Travelling Take II

This is much much delayed... I had written it in a notebook  and I only recently had time to actually type it up.  

It’s been a crazy couple of months or so. I left Rome on a Sunday afternoon and flew into Berlin Tegel for a 17 hour layover and then a very long flight to NYC. Hectic and exhausting. I honestly wish I could sleep on planes. 

Instead of sleeping I spent my time writing blogs or rather trying to write since I’m still very much behind.  I spent far more time watching movies and reading books instead.

But on the bright side I had some brilliant food along the way.

Not the best picture of the cafe but it was good.

Before leaving my apartment, I ate a sandwich with roasted peppers and cheese. I had made the peppers a couple of days before, so I finished them off before leaving the apartment almost empty for a month.  It was pretty good and tided me over until I got on my short flight where they gave us a pretty standard snack. 

Once I got to Germany I found a little coffee shop that looked pretty classy with beautiful signage and good looking buffet style food.  It was on the expensive side but then again, most airports are filled with the overpriced. Almost everything bought in an airport will cost more than it would in an ordinary store.

The sandwich options

The other dessert options

I was looking for a place that would have the best tasting food and I think I was pretty successful.  I got myself a roast beef sandwich with tomato, cucumber, cheese and a lovely rémoulade sauce and for dessert, I got a lovely cake that involved meringue and raspberry.  When I saw it, I thought it looked like raspberries but upon tasting it, I discovered it was strawberry, which works for me because I love strawberry.  I also got a coffee which I proceeded to spike with Bailey’s. I bought a small bottle in the Rome airport, thinking to bring it home, but there was no place where I could

wait without having to go back through security, so I had to drink it.  No liquids on the plane after all.  Cheers to that. J

I really enjoyed my sandwich, which I wasn’t sure I would.  The roast beef was surprisingly fresh and flavorful as were the vegetables, which also added a very nice crunch. The sauce was quite good and added a little bite and moisture to an otherwise plain roast beef sandwich.

The coffee was ordinary black American coffee but adding the Bailey’s was pretty baller. It made the coffee rich and just sweet enough,

which meant it went quite well with my dessert. Oh, that dessert! It was so delicious. I really want more of it honestly. The cake was light and pretty fluffy and made a lovely contrast to the semi hard meringue. The meringue was made quite well, not too sweet which meant that the sweetness of the berries was perfect.  Each component on its own was nothing particularly special, but a bite with a bit of each was utterly delightful. 

My Bailey's spiked coffee of deliciousness

That was the end of my dinner and meant I needed to find a place to settle in for the long layover. I found the one available outlet and settled into my cold corner. I watched movies and relaxed on the floor. I tried to nap, but I wasn’t overly successful since I was cold and uncomfortable. 

At around 7am, as everything was opening I walked through the airport again scouting around for shot glasses. Sadly I found none! It was ridiculous and quite shocking to me. I feel like shot glasses are fairly typical souvenir fair and yet they were nowhere to be found.

However, on my hunt I did find breakfast. I got myself a very large coffee and a bagel (the first of many that I had in the states on my vacation). The coffee was strong but didn’t do much to keep me awake sadly. The bagel was pretty good but not the best I’ve had (Boulevard Bagels on Bergen Boulevard in Fort Lee are the best of the best). It was an everything bagel with turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a mustard relish.  The mustard relish was too die for (although just a tad messy).  I originally wanted to get a breakfast bagel with sausage, egg and cheese but they insist on putting lettuce and tomato even on those… which I can’t help but find slightly odd. As it is I was quite happy with my turkey bagel and I was even more content to find a very, very comfortable chair that I wound up taking a nap in. 

Eventually after a couple more hours of meandering I was finally able to board the plane and start the last lag

towards home.  I was incredibly surprised at how good my food was. I think it was probably the best plane food I’ve ever eaten which is saying something because I’ve had quite a few airplane meals. I got their chicken dish and it was full of flavor but not overly salty.  I don’t know what the name of the dish was, but it was quite scrumptious and I ate every bite. Even the mashed potatoes were delicious as were the reduced onions between the chicken and potatoes. The only thing I didn’t like was the brownie. That was on the gross side so I didn’t touch it, which is fine, because it’s not like I needed dessert. 

A couple of hours later they brought a snack and even that was quite tasty. It was cold chicken fingers with a light potato salad that was packed with flavor but not too much mayo. Here is where the airline did dessert right. It was utterly delicious and not too sweet.  It was a berry cheesecake made quite light. And the coffee was pretty good too. 

Overall I had a really good flight even though as per usual I couldn’t sleep. 

It was far more pleasant than my return flight for sure. Sadly my return on TAP Portugal was not nearly as much fun. The entertainment system was down the entire flight so I couldn’t watch any movies. Lucky for me I had lots of books to read instead. The food also wasn’t nearly as good as the food I received on Air Berlin.

I got the chicken dish for my main meal and it was on the salty side. The vegetables, string beans and red

peppers were lightly cooked and I liked them quite a bit. The mashed potatoes were also good and helped counteract the salt in the marsala sauce for the chicken (I assume it was supposed to be a kind of marsala since there was a mushroom in it… yes only one). I was underwhelmed over all.

The snack however, was worse.  I didn’t even take a picture of it so I don’t remember what it was but it wasn’t great. 

At least it was a short flight. I got to Portugal in about 5 ½ hours and then had a shorter layover. I was tired but happy. Once the stores opened, little hungry me decided to get my last Starbucks for the foreseeable future. I had a great café mocha with lots of whipped cream to wake me up again. I also got a turkey sandwich  (turkey appears to be my travelling sandwich) with caramelized onion. It was a really good way to start my morning and also another great place to take a nap in the airport. I love big comfy arm chairs. 

Then I had a lovely 3 hour flight to Rome. I was a little cranky because I had finally fallen sleep on the plane and the stewardess woke me up to give me a snack. I would have much rather kept sleeping, but that’s ok. I had a little to eat and then tried to nap another second or two before giving up to read. 

Eventually I got back to Rome and went straight home where I impressively went right back to eating.  Ok, maybe I did a little unpacking too.