We’re less than a week away from the big trip, which means that I am spending almost every waking minute thinking about what I need to do to get ready. Last night I took my first malaria pill. I’ll take one every week for 7 weeks. I’ve taken these once before, and I remembered that they can give you some pretty vivid dreams. Last night was no exception. I didn’t have any crazy dreams, but everything was very focused, almost like I was watching a movie.
What I didn’t remember about these pills was that they can give you a bit of an anxiety attack. This morning, I became extremely stressed and anxious and then realized that it was a side effect of the pill I took last night. Thankfully it was over pretty quickly. It seems that the malaria pill affects me for about 12 hours. The next one I take will be on the flight over to Ethiopia. Hopefully I’ll be sleeping through most of it!
Packing has turned out to be somewhat of a challenge because we are encouraged not to check a bag if at all possible. I’m doing my best to pack lightly, but I want to make sure to bring plenty of gluten-free snacks just to be safe. Today I stopped by the Gluten Free Country Store, an independent store in Gilbert to stock up. What I love about this store, even more than the great selection of gluten-free food, is the personal service. I walked in, told the owner what I was stocking up for, and he came up with all kinds of ideas.
I grabbed some travel bags of peanuts and almonds,
two kinds of gluten-free corn nuts (who doesn’t love corn nuts for travel?),
pretzels, apple chips, and a few bars.
I also grabbed some sausage and jerky,
and four “Go Picnic” boxes. I was excited to find these because I had seen them advertised and thought they were a great idea for traveling. These will be perfect if I don’t feel comfortable with the airline meals, or if I get stuck somewhere without gluten-free food.
Then, just because I had never seen them before and had been looking for well over a year, I grabbed a bag of chocolate tortilla chips from Food Should Taste Good. They were everything I had imagined them to be. Yum.
I also made a stop at Costco to pick up some more Mrs. Mays Trio Bars, some dried apricots, and some gluten-free nut clusters. I think I should be set!
Now to get it all to fit in a carry-on…
I’m quite sure the main staple of ethiopian food, injera, is gluten free, so you should be able to really get into that. It may be worth checking up, it would make your life a lot easier if you can eat the local food! I grew up in Ethiopia, and I LOVE injera and the “wots” (sauces).
I hope you have a good trip!
I know that injera is made with teff (gluten-free), I’m just not sure about the sauces. I’ve also heard that many of the restaurants there serve bread now because of foreign influence. Hopefully if I eat as authentically as possible I will be ok.
Only one thing though… you MUST eat injera with your hands. Really, truly, otherwise it just won’t be real.
Oh definitely. I’ve eaten at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant before and there were no utensils in sight 🙂
I might have to steal a chocolate potato chip or 2!
They might be gone before I even leave. They are TOO good!
I’ve got dibs on the corn nuts though Lindsey!!!!!! 🙂
Hey! Why is everyone planning to eat all my food?! 🙂
With all that food, you won’t have room to pack any clothes….
[…] Only a 3 hour flight, so no meal. I probably ate a Larabar and drank some coffee. My bag was stocked with snacks. Once at the airport though, I had a few hours to wait on the rest of the team. I […]