Taking food from breakfast for lunch

Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 09:11 AM
  #21  
Uncle Sam
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Arlene,

are you form New Jersey?

US
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 09:55 AM
  #22  
Patsy
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Ok how about this, ole wise ones? I eat a very small breakfast because I can't seem to get the taste for food until late morning. I eat what I can and take what is left on my plate. It is no more than the normal person would eat at one sitting. I take maybe a piece of cheese, small roll and an apple, but I have only had coffee and a very small cereal at the table. Is this all right?
My theory is that some people eat alot at the table and some take it with them. It all evens out.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 10:26 AM
  #23  
me too
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Actually, this is an advise you will find on Rick Steves website on how to tarvel cheap and live the European way...at least that he believes. What happen to that posting about him being a jackass or Mesiah, where dit it go? I was ready to vote him a jackass and now I cant find it.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 10:39 AM
  #24  
ed
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Well I looked all over Rick's web site and the only reference I found that he made himself to breakfast was the following:
"Eat hearty in Scandinavia, Europe's most expensive corner. Fill up at the breakfast smorgasbord (usually included in your hotel cost)."
I don't see any thing there about stuffing your backpack.

Now, on the postings by other people on his "Graffiti Board" their may be reference to this practice but that is not Rick speaking. So give it a rest.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 10:46 AM
  #25  
Freddie
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Why don't we just collect all of the uneaten breakfast food and attach human troughs over our necks so we can eat and enjoy the sights of Europe?
By the way Ms. Patsy, it doesn't even out. Eat what you want at the breakfast table and leave it alone.
A street vendor can provide a bite to eat for pennies if you're that hard up.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 10:49 AM
  #26  
Peggy
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What is the difference of eating alot at the table or taking a modest amount for later and eating light at the table?All evens up. and while I am here, why blame all your faults on R. Steves? He writes books, follow them or don't, and he doesn't say take alot breakfast food
in your pack.
"Oh I am taking a shopping bag full of food from the buffet because I think Rick Steves wrote somewhere sometime that I could"
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 10:56 AM
  #27  
Barry
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Hi Everyone -

Well if I'm not THE one who mentioned this lately, I'm at least one of the "ones".... I mentioned it on the thread titled something like "How does everyone afford to take theses trips to Europe?"

Maybe I should clarify since some folks seem so “touchy” on the issue.... on "traveling days", when we are leaving one hotel to go to the next city by car or train, we put a "little extra" in the way of cold cuts, cheese and hard rolls on our plates and an extra apple or orange. When we finish we ask one of the dining room staff if they would mind bringing us something to wrap our "leftovers" in, telling them we are going to catch the train, and they all know what a rip off train food is! We have never failed to have anyone be anything but helpful and polite to us! The first train day of this past trip we paid $5 for 2 small bottles of water and said NOPE! This ain't it!

Now, I could sit in the breakfast room half the morning and eat till I couldn't eat the rest of the day... or I can take it with me and enjoy it on the train with a bottle of wine (yes, that we buy at the supermarket)... we had a good bottle of local wine in Budapest at a restaurant and it was 3200 forint... we saw it on the street at a sidewalk shop the next day for 880 forint... when I had the girl at the lobby bar open it for me that night to take to the room she said it was her favorite... I asked her what she paid at her market and she said 600 forint! Now, like I said on that other thread "you can't spend the same money but once"!

I'm sure some people find it tacky that we take beer, wine and liquor to our room for drinks at night (our grown kids!) and they find it more "tasteful" to use the exorbitant mini-bar! Know what, my own mother thinks I'm tacky because I clip coupons for the grocery store…( well, I saved $48.75 on a $109 grocery bill yesterday! That's $48.75 towards my next trip the way I figure it!) And my friends with new Lincoln Navigators think I should trade in my paid for 7 year old GMC Jimmy! Guess what, their $750 a month vehicle payment is my $750 a month saved toward my next trip!

Now, at the Renaissance Hotel in Salzburg the other week there was a busload of oriental tourists and a busload of Milka Chocolate people from Praha there for a meeting.... talk about hauling food out of the breakfast buffet by the armload!!!

So, put everything in perspective and don't get your "panties in a wad" ;>)

By being polite and friendly to the hotel staff we got upgraded to a "Junior Suite" (or in one case a REAL suite) at each of the 4 hotels we stayed at on this trip... just by asking and telling them sincerely what it would mean to us and how much better it would make our stay with them ... and nobody anywhere has every even looked sideways at us for making a couple of sandwiches at breakfast (after politely asking).

I asked the taxi driver in Budapest how much to the Mercure Korona hotel and he said 5500 forint... I said how about 2500 and he said okay! A) It never hurts to ask, B) once again, you can't spend the same money but once!

I was a residential general contractor for 25 years, and I never had anyone I built a house for "bat an eye" when asking me to "throw in" hardwood floors in the Dining room, marble around the fireplace, etc... it never hurts to ask!!! I learned a long time ago that if people could seriously ask me for thousands of dollars of extras for free... I could ask for what I wanted as well! All somebody can say is no (like I did 95% of the time!)

The difference is the way one goes about it! After visiting 56 countries we find that there are courteous folks everywhere and folks with no manners everywhere! There are ways to maximize your money and there are ways you can blow it! It’s all in the way one goes about doing things.

Best wishes to all,

Barry
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 11:00 AM
  #28  
Deb
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Let me guess. You think it's o.k to go somewhere like Hmmm.. Old Country Buffet (by the way - never been to one)and eat what you can and then pocket the rest? C'mon.
It doesn't even out. Don't horde the food like a little squirrel saving a nut.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 11:14 AM
  #29  
John G
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What is wrong with Old Country Buffet????? A co-worker of mine has a sister who is the manager of one and we go there for lunch from time to time. I think the food is very good for what you pay. It is especially nice because there are many people who can't afford to spend $25 going to lunch on their break from work 5 days a week.

My co-worker's sister told me that those people who clear your plates away make fantastic money. Some walk with $150 in tips working just 5 hours. That is good money for just taking away someone's plate and smiling at them.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 11:25 AM
  #30  
Deb
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Dear John G.
Please don't get your panties bunched in a ruffle. You obviously misconstrued the point made about O.C.B.
It is certainly not a knock about any establishment but to point out that not many people would eat at a buffet and then cart off the uneaten portions or go up for more and pocket the goods.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 11:26 AM
  #31  
JPat
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Wow, Deb, you gave an idea, instead of stuffing food in my purse, I will stuff it in my cheeks like a squirrel, no one will notice and it will be easy to carry. Oh, I love this board.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 11:54 AM
  #32  
Jane
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Read Rick’s 50 tips of saving money in Europe and if you don’t fell like vomiting you must be just as cheap as he is.

http://ricksteves.com/news/0202/thrifty50.htm
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:04 PM
  #33  
sally
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did anyone bother to read barry's post above or are you just busy being critical of each other?
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:08 PM
  #34  
Freddie
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For those that are compelled to bag some cold cuts and fruit for later consumption, why not leave 2 or 3 dollars for the food you are taking?
Call in an honor system of sorts.
I still think it's a tacky way of taking food.
Better yet, why not fill a suitcase full of food from home and never eat out?
It seems that many people like getting that "free grub"
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:16 PM
  #35  
F.A.R.T
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Simple answer - wear jeans - that way
No-one will be surprised WHAT you do !

Happy to help.

Fodors Apparel Request Team ( F.A.R.T )
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:20 PM
  #36  
Cheap But Cheerful
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Yes, I read Barry's post. If he doesn't want to be charged a fortune for food and drink on the train, there is an alternative that does not involve taking food from the hotel. It is called shopping. Here's how you do it. You just stop at a grocery store, a market, a snack bar, or a train station refreshment stand and (gasp!) buy an inexpensive sandwich or bottle of water.

I'm also amused by the "I'm not hungry now, but I will be hungry later" rationale. How far does it go? If I'm not hungry today, can I put food away for tomorrow? How about for next week?

I travel on a very tight budget, and even I wouldn't do this hoarding thing.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:32 PM
  #37  
Sue
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I disagree with a bunch of you. I have paid for breakfast--usually in France a croissant and a roll--and if I choose to eat the croissant and butter the roll, discretely stick it in a plastic bag and eat it later, that's my choice. If I had the meal in my room, I could do it; why not at the table? That way I can add protein (cheese or ham) to a mid-morning snack (or lunch) without having to buy bread and a spread of some sort.

What is astonishing, however, is to see people at a breakfast buffet making sandwiches for the whole family for later--I witnessed this at a Sofitel--after having completed their full breakfast! Basically, I think it comes down to what you take and how you take it.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:36 PM
  #38  
jahoulih
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Well, I read the Rick Steves tips, and the only one that struck me as vomitous was the idea of packing four people into a hotel room.
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:40 PM
  #39  
fred
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what a tempest in a teapot! other than maybe peggy and sue (where are the everly brothers when you need them) the only one who has made a clean and concise point is the person who obviously started it in the first place! the rest of you seem to be just throwing food at each other!
 
Old Mar 22nd, 2002, 12:46 PM
  #40  
mabel
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after many years of travelling, I have the food thing down to a science. I am cheap and always take free meal when its in front of me. At breakfast, I bring along a tote bag that I can sit under the table and tuck goodies into surreptitously as I eat. I always get enough for lunch and sometimes dinner depending on the food items and the weather. Another thing I do is visit the nice hotels in the big cities and scout out receptions, conferences, parties, etc. I have gotten a lot of very good free food this way. I look so average and innocuous, everyone thinks I'm part of the company. I smile and nod even when I don't speak the language. Also, many food shops offer free samples if you ask. I do this in cheese shops a lot. My estimate is that I spend an average of $10 a day on food most places. That goes a long ways towards making a vacation happen.
 

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