I've been away form home for the last week - up in Dundee for a conference - which is an awesome little city full of wonderful pubs, bars and cafes.
I haven't actually eaten any bad food and I've learn't from previous conferences to never have the same meal twice and keep an eye on the bread intake as it makes you sleepy in warm conference rooms. Visiting a city for work is always strange, you might do some partying, and you might do some sightseeing but it's never the same without your family so I've also found myself in my hotel room catching up on work.
This room at least had the basics which in this case was a kettle and some Nescafe. This is not like the time I had to stay for a long time in a Ibis Budget hotel pod and went to buy my own kettle and had enough dehydrated food to last me through an apocalypse. Alas it didn't have a fridge. Since this isn't my first conference rodeo I did some shopping on my first day and got the following:
I haven't actually eaten any bad food and I've learn't from previous conferences to never have the same meal twice and keep an eye on the bread intake as it makes you sleepy in warm conference rooms. Visiting a city for work is always strange, you might do some partying, and you might do some sightseeing but it's never the same without your family so I've also found myself in my hotel room catching up on work.
This room at least had the basics which in this case was a kettle and some Nescafe. This is not like the time I had to stay for a long time in a Ibis Budget hotel pod and went to buy my own kettle and had enough dehydrated food to last me through an apocalypse. Alas it didn't have a fridge. Since this isn't my first conference rodeo I did some shopping on my first day and got the following:
- Screw top red wine - although this led to a conversation on if it was better to drink red win out of a non-descript ceramic mug or a plastic cup (these were my two options and opinions were surprisingly divided - although I've opted for the plastic glass option)
- Pre Packaged Cakes - Mr. Kipling in this case - I did also buy Jaffa cakes but they got a bit smashed when I took them out with me, and then a little bit stale after a day of two
- 6 pack of bottled water - fizzy in my case - but this saves so much effort in the long run.
- One Coffee Filters with the coffee in them - usually I get hold of Starbucks Via, the only instant I can handle but I couldn't find any this trip - but the inbuilt coffee filters really make the difference - to the point where I'll take one down to breakfast with me because whatevere that machine was producing wasn't coffee.
I did also buy some grapes, but a few days in a hot hotel room and they don't look so appetising anymore.
What I have realised is this is a very packaging heavy way of stocking up for a week - but cost effective - as I sit here preloading for a night out on an alright wine out of a plastic glass I feel a little bit better for it all - and I've got cake for the way home too!