Flying PB and J

August 4, 2009


For many of the years that Hubby and I flew on airlines, meals were a given.  Then they started being “iffy”.  While they hadn’t yet admitted that they were systematically eliminating meals from flights, it seemed that airlines would “conveniently” schedule flights between meal times so that they could justify just  giving passengers snacks.

Along with all the other flyers we grumbled, but what could you do?  What you did was that you bought your meal in whatever airport you happened to be laying over in at meal time.

But then, one memorable time, our meal time lay-over was in the Atlanta airport, which was in a major renovation.  The time between our flights was fairly short, so we would just grab something quick to eat along the concourses between the gates. 

Ha!  That’s what we thought!  Not one place was open that sold not only meals but not even a candy bar!  We had to get on our next flight without having eaten anything.  Where, of course, we were served just peanuts and soft drinks.

When we got home, I promised myself  I would guard against that happening again if at all possible.

So, from then on, on our way home, I would always make sure I had a couple of candy bars in my purse.  And, when leaving on a trip from home, I always put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my purse or carry-on.

And, as frequently happens, once I had prepared for it, we were never in a totally-without-food situation again.  Sometimes just being prepared for something seems to ward off the actual occurrence, don’t you think?  So, I like to think of all those wasted PB&J sandwiches as valuable preventative measures.

But, one thing I learned from this strategy is how fragile a PB&J sandwich is!  By the time I would throw it away in the wastepaper basket in our hotel room, it was an ugly brown and purple mass of dough, that I’m sure grossed out any maid who happened to see it when emptying the trash!

I sincerely believe that alot of peace of mind comes from having a Plan B … and, in this case, Plan B was a PB&J sandwich!