Airplanes and health

I'm doing 2 redeye flights this week. Coincidentally that's exactly the three days that are forecast to be -23C. Ha!

But it cuts back exercise, sleep and nutrition. It cuts back fresh air and comfort. I'm not trying to be a health Nazi - it's more that I'm having so much fun on weekends riding that I don't want to come home feeling like total garbage and suffer the opportunity cost of lost fun. Work travel has benefits too, like having a pay cheque, and seeing new places of course, but it isn't always easy.

Airline food has gotten better. Or maybe I'm less price sensitive. For $7 I could have had something that resembles pizza, but is really white flour, awful salami, and some tomato sauce in a budget rendition that doesn't do justice to Italy.

I picked the $9 tapas option, which was heavily packaged, but interesting to read the labels. It perhaps didn't do honor to the tapas culture fully, but it was a decent effort for being 35,000 feet up. It comprised:
- a little baggie of unsalted, ungreased, totally plain almonds
- two different cracker packages, 2 crackers each
- an actual tomato based bruschetta with respectable allowance of spices in a mini dish
- an actual real cheese peppercorn parmesan mini container
- a mini bag of about a dozen green olives with basil and garlic, no pits
- pita chips
- hummus that actually was just chick peas, sesame oil, lemon juice and salt
- a little baggie of blueberry and acai berries covered in chocolate
- packing and expiry date labels coincided with a general lack of aggressive preservation techniques and chemicals

I'm surprised that this food option existed. It contained edible things that existed on earth before airplanes, which is kind of a good test. I'm the only one in my row who didn't get a can of coke, although I was tempted. And the guy on my other side is saying the "steak and potatoes" share a common rubbery texture. Mine was all fine at room temperature. His gravy is bubbling and his steak is refrigerated. Mmmm...