people to wake up at 4 in the morning for this flight because that was the plan that I made, and it was just painful. And sort of not necessary.
Cassy Joy: It is!
Diane Sanfilippo: So avoid it.
Cassy Joy: It is painful. Because I’m that same way; I look at the flights, the cost of the flights; and I’m look, oh, well the cheapest one is at 6 a.m. I’ll just go ahead and do that.
Diane Sanfilippo: And you think, “I’m always up at 6, no big deal.”
Cassy Joy: Exactly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Except you forget that {laughs} back that up a few hours, you know.
Cassy Joy: You have to back it up, you’ve got to get dressed, and inevitably; I tell myself, “I’ll just go to bed early.”
Diane Sanfilippo: Nope.
Cassy Joy: To make up for the time; and then I don’t.
Diane Sanfilippo: And then good luck sleeping well because you’re worried you’re going to miss your flight.
Cassy Joy: You’re worried you’re going to miss your flight.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s the worst.
Cassy Joy: It is. Exactly. I can’t tell you guys; I’ve never been a midday traveler before this trip, and it is night and day difference, the stress. The lack of stress related to the time travel. So that’s a big one.
Diane Sanfilippo: Plus then it gives you the buffer to get to the airport a little earlier, and we’ve been better about that the last few trips we’ve taken on this tour, and that feels better too, to just like sit, and pop your computer open at the airport instead of at home. You know? Either way.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Yep. Ok, next one. These next ones have to do with packing and kind of clothing related, but first we want to say it’s so tempting; I’m, both of us, I think are creative people, and so when I get dressed, I don’t always wear the same thing twice, because I will style it differently with a different scarf or a belt or something. So I like to get dressed in my closet; but I cannot pack that way because if I pack that way to just improvise every single day, I’m going to wind up bringing my closet, and it’s too much.
So our advice is to try on outfits before you go so you know what works well together, and it makes it that much easier to really assemble outfits during the day.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, 100%. I think you have to know a little bit about the weather, where you’re going.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: This tour we’ve been to some warmer places and some cooler places, but in the same kind of range in having a scarf or something to layer if it is going to be cold. But I think that’s really saved; we’re on the road, you’re on the road 3 weeks total.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve got 2, I was home, and one big bag and then a smaller bag, and you know, it’s really saved a lot of hassle.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And then also; ok this is a separate tip, or is this part of the same tip.
Cassy Joy: These can be separate.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Cassy Joy: Or, same tip. Same tip.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok; same tip. This is part of the same tip.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Is to pack shoes that can work with a lot of different outfits. We both actually have I think the same number of shoes; I might have one additional. So we both have tennis shoes; like gym shoes to work out in, we have slip on sneakers that we’ve been wearing a ton. Which are actually perfect for going through security if you don’t have TSA precheck because then you can slip them on really easily, and then we each have only 3 pairs of kind of dressy shoes for our outfits. And this, again, this is weeks that we’re on the road. I also have a pair of flip flops. Because I cannot handle my heels for more than about 2 hours, so I put those flip flops on. And also my feet tend to swell when I fly, so just having them as an option if my shoes are feeling too tight; I think having, you can pack a skinny little pair of flip flops in any bag. Put them in a Ziploc and put them in your purse. I think; I don’t know, traveling with flip flops is always a good idea to me.
Cassy Joy: That’s so smart. And I didn’t do that. I mean, I brought clunky little Birkenstock sandals.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Isn’t that cute!
Cassy Joy: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Birkenstock. You’re so cute.
Cassy Joy: But I think the flip flops is clutch, and when we were in San Francisco marching all over those hills with Diane, {laughs} she gave me a pair of flip flops to borrow while I was there. It really makes a huge difference. So that is a huge help. And I also want to add to this; as far as packing athletic ware; so Diane and I are doing a really good job of working out on a regular basis. Not every day because we do want to give our bodies some rest, but I didn’t bring 3 weeks’ worth of workout clothes. You know? What I had planned on doing was I brought maybe 10 days worth, maybe not even that much, and I just planned on washing them halfway through ,and that really helps pack lighter.
Now there’s a stress added to that because you’ve got to figure out where you’re going to wash it. If you’ve got a friend’s house that’s kind of midway through, that’s what I did with some friends in Boulder, but knowing that I didn’t have to bring all of that stuff, the weight of my bag wasn’t through the roof.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: It helped a lot.
Diane Sanfilippo: If you stay at a hotel that has, if it’s like a Residence Inn or something that has an extended stay type feel to it, most of them have laundry services there. So you can do a load of laundry and get that done. And I think packing exercise pants that are dual purpose. So I’ll try; I have pink pants on today.
Cassy Joy: They’re so cute!
Diane Sanfilippo: I have a couple of pairs that are brighter and wilder colors, but I have a couple of pairs that I can wear for travel a couple of times, and then I could work out in them too.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, once I work out in them, they’re done.
Cassy Joy: They’re done. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: They’re done! So, but I also did one day I washed a pair in the sink with some shampoo and I knew we had; we weren’t leaving the next morning, I had an extra whole day to let them dry just hanging up and they dried out pretty quickly. Because that’s the nice thing about exercise clothes.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: They’re made to dry kind of quickly. So yeah.
Cassy Joy: That’s a really good tip.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think I only have maybe; only 5 or 6 pairs.
Cassy Joy: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Of athletic pants.
Cassy Joy: I mean, that’s enough. Yeah, if you can give them a quick wash. Ok, so now rolling into kind of food and health. We want to talk about; this is an interesting topic, and nobody does this better than Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, great, what is it? {laughs}
Cassy Joy: It’s the concept of what kind of food; if you’re going to go on a longer flight, you probably want to pack some snacks, or if you’re going to traveling all day, maybe you’ve got a layover. You don’t know what kind of the food situation is going to be at the airport, so it’s a good idea to bring some healthy snacks that could help supplement or replace a meal. And nobody packs snacks better than Diane Sanfilippo. She is a master at it. So I would love to pick her brain on what kinds of food you can bring on a plane.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, ok. I can tell you what’s in our snack bag that we just started snacking on. I think a lot of people don’t realize that you can absolutely bring food on an airplane. What you can’t bring are liquids over 3 ounces or 3.5 actually, I don’t remember exactly. But go with 3. Do you think it’s 4? 3.4? 3.4 is such a BS number.
Cassy Joy: It’s such a really weird number.
Diane Sanfilippo: Really, TSA?
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Really? Ok. I digress.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: But if you’re concerned about the liquids you can use a really small 1 or 2 ounce jar that they’ll know by looking at it that it’s under 3.4, and I’ve definitely taken olive oil and salad dressing; some things like that in really small containers. And you’ll be fine. Definitely use a jar that will seal well; don’t put it in something rinky dink that’s going to bust all over everything. But, you can bring a little lunch pack, and you can bring any solid food with you.
So, sometimes people try and bring guacamole, and it’s too much guacamole; like, you have to have a smaller portion of it if it’s liquid or a gel-type or pudding-type or guacamole texture; something that has a liquidy texture. For example, we had some leftover hummus from yesterday, and I was like, I’m just going to ditch it, because it’s too liquidy. I probably could have taken it, it wasn’t that much, but it’s going to set off the thing and I’m just not going to stop and deal with it. But any food you want to bring.
If you want to bring stuff that you’re not worried about it spoiling or being kind of off, then stuff that I love, which I can; sound effects, pull right out of my bag and tell you what’s in my bag. I love doing cured meats, because most of them, even if they’re sold cold, they’re basically precooked and they will hold really well. So we’ve got some salami here that we had packed; and we did buy that from the refrigerated section, but sometimes you can even buy salamis and pepperonis and things like that, they’re not even cold. So you’re fine to bring that.
We’ve got some dried fruit here. I had some leftover Jackson’s chips; what else do I have? Some Epic bar type things. I’ve got some Bubba snacks. I’ve got some dark chocolate, some olives, and I’ve got some carrots and snap peas in here from before. But I basically just bring whatever we were eating, so if I’m home, if I’ve got leftovers, I’ve got like a chicken thigh and some hardboiled eggs. I don’t; I’m not discriminating against foods; like, oh well I’m flying so I can’t bring that. No, I bring what I want to eat. Whatever it is, whatever the thing is. So, that’s it. We packed up these snacks, and I throw them in my carry on, and that’s about it.
Cassy Joy: It makes a big difference too, because for example, we have a really long ride right now into town, and brunch was a long time ago.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: And, it just, it makes us feel less stress when you’re not starving and thinking about when your next meal is going to be.
Diane Sanfilippo: But I don’t do; I mean these are kind of snacky foods, but for me most of the time I’m not doing stuff that’s very specifically snacky. Like, we’re doing; I might have turkey or salami or roast beef, or something that’s a protein and then the dried fruit or whatever it is. But it’s not always Epic bars and things like that. I do have some of that, but I know people always ask about specifically snack foods, and I just bring whatever food. Whatever it is.
Cassy Joy: Yep. That makes a lot of sense. And I have; I mean, I tolerate nuts well so in case of emergency I do have an Rx bar, a couple of them in my bag, but that’s just because they travel well and I know I can forget about them and they’re going to be fine in there.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: So that’s kind of;
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, those can get smushed in your purse and they’re the same texture.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, they’re the same. Exactly the same.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Ok awesome. So the next food/health related tip that we have to make travel less stressful for you is, if you can, as soon as you get to a spot, a city, a destination; try to go to a grocery store. Make it either your first or your second stop; maybe after your hotel to drop bags. Because it allows you to; we tend to not drink enough water when we travel, and I think that, for me, it’s a good way to hold myself accountable. I go get some big jugs of water, and I know that I need to drink two or three of them.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} We were chugging right before our security.
Cassy Joy: Sometimes, we’re playing catch-up at the last minute {laughs}. But we get our water in and it’s a really good way to hold ourselves accountable to hydrate. So we’ve been going to Whole Foods, we’ve been getting waters. I’ve been grabbing a not sweet green juice, so by not sweet I mean, I look at the label and I try to not choose anything that has fruit in it aside from lemon or lime. So, I’m looking for kale, collards, broccoli is fine for me.
Diane Sanfilippo: What was the one that we found; was it Evolution Fresh?
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And it’s not sweet, the only; I think that one, the one we just found, either lemon or lime. I think there’s one that has both, and it’s all greens otherwise.
Cassy Joy: Yeah. And it was great!
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, that was a good one. And it wasn’t; I didn’t think it wasn’t sweet enough to drink.
Cassy Joy: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, I don’t need juices to be super sweet, but I also don’t want it to not have any palatability, I guess.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: But yeah, it was good.
Cassy Joy: it was not painful to drink.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes! Even with the parsley in it.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} But it’s good. And I kind of like it because, when you’re traveling, again I’m not eating as many salads or fresh greens as I am when I’m at home, and it just kind of helps me check the little micronutrient box in my mind.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: For just a hot minute. Plus it’s hydrating. So things like that. We’ve also been grabbing snacky vegetables; restocking the salami stash or the fruit stash, and then I’ve been getting; I like these sheep’s milk yogurt. They tolerate them pretty well compared to cow’s dairy.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve been doing the same, but the goat milk ones, Redwood Hill I think?
Cassy Joy: Uh-huh. Yeah, I think that’s right.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: And those are really great. And this will roll into; oh, if we didn’t already talk about it. When you make a reservation for a hotel room, it’s a good idea to actually request a refrigerator when you make that reservation, because a lot of hotels will have them by request. They actually I think they have to.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, all hotels will have refrigerators because they need to for medical reasons, so folks who take insulin, for example, they have to refrigerate that stuff. So I think; I don’t know if it’s a law for them, but they have them. I mean, that’s their business, hospitality. But some hotels have them in every room now; it’s more and more common, just at least a really small one. And some hotels have a limited number, so you want to put it, if you reserve online just put it in your reservation online, or even call and just say; hey, I need to have a mini fridge. You can say you have food allergies and you need to travel with food so you have to have one.
I think it’s just best to make sure that that’s done before you check in, even, if this is really important to you. Or you can book a hotel, like we’ve been doing in a lot of places, that has an efficiency. It either has a refrigerator and a little cook top, or it’s got something that can make it a little bit more like home.
Cassy Joy: Totally. And that’s made a big difference for us, as well. If we are staying at a hotel that has a little cook top, when we go to the grocery store when we get into town, we’ve been picking up groceries to make ourselves breakfast. And I can’t tell you how good it feels to have a home cooked meal.
Diane Sanfilippo: That saves stress too because, you know, it takes way less time to just cook something up quickly than it would to find a restaurant, go there, maybe not get something that even feels that great to eat anyway, and you can have the whole thing done, cooking and eating in 30 minutes. And that’s the time too to grab those 6 packs of eggs, for example, instead of the full dozen, or whatever.
And sometimes that’s not practical if you’re somewhere for just one night, places we’ve been especially for two nights, that’s worked out really well I think. But we could do it if we were somewhere for one night, too.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: But yeah, that works out pretty well.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, that worked out really well. And the yogurts are really just to have a nice, fresh, not dry snack in case we are; sometimes we have a mid-day, like a mid-morning meal and then like a mid-afternoon meal, and we get back from a signing and we’re hungry, so something like a yogurt is really nice then.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Ok, next. As far as going eating out; Diane is also excellent at this.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: {laughs} She’s just a pro!
Diane Sanfilippo: Give yourself 8 more years.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} She gets A-plus-pluses across the board.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s just being older.
Cassy Joy: I give her a 10! So she’s great at scoping out restaurants ahead of time. So before we even land. We were on our last flight {laughs} and Diane; and it makes a huge difference. That’s why I’m bringing it up. Because we’re not here, flying by the seat of our pants thinking; oh gosh! What are we going to eat for dinner? Where do we think is busy?
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm. I mean, all we think about is food anyways, so while we’re eating breakfast we’re usually thinking about lunch and dinner. I mean, that’s just life. But, yeah. I like to have something planned. I’d rather have something in my purse and not eat it. I’d rather have a reservation and have to cancel it than be stuck and not know where we’re going; especially if we have a time crunch. We’ve got a signing at 7; we’re going to be the early bird dinner at 5:15, so that we know we have something. And if something else were to pique our interest and we decided we wanted to do something else, cool, we can cancel the reservation. But this way we have something we know we can eat, it’s going to be healthy, easy to go. I think we made a sushi reservation.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, we’ll buy some coconut aminos when we go to Whole Foods, and we’ll put that in our purse.
Cassy Joy: Yeah. It will be great. And it also kind of holds us accountable to a timeline, which makes I think me feel a lot better. Because we joke about this, but however much time I have, I’m going to take it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} So, it’s nice having something scheduled before a really important event. And you can research on Yelp or Open Table reviews of restaurants. If you’re trying to find some place; and I talk about this a lot. I’ve talked about it in other podcasts; eating out, and I have a #CassyJoyEatsOut on Instagram, and also put together a free eBook. If you’re not already on my newsletter, when you sign up to join my newsletter at https://fedandfit.com you get it as a free download. It just gives you tips at 5 restaurants on things to order and kind of menu hack. And Diane’s got a lot of that in Practical Paleo second edition, as well.
But Yelp is really my best friend in that regard, because you can search by maybe gluten free friendly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. We don’t usually; I don’t usually search “paleo”, because it’s just too specific. But I’ll look for farm to table, I’ll look for organic, I’ll look for gluten free, and once you find those you tend to find places that are really easy to; look, if you just want to do gluten free, which is what we do most of the time because we’ll include something like rice and not worry too much about it. But finding those places; it also depends on what kind of meal you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a nice sit down dinner, then looking at farm to table. Just searching farm to table you’ll find something really nice. Almost every city has something. But a lot of places you can find a grass fed burger, and it’s pretty easy to find. You just have to do a little searching.
Cassy Joy: Just do a little leg work. The answers are out there.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm. While you’re in your Uber, you can just be searching!
Cassy Joy: Totally! {laughs} Ok, so we have three more for you. One of them is, I think this really helps reduce stress, is to plan to work out while you’re on the road. So it’s not the question of am I going to work out or not? That’s a stressful question to me. Is the question of, well am I going to have time to work out. I just plan on it, so that that question is eliminated. And then come prepared with workouts that you can easily do in a hotel room or in a hotel gym.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. You’ve been sharing a lot of them. I know Juli has travel workouts on her blog a lot. I have been doing workouts with you, and some of them I have from my trainer who I asked before I go, can you give me some hotel friendly workouts. I think it’s great to have some that are only body weight, because look, you could be in a hotel where either there isn’t a gym or you don’t want to be in it, or there’s not much equipment in there or it’s being used. And this way you have something that you’re ready to do; or I think you can pretty much always count on a hotel gym having a treadmill and dumbbells. That’s kind of the baseline; they’re pretty much all going to have that. Possibly a bike, possibly an elliptical machine. Usually a bench; now we’re building up a little. But a bench and just the dumbbells; those are kind of the basics.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I really think that not just saying, “I’m going to work out.” But being like, here’s the workout I’m going to do, here it is written down, I’m just going to get it done. Don’t plan to do a 45 minute to an hour workout when you’re traveling. Go from anywhere from 15 or 20 up to 30 minutes, and do more if you have time but don’t make that the plan because then you’re easily going to say, I don’t have time for it.
Cassy Joy: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: But if it’s 20 minutes, you leave your room, the whole thing is 30 minutes start to finish from when you leave your room. We’ve also been doing this most of the time first thing in the morning.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: We had one day where I did like a media appearance early and they waited for me; Juli and Cassy waited for me and we did an afternoon workout, which kicked my butt but I had a lot of burpees.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: But most of the time it’s been first thing in the morning, we’ll have some coffee and then we’ll work out, and then that’s it. No big deal. And workouts on the road don’t have to be; you’re not looking for PRs, you’re not looking for, you know, lung burners. You’re not looking to win any awards with these workouts, you’re just looking to stay active, to feel really good to start your day, and to not go home feeling like you don’t want to start working out again. Because if you’re on the road for a week or two; this is three weeks away from home for both of us.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I did stop home for two nights, but we all know what it’s like to get injured and then not want to go back to the gym, because it’s so hard to start up again.
Cassy Joy: It is.
Diane Sanfilippo: So if you are traveling and you let that happen; I feel like I’m still ready to go workout. I mean, we did a Crossfit workout yesterday, so that was..
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: So today we were off. And Moriah and I took a walk this morning instead, just to; I got my Fitbit, I’m going to get my steps. But yeah, I think that has really; that was something that we talked about before we were traveling. I said, I really want to make sure that we’re working out; hold me accountable. Don’t let me have too many treats, and we’ve done it. I feel great on this trip.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, I do too!
Diane Sanfilippo: Despite how hectic it’s been.
Cassy Joy: It’s been hectic, but it feels like real life on the road.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: Because we’re working out, we’re eating well. Yeah, I totally agree. And I was joking yesterday at that Crossfit gym; I was like, I just want a star for showing up. I’m not here to win anything. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: And it really, to Diane’s point, that’s the mindset that works for me in those scenarios; I’m not in it to win it, I’m just in it to go through the motions. Because there’s a whole lot to just going through the motions.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: There’s a lot of benefit.
Diane Sanfilippo: Showing up.
Cassy Joy: Exactly, just show up. Ok, and then the last couple is one to put a priority on sleep; and remember that it’s ok…
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m failing on that one.
Cassy Joy: I know {laughs} well it’s hard. It’s hard. But we’re keeping it as a focus, and we’re trying.
Diane Sanfilippo: I feel like because we’ve done everything else so well, my lack of sleep hasn’t hit me that badly.
Cassy Joy: There you go.
Diane Sanfilippo: Which is pretty good. It’s not been as great as it could be, but I don’t feel like I’m struggling from that, because I think we’re not eating junk, we’re not just lying around and we have been really active and eating well.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, that is helping.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, that’s good. I think, for example; I mean, I went against this rule last night. I hung out with my friends in boulder, and they dropped me off at the hotel at midnight, which is way later than I…
Diane Sanfilippo: Cassy!
Cassy Joy: {laughs} I know!
Diane Sanfilippo: Past your curfew!
Cassy Joy: I broke curfew! That’s probably later than I really wanted to be out. I rationalized it because I never see these guys; but.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, that’s important.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, it was important for me to do it. But that’s an example of, if you’re out with folks every single night, maybe put a priority to say, you know what, I really am going to try to be back at my hotel room at 9 p.m.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: So I can unwind for an hour and then go to bed by 10.
Diane Sanfilippo: And to that point, we really have not had alcohol much at all on this trip.
Cassy Joy: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: Each of us maybe once or twice at a couple of meals, and if you’re doing grueling travel like this; this isn’t vacation.
Cassy Joy: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: We can’t expect to show up and be our best; it’s just a semi, don’t worry, it’s just driving by beeping.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: We can’t really be our best. Because I felt hangover a few days where, I mean I didn’t have anything to drink.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: Just that tired, travel weary feeling. And I think a lot of folks see travel as a time to; well, I’m traveling. And I think it’s really different when you’re on vacation versus traveling and working, and that’s a lesson I’ve learned. I’ve toured so many times now, that I had to realize and remember that for me traveling is not vacation.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And a lot of people travel for work a lot, and I think people use it as a reason and an excuse to not stay on whatever their plan was at home; but if that’s a lot of your time, then you’re spending more time, or equal time off track as you are on track, and that’s not really what we actually wanted to be doing.
Cassy Joy: Totally.
Diane Sanfilippo: You just don’t realize it because you’re out of your element, you know.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm. Totally, that’s a really good point. Ok, and the last one, just kind of briefly touch on it; this is one of those topics where, to each his own. So choose and do your own research and choose what’s right for you, but some supplements that both of us I think have brought on the road; and some of them are supplements, some of them are just herbs. But just kind of help, again, reduce stress, maybe sleep better, and maybe help with immune support. Because that’s something that’s stressful to me; the thought of possibly getting sick.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know, yeah.
Cassy Joy: It stresses me out!
Diane Sanfilippo: Especially on all these airplanes, and you have people coughing everywhere, and it is not cute. {laughs}
Cassy Joy: It’s not cute. We can’t afford to get sick; nobody can afford to get sick.
Diane Sanfilippo: No.
Cassy Joy: So there’s things that we’re doing; colloidal silver. Google it if you’re unfamiliar with it. But I’ve brought that with me.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s so funny. We didn’t even; this we didn’t talk about.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: And I don’t know how it came up, we were just both talking about using it, I have it in my travel bag all the time.
Cassy Joy: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: I sometimes travel with oregano capsules or oregano oil; I know lots of people are into their oils. Oregano oil is great too. But here’s the thing about oregano oil; it has a very, very strong smell. And I’ve had some of it leak in the bag, and you’re whole bag smells like pizza.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: So, colloidal silver actually has no smell or taste. It’s really easy; I have a throat spray, I’ll do a few sprays in the back of the throat. Especially if I feel; sometimes it’s just that your throat is dry from travel, because it’s so dry. And for me; well, the reality is if your mucous membranes get dry, your immunity can be lowered because you’re immune cells are not going to be as active with dry mucous membranes. Which is why we get sick a lot in the winter; it’s just because things are dry.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So humidifiers are great for that. But while we’re traveling, I’ve been spraying that every couple of days or so. I just check in, see how my throat feels, and I may spray some of that. And knock on wood; healthy. You know, doing well.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, we’ve been doing good. Same. I’ve been taking the colloidal silver just as a preventative. I don’t do it at home.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I don’t either. Only if I think I’m getting sick at home.
Cassy Joy: Same.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t take it at home.
Cassy Joy: But here I’m just trying to be hyper vigilant. And then the last one is magnesium citrate. So I brought one, for example, that’s powdered form. I think you can get it in little capsules; it might have some extra ingredients in it. But that’s been really beneficial for me because it helps calm me down at night if I’m having trouble unwinding after maybe a signing or an event; we get so wound up, because it’s so energizing.
Diane Sanfilippo: We get wound up.
Cassy Joy: Yeah. {laughs} So that kind of helps; it’s naturally calming magnesium is so that really helps me settle in at night. So think about that. Those are just kind of some of the things that I’ve had in my bag.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think that’s pretty much it.
Cassy Joy: Awesome! Well thank you guys for joining me; Diane, thanks for helping me. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I just was sitting here in the Uber, and figured we’d should have a little chat and record it.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like you’re sitting in the back of the car with your friends.
Cassy Joy: I know; it’s so fun! In case anyone is wondering, we are now; we made it to downtown Chicago.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, just like that.
Cassy Joy: Just like that! {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: We didn’t even have to pay attention.
Cassy Joy: No. {laughs} It’s been awesome. Uber really helped me destress.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think we need to call Uber for a little sponsorship here for this podcast.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Our driver agrees.
Cassy Joy: Our driver agrees. {laughing} Oh gosh. Ok well thanks again for joining us on the show; remember we’ll have show notes, a full list of everything, and I’ll provide links to some of the stuff we talked about there as well, including of course myself and Diane’s book in case you’re curious and this is the first you’ve heard of it. And we’ll be in New Jersey and Austin after we’re in Chicago, so I’ll have the dates of those listed there as well. Thanks for joining; we’ll be back again next week.
