Felicia is a dear friend, one that started as a Twitter buddy and quickly became a very close in-real-life one.  When we first met (at her apartment, to cook an autumn inspired feast), it was as if we’d known each other all our lives.  The afternoon flowed into evening, as our chatting ebbed and flowed as we prepared pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter, apple pies with blue cheese, and a salted caramel apple tart.  Since that fortuitous October evening, we continue to bond over spectacular meals, riveting conversation, and a mutual disdain for Gwyneth Paltrow.  Given that Felicia is also well-traveled, it makes perfect sense to feature her on En Route With.  This is a GOOD one.

Felicia C. Sullivan
Author | Blogger, Love Life Eat

There is no greater sentimental education than having an airline lose two meticulously packed pieces of luggage en route to the first real holiday you’ve taken in years. This was the holiday you’d been planning for months, a needed reprieve from leaving a job that was killing you, threatening to wrestle every last bit of air, out. This was a trip all about risk, since every sane person in America told you to stay in New York and look for a job because people at your level are…expensive. But you were separated from your luggage, for possibly forever, and this was the trip where you found yourself in the one of many underwear shops in Rome, a store that resembled a rave replete with strobe lights, a disco ball and fluorescent signage. You were no longer in Kansas, kids, and maybe the ace traveler could have benefitted from a more thoughtful carry-on strategy.

Lesson #1 for the smug, seasoned traveler: Don’t get too smug, Lufthansa can lose your luggage, too.

After years of traveling for both business and pleasure, I’ve developed a carefully crafted system of efficient travel, and it beings with food. There was the time I was stuck on a tarmac in Boston for three hours without a Kind bar in view. There was that other trip where I found myself ensconced on a plane for seven hours wondering if the chicken was indeed chicken, or some other unfortunate creature that found its fate on my tin tray. Suffice it to say, I pack a BAG OF FOOD. On shorter trips, I’ll bring a tub of quinoa and grilled chicken, a bag of nuts and a few KIND bars. For longer journeys, you’ll find me carting Tupperware filled with apple slices and almond butter, whole wheat pasta dressed with kale, basil and pistachio pesto, or slices of grilled chicken on a bed of millet. I’ll smuggle some dark chocolate and sweets as treats for the long hours in coach.

I’m not fancy. I may have airline status, but I’m always in coach. {epic sigh}

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Tagged as: En Route With..., Felicia C Sullivan, Felicia Sullivan, How Felicia Sullivan travels, Love Life Eat

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