Airport Food worth Enjoying vs. Skipping
Article by www.cheapfares.com
Once you have reviewed your cheap travel options and secured your cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms or cheap vacation packages and have arrived at the airport, it pays to know the healthiest airport food and what food you should pass on.
Passengers arriving at airports already hungry often end up eating at fast food spots or airport cafes that serve processed convenience foods full of sodium and empty calories.
Ideally travelers should pack their own healthy meals. However, given time constraints and carry-on restrictions, picking up food at the airport is the only realistic option for many travelers.
When possible it is wise to purchase whole foods such as apples, bananas, dried fruit, nuts and yogurt for snacking instead of purchasing fast food. Regrettably such food is not always available at airports and sometimes it is not fresh.
Healthy airport food options, when available, include:
• Starbuck perfect oatmeal is one of the healthiest airport options with 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 105 milligrams of sodium and only 2.5 grams of fat. If plain oatmeal does not sound appetizing, consider adding toppings such as dried fruit or nuts, both of which have 100 calories.
• McDonald’s premium bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken only has 230 calories (not counting the dressing), 33 grams of protein, and 35 percent of suggested daily vitamin C. Those who need to watch their salt intake should be aware that the chicken strips increase the salt in the meal by 400 milligrams. By topping the salad off with low fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing only an additional 40 calories are added.
• Au Bon Pain garden vegetable soup is filled with a variety of tasty vegetables and has only 80 calories, 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. This soup in high in salt though, with 1,120 milligrams of sodium.
• Starbucks plain fat free multigrain bagel has only 300 calories, 15 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.
• Dunkin’ Donut’s egg white veggie flatbread has 280 calories, 16 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. The sandwich has 10 grams of fat and 690 milligrams of sodium.Foods that should be avoided at the airport include:• Cinnabon cinnamon roll has 730 calories and 24 grams of fat.
• A single slice of cheese Pizza Hut stuffed crust pan pizza comes with 390 calories, 21 grams of fat and 820 milligrams of sodium. A regular Pizza Hut slice without extra cheese in the crust only has 230 calories.
• Au Bon Pain’s southwest tuna wrap contains 800 calories, 1,190 milligrams of sodium and 46 grams of fat.
• McDonald’s double quarter pounder with cheese contains 740 calories, 1,380 milligrams of sodium, and 42 grams of fat (as well as 95 percent of the recommended daily value of saturated fat).www.cheapfares.com
Consider High Tech Luggage Tags
Few things spoil a well planned trip that started with the purchase of cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms or cheap vacation packages than arriving at your destination only to discover that your checked bags are nowhere to be found.
Travelers sometimes discover that the luggage tag offered at the airline check in counter on which they then wrote their home address is not ideal. Not only can such a tag easily be ripped off in transit, your luggage may be delivered to your empty house vs. the hotel at your destination. Many travel experts do not recommend writing your address on a luggage tag since this could make your home a target for a break-in while you are traveling.
An alternative to the traditional luggage tag is a “smart” luggage tag that does more than simply display your home address and phone number. The following are high tech luggage tags that could make the difference in lost luggage making its way to your destination:
• ReboundTAG Microchip Bag Tags come with barcodes that airlines are able to scan to identify travelers’ luggage and view the itinerary associated with those bags. If someone finds your lost luggage and does not have the ability to scan your bag, your tag number can be entered in the ReboundTAG website and the system will notify you via text message or email. A Microchip Bag Tag costs about and includes one year’s membership in the ReboundTAG system.
• SuperSmartTag comes with a code that anyone can use to report your bag online. After the code for a bag is submitted, the owner will receive a text message, email, or phone call stating where the bag can be found. If you enter your itinerary on the SuperSmartTag site, airport staff will be able to access that itinerary and forward your luggage to your final destination. SuperSmartTag retails for about and comes with a three year membership to the SuperSmartTag system.
Another luggage tag alternative that does not come with special codes or microchips, also appears to be a wise alternative to the traditional luggage tag. Magellan’s Retriever vinyl tag encapsulates instructions written in eight languages (Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish) that inform baggage agents to check the itinerary inside of your bag and forward your bag to your final destination. You will need to make sure the final destination is included inside the bag for each and every trip you take, or the bag will again be taken to the wrong location. It retails for just under .www.cheapfares.com
Cheapfares.com employees enjoy sharing their travel points of view and latest travel news with others who might share similar interests.


