Our Travel Plague

Friday 26 April 2013

Dining in Granada, Spain
Joe and I compliment each other well when it comes to travel.  I do the planning and researching but when we're in country, he'll take care of the logistics.  I keep a list of sites to visit, he'll figure out the public transit.  He's more budget friendly which keeps my expensive eye in check.  Joe prefers to go, go, go checking off every attraction on his mental checklist whereas I like to slow down, enjoy a coffee and take it all in.  He's the ying to my yang.

Regardless of how well we balance each other out, we still have our own little travel plague.

The exploring, learning, sightseeing and walking makes us hungry and both of us can be pretty indecisive when it comes to food.  When the time comes, I want to find that little gem of a place where we can rest our feet, taste something delicious and refuel.  It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be good.  This is often easier said than done.

Usually, I start to feel hungry.  (Joe never feels hungry until we actually sit down in a restaurant.)  I casually bring up that we should probably start trying to find somewhere to eat and Joe usually agrees however isn't super motivated to get to it.  An hour will pass as we continue our 5 km jaunt from one location to the next and my hunger increases.  I remind Joe again that I'm getting quite hungry and we should probably stop somewhere and he'll casually agree.  We'll take a look around but everything will look like a tourist trap or not quite what we're looking for.  We agree to walk on.  This process repeats a couple of times as neither of us will make a decision.  Eventually my h-anger sets in (hunger + anger.)

I'm well aware of it and will often warn, "Joe, I'm starting to get grumpy.  I really need to eat now."  He'll often offer an exasperated response along the lines of, "Fine.  Let's just go there," pointing to the dive across the street to which I balk.  We walk on, h-anger increasing exponentially.  Joe will continue to point out any and every place on the street that sells food which really only makes me angrier as they're usually not valid options for me.  We keep walking in hopes of stumbling across THE place.

Eventually, I'll hit a breaking point.  The h-anger will capsize me and I'll rant that we should have ate 2 hours and several kilometres ago.  Joe will note that he's pointed out a billion restaurants but I won't go in any of them.  I'll roll my eyes because suggesting 7-11 is not a reasonable 'restaurant' and provides no help to our situation.  Out of sheer desperation to end the situation, we'll stalk off into the nearest restaurant.  Rarely does it happen to be that gem I had so hoped for but we'll eat, the h-anger will subside and we move on.

I try to be proactive and many times it helps.  I'll take a list of restaurant recommendations from friends and readers.  I'll do a little research, read a few TripAdvisor reviews and take note of this place or that place.  Sometimes we'll ask the concierge or a local that we happened to be chatting to and many times, we successfully eat a lovely meal sans problem.  But, sometimes it just doesn't work out.  We'll end up in a different neighbourhood than expected or we'll make our way to a recommended place only to find it full or the menu not quite what we wanted.  Sometimes we just want a little spontaneity and preplanning doesn't allow for it.

In any case, while it may look like travel is glamourous from all angles, I can assure you that it's not.  Somewhere during the course of our weekend trip to some European city, I will be standing on the street ranting to my husband while taken over by h-anger.

Do you get hangry
{Please tell me I'm not the only one!}

23 comments:

  1. I'm 100% with Joe on this one. :) I could go all day without eating, just because I forget and think other things are way more interesting! This of course kills my husband, and he goes down the grumpy road till we find something. It's probably good, because if he was more like me we'd never eat!

    -Amanda | Living in Another Language

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  2. I get so hangry. Shopping with my mom is always a nightmare. Every year we do a weekend Christmas shopping trip in November and my mom could shop from 8 am until supper time (which for her would be about 8pm.) I used to get so hangry in the middle of the day and it always seemed we were at these big box stores that had no food. I'm angry just thinking about it!

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  3. Hanger = the fuel of most of the disagreements in my life.

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  4. Oh goodness, this happens to my husband I as well. Drives me craaaaazy!!!

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  5. This sounds exactly like what happens whenever my husband and I travel! Glad to know we're not the only ones. :)

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  6. I seriously am always in a state of hangry! You too definitely travel like my husband and I! Ummm also...absolutely LOVE the blog design!!

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  7. baha, I definitely feel the hanger! especially when traveling with my family. I remember being in Paris after graduating high school - every night was the same ordeal. we'd walk around forever looking at the different restaurant menus while I would get more and more frustrated because, hey! most restos serve very similar things! you're not going to find a lot of deviation! but of course no one ever listens to me when I say logical things...oh, family.

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  8. I definitely do get hangry!
    Well it's more about complaining and starting to list all the things I could eat if I were home until we find a nice little place to eat.
    As a vegetarian it sometimes gets a bit difficult, and I also feel kind of guilty because everyone else has to deal with my diet!

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  9. John usually calls food well before I'm hungry. But if he misses it, I'm usually the one to suddenly get ravenous and demand to stop anywhere, right away

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  10. I think my boyfriend and me can both attest that we get unbelievably grumpy if we haven't eaten in a while/not eaten enough. But strangely enough, I don't usually feel hungry when I'm 'hangry' - I only ever notice it once I eat and come to realize 'Oh, that was what was making me mad!'.
    I'm very indecisive when eating while traveling as well. The scenario above could be taken straight from my life! :)

    xx

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  11. surely amazing, I really like this isnpiring place <3
    keep reading xx

    www.malesclutch.blogspot.com
    Sergio,

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  12. Made me think of this :) http://pinterest.com/pin/127719339404142905/

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  13. haha, i loved this. especially traveling as part of a couple, i can relate so much. i get notoriously "hangry" (or as i like to call it, fungry) so much that my mom, friends, and boyfriend are all aware and trying to make sure it doesn't happen.

    the best thing i have started doing is bringing snacks EVERYWHERE i go. this has helped me SO much. at least one thing: an apple, roasted pumpkin seeds, granola bar, etc for these emergency situations. when traveling i usually will find a couple restaurant suggestions online, one or two in each district i might imagine we will be during a meal time. this technique (knowing about one restaurant in each area) has worked like a charm so far, and of course leaves room open for those magic spontaneous restaurant findings but doesn't rely on them ;) good luck!

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    1. I have been trying to bring snacks with me but often times, my husband needs the sugar and thus, I pass it on to him. We usually take note of different restaurants in different neighbourhoods (depending on how organized we are) too but it doesn't always work out. We travel quite a bit and it's just not always possible to be so prepared!

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  14. Hangry. Jay, you need to submit this to whoever decides which words make it into dictionaries. Once lived through a horrible saga involving an overheated train, two extremely hangry girls who underestimated the type of train they were getting onto and Annecy, France. It got ugly.

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    1. I can only imagine that Jess - I'm sure ugly is an understatement!

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  15. haha ditto to Jess! plus, I think that sitting in a café people-watching and trying the food and drink of a region is a key part of being a tourist :)

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  16. I am so comforted by the fact I am not the only one this happens to! My hubby is the exact same...it drives me mad as I love food so much and I am pretty much always hungry whereas he can go all day on a packet of crisps!

    xxx

    www.lifeisajourney08@blogspot.com

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    1. You are most definitely not the only one!

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  17. I read this post a few days ago and then just saw this and it reminded me of you:

    http://24.media.tumblr.com/832dd8154aa5f07d16f28c04c516c733/tumblr_mm10j8scXU1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg

    :)

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  18. Oh Jay, I loved this post.

    I can get so 'hangry' that strangers will start moving out of my way because they can see - or perhaps sense is a better word to use - me coming. In my case I'll occasionally push past what I would call the "hangry point of no return." That's where I'm so goddamned hungry, but equal measures tired and exasperated, that I can't be bothered to eat anymore.

    This is why I carry large handbags/totes that are - usually - filled with snacks...sometimes a full meal. I've been laughed at for this when heading out with friends/family for a day of sightseeing; however, I have found that the adage "he who laughs first, laughs last" has served me well. Mwah.

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  19. PS - 'hanger' is urban dictionary legit: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hanger

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