Taking the Low Road

Be okay with packing your own lunches and snacks.

Like Tip #2, this one’s kitchen-centric. Since, when we home-exchange, we have a fully equipped and well stocked kitchen (after we patronize the local grocer), it stands to reason that we should pack our lunches and snacks. It’s a no-brainer. It can be exactly what we like, and it’s quick . . . unlike waiting in the queue at the only kiosk outside Castle —– along with a tour bus of 60 European tourists. You’re wasting valuable time. The food is even more overpriced than at restaurants because the kiosk vendor knows he has a captive audience, and it’s usually pretty awful – not to mention skimpy. If you’re like me, you may begin to wilt from low blood sugar during the long wait. If you have diabetes or any other health issue (like my hypoglycemia) which makes it imperative that you eat at certain times, eat certain types of food, or avoid certain foods (I also have celiac), then preparing a sack lunch begins to look more and more sensible.

Ditto for snacks. We usually make sure we’ve eaten just before beginning a tour, snack between it and the next place, and have another snack before the hair-raising drive “home.” You’d be surprised how carrying your own food with you and maintaining a steady blood sugar level can keep you sharp, energized, and fully engaged on your long-awaiting trip.

A quick explore through our exchangers’ kitchens has always yielded a thermos for coffee or tea. We bring our own heavy-duty plastic cutlery, space “blanket” (compact, 4 oz., metalized polyester often sold for camping emergencies) for picnics, collapsible plastic cups, and liquid hand sanitizer. (After we almost lost an exchange family’s fork, we decided not to take that sort of stuff out of an exchange home again!) We throw this stuff and our foodstuffs into one of our daypacks, and off we go – with no pricey food to scope out and buy during the entire time we’re out touring that day.