In Defense of Travel Breakfast!
Eat breakfast! Eat healthy! Eat efficiently!
I read Smarter Travel online all the time. The writers have to make a lot of lists, and I read through them for those hacks that help me be a more efficient traveler. Now and then I find topics and products for follow-up. And some of the lists are humorous. I pass by a lot too. But I couldn’t blow by a list of biggest travel time wasters that included “Having Breakfast”! The item reads:
“Waking up to a hotel breakfast might seem like a convenient way to start the day, but it can be a huge time suck. When you’ve got a packed itinerary ahead of you, there’s no time to be leisurely surveying the continental spread. Instead of the big breakfast, opt for something on the go. You can grab a pastry and a coffee at a local cafe and get a jumpstart on the day.”
You've Got to Eat
No, no, no! I never skip the breakfast spread. There are a couple of reasons. First, it’s nutritionally better to eat breakfast, and I like it anyway. Don’t skip a decent breakfast for a high-carb pastry and coffee. Second, nothing’s open yet when I’m at breakfast. I can eat and still get in an early walk before the crowds or be first in the queue when things open up. And a good breakfast gives me the stamina for that “packed itinerary”!
Before I go on, it’s important to note that I’m talking about the breakfast spreads that are included with a room (or come with a slight extra charge). They can be big or simple. You arrive, someone checks your name on a list (or not), and you eat – no waiting for a check. A hotel restaurant breakfast is different.
Now, in defense of Smarter Travel, they did say the breakfast “can be” a huge time suck. The key to the breakfast buffet is to eat efficiently! If you’re early like I am, enjoy looking at the spread and change up your menu daily. Or if you’re in a hurry, don’t peruse 100 or however many options. Target something you like – bread and cheese, eggs, tofu, whatever – eat, and go.
My happy egg
Get it to Go
You can probably get the coffee to go, too. When I’ve been hurrying, I’ve taken a boiled egg or bread and cheese and left. The hotel breakfast buffet doesn’t have to take any longer than standing on line for all those carbs. And the good breakfast keeps me from having to eat again for a long time.
Unless a lunch or dinner is part of the day’s plan – for example, traditional local meal, a special restaurant, a moment of down time – these can be my time suck meals. It’s when I might grab some takeaway. Everything on my “packed itinerary” is hopping now, and I don’t want to waste minutes unless the meal itself is the goal.
