Travel to Australia Part II

[Joefnh]

Well folks I am going down under once again in about 10 weeks time. I will be traveling to Brisbane on personal business and staying for about 2 weeks. I have just setup my itinerary and will be departing on Sunday April 17th and returning on the 30th.

The reason I am posting this a bit early is to start a dialog about trip preparations and travel techniques. The last trip in August went well and for this trip I would like to look at the foods that I can carry as the total transit time is about 32 hours and the distance is 27,020 miles (43,485 km) Interestingly Brisbane is within 100 miles of the exact opposite side of the earth from Manchester NH.

During the last trip I relied heavily on bananas and various snack foods. Since that time several members here have traveled and have come up with some great suggestions that I would to include this trip. I think this would be an interesting opportunity to bring all of our experiences together and probably combine it in the end into a instructional post in the travel section.

Overall I am doing infinitely better than when I last traveled and feel that I am stronger and far more confident in how I will handle traveling with MC & Crohns.

Now where can I find a good Australian / English translation dictionary, it would be great to be able to communicate with the locals this time

--Joe

[starfire]

WOW JOE!! I'm envious but don't have any tips. I'll probably never get out of the Eastern US myself.
I think it's so wonderful for you and I hope this upcoming trip is exceptionally good.

Love, Shirley

[harma]

He Joe, great you going again to australia en very good idea to make a "discussion" topic of it. I have to admit I don't have any experiences with real long distance traveling, Jordan is only a 5 hrs flight. But still the whole trip from door to door is still about 12 hrs. My last survival kit was filled banana's, canned sardines, and rice cakes. Another thing I recently discovered is sesame cookies, don't have a better word for it. My experience with banana's and rice cakes is, after the 5th banana, you can't see one anymore, and also together with rice cakes it does not really fill you. And the taste is so boring after a while. I am still a great fan, when it comes to traveling, canned fish. Full with protein, another taste and a great filler.

And thank you, also in other messages, adding the measurements of continental europe too.

[Gabes-Apg]

Just a heads up for when you arrive in Oz,

75% of the banana plantations were totally smashed by the cyclone, not just the fruit but all the trees, it will take minimum of 12 months to replant etc

[Joefnh]

Thanks Harma, your right after the first 5 or 6 bananas I had had enough. They are my staple standby food. Thanks for the other tips

Gabes that's not good at all, are you saying those storms have monkeyed around with the banana supply?

What other foods have been affected?

--Joe

[Martha]

I don't have suggestions of what to take, but check what Australia allows you to bring in. The last time we traveled to Australia (1999), they made us throw away all food items, not just fruits and vegetables, before entering the country. I had to throw all the snacks I had brought for my kids. You may just be thinking of the actual trip, but I thought I'd mention it.

[Celie]

I am just plain jealous. I have always wanted to go to Australia. Perhaps someday....


Celie

[mbeezie]

Joe,

Individual servings/packets are always helpful whe travelling. Have you tried any of the Justin's nut butters. They make all kinds in single serve, almond honey, chocolate hazelnut (a healthy Nutella-type spread). If you can tolerate oatmeal Glutenfreeda makes single serve gluten free instant oatmel packets. Lara Bars, KIND Bars etc are also yummy if you can tolerate them.

You might be able to send a box of supplies to your hotel to avoid having to throw food away. I have sent food to my friends in Oz before - no problems.


Mary Beth

[Joefnh]

Wow thanks for all the information. Mary Beth I have just recently begun to slowly experimented with nut butters and am working on which are tolerated well.

Martha I know they are probably the strictest I've ever experienced with the topic of not only fruits and veggies, but any food item. During one of my first trips their (pre MC) I got altered on by one of the Beagles for a backpack that I had carried apples in almost a month prior to the trip. Those dogs have great noses.

Since this is a 32 hours travel time, I am trying to see is there a way to actually pack a real meal. Like most I subsisted on snack foods which is easily doable, but craved a meal. There is no way I could even begin to trust the meals served by the airlines.

I think Gabes looked into vacuum packing a meal so it would keep long enough. I guess another interesting question would be, if I had a fully cooked meal that included a meat veggie and rice or potato how long could that 'keep' without going bad? It could be deep frozen just prior to departure and would stay cold for 12 hours if packed right.

I suppose the first question that needs to be answered would be how long can fully cooked foods keep without refrigeration?

--Joe

[mbeezie]

Joe,

My husband is an expert in carrying food on the plane for 2-3 days. Pilots use hot water bottles and fill them with ice. They don't leak. So you could take an empty one and have the "hosty" get you some ice.

Hormel makes a canned chicken that is gluten and soy free. Things like Boar's Head pepperoni can be unrefrigerated until opened. There are also types of jerky you could buy like The Buffalo Guys that are gluten free/soy free.

Enjoy Life makes single serve candy bars and cookie packs. I also make trail mix for him to take with GF cereal, nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit. You could buy a commercial granola as well.

Mary Beth

[tex]

You can keep foods piping hot for many hours in a good thermos bottle, if it is preheated first, before the food is added. While obviously good for soups and stews, a wide-mouth thermos can be used for many things. Keeping cold foods cold, is also easy in a thermos. I used to do that regularly, when I was making all-day deliveries in a truck, and I was on a severely restricted diet. With a good ice chest for cold stuff, and the hot stuff in a thermos or two, I had it made. If I needed to heat something out of the ice chest, (such as sausage, pork chops, etc.), I just wrapped it in foil, and placed it on the exhaust manifold of the truck engine, about an hour before I wanted to eat it.

The problem is, I have no idea what the airlines' attitide is toward thermos bottles.

Tex

[Joefnh]

Those are great ideas, however I will not be able to carry on any liquids due to the current TSA security regulations... this needs to be a 'dry' meal. Mary Beth I do like Enjoy Life and NuGo Nutrition snack products and do intend on carrying a bunch of those.

Tex I do like your style of V8 cooking and have done that on several 4x4 trips... do you suppose they would let me climb out on the wing... That exhaust should be hot enough.

That's true I could ask the 'hosty' for ice....



I am going to have to find a Aussie translator or dictionary

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

joe

the vacuum packing etc would work, i do question effort versus benefit.

if you eat good meals (as you do) they days before the trip, the meal before you board the plane is high in protein etc, then it would be a case of taking easy to carry, easy to prepare type snacks.

I could happily go a day without having a huge meal, but on a plane the smell of the meal trolley or the person beside you eating makes you hungry.

for the recent domestic travel work trips, i would take a small container of pre cooked chicken, i would put this into in a small insulated bag with couple of portion size juices that were frozen. ( i did the same when i went to france) this system keeps things cold for at least 12 hours.
if you have some decent proteins half way through the trip then you should be ok.

[tex]

Those are great ideas, however I will not be able to carry on any liquids due to the current TSA security regulations...

Right. I was thinking more along the lines of sausage or steak, and a baked tater, or chicken and rice, but as long as it takes to get checked in at an airport these days, that might not be much of an option, either.

For an Australian-American Dictionary, how about these:

http://www.statsci.org/smyth/ozus.html

http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

Tex

[Joefnh]

Those are great links Tex... It will be nice to be able to communicate with the locals this time.

There's only so much sign language can do


I am up to the letter B... lets see:

B & S : Bachelors' and Spinsters' Ball - a very enjoyable party usually held in rural areas
Back of Bourke : a very long way away
Bail (somebody) up : to corner somebody physically
Bail out : depart, usually angrily
Banana bender : a person from Queensland
Barbie : barbecue (noun)
Barrack : to cheer on (football team etc.)
Bastard : term of endearment
Bathers : swimming costume
Battler : someone working hard and only just making a living
Beaut, beauty : great, fantastic
Big Smoke : a big city, especially Sydney or Melbourne
Big-note oneself : brag, boast
Bikkie : biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive)

This is going to be a challenge

--Joe