February 24, 2014
One of the few perks of my current job was one that sounds good, but that I was pretty skeptical about. Unlimited vacation!
SURE… sounds great but I didn’t really like it because as a certified workaholic, when would I take that time off? It didn’t seem very likely.
A small part of me, the part that’s still insecure about stupid stuff like looking lazy for taking time off, wanted to insist on having 3 weeks totally off guaranteed instead of this weird yawning abyss of “unlimited” stuff. Probably so that I wouldn’t feel guilty for choosing to take time off. And what is that about? Is it the ingrained need to have “budgets” for everything? That sounds irrational but think about it: if you don’t have set accepted norms, then socially speaking, there’s a compulsion to follow the crowd. If the crowd doesn’t take a week off, then you don’t take a week off.
Long term and from an objective perspective, with an unlimited days off policy, you wouldn’t get paid out at the end of your employment period for unused days. While I never relied on that, I always felt like that was a bit of a bonus for me since I could never really take my vacations anyway. At the end of one job, I took home a check for more than 300 unused vacation hours. That was delicious.
Over a year later, I’m now curious whether my skepticism’s panned out, so I decided to do an informal collection of data.
I went through our timeoff log, and took down the number of days that people logged as holidays, days off, or travel days (just semantics). I didn’t take down everyone’s time, just a representative cross section.
Counted:
1. Days off that span weekends since we all work weekends regularly enough that we often notify each other when we AREN’T going to be available on the weekend. For example, if we were marked off from Monday through Sunday, that’s 6 days.
2. Federal holidays, same reason as above.
3. Days working from a place that’s not home or the office on the assumption that in a traditional office, you’d have to take that time off entirely.
Not counted:
Work from home days because location only matters to some of us and it’s not considered a free day.
An important detail: we all tend to be available during our holiday time anyway. If we’re totally offline, it’s not for more than a couple of days, we just reduce our online hours during “vacation”.
Given that we’re all, voluntarily, only partly off during these holidays, these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Or a peck. But it is still really impressive to see that we are, in fact, really using our flexibility.
There are few reasons I think this works really well.
1. We’re all responsible adults. No one has to be nagged for anything, though some people will nag because it’s in their nature to do so 😉
2. We recognize where our work intersects with or affects other people and we respect each other enough to take care of that work in a timely manner.
3. Most of us either had exceptionally strong, pre-existing working relationships with each other, or are really easygoing and don’t waste time on taking offense, taking things personally, or really, doing anything but getting the job done. This makes for an amazing work environment: no politics, very few arguments, even fewer meetings.
4. We’re still a small enough group that we simply don’t have the luxury of being or having deadweight.
I’m a convert and didn’t even know it ….
DANG.
Granted, this could be because I made a pact to be open to taking time away. But topping the time off chart was totally unexpected.
I’ll be interested to see whether my numbers change when I can take the time off entirely, with full backup, because then that might start feeling excessive. Doing the math: When you boil it down, I probably work at 20-40% capacity while on vacation, so that works out to being “off” … 36.9 days. Honestly? The way I work, I don’t think that’s at all excessive.
So two months “off”? I don’t even feel guilty. When I’m on, I’m ON. Sixteen hours a day on, if necessary, no complaints very little complaint. And when I’m off, well, until I have sufficient back up, I’m doing double duty working and vacationing at the same time. I prioritize and occasionally drop the non-critical stuff but I always, always get the job done.
I’m proud of myself for actually using the flexibility to be more present in our family lives, to do things we’ve never done before .
And you know what? This is the sort of thing that our work culture encourages. Get the job done, and do whatever you want otherwise: don’t be so stereotypically American that we only work hard and never play. In addition to all the above variables, no one really cares about when or how much time someone else is taking off because we make sure to cover the work and each other, and that’s really what matters at the end of the day: getting the job done reasonably well, efficiently, and on time.
For all the other life-things that are difficult, in this, I’m a lucky woman.
As far as our budget goes, I can’t say this is a GOOD thing, our travel budget in 2013 was astronomical! But we won’t be doing that much travel all the time. 🙂
:: This is, bar none, the most generous and flexible policy I’ve ever encountered, in writing and in practice during my working years. Have you had better? How do you prefer your vacation days?
:: Bonus: What’s your dream vacation?
February 18, 2014
I’ve mentioned before, we’re not your normal romantic people so the usual sentiments aren’t really my bag. I can’t remember when we actually chose to “celebrate” Valentine’s Day, probably back in the early dawn of our dating days, when he still brought me flowers every month. Ever so sentimental, I enjoyed this for a while but then asked him to save his money. 🙂
Nowadays, we’ve been happiest spending the night in with a
good movie, good Dog, good food, and good pajamas.
This year, inasmuch as I was looking forward to anything, I was anticipating a quiet weekend, logging lots of work hours, maybe trying a new recipe or two. Oh and updating our Net Worth – excitement! But none of that happened.
Instead, PiC had something come up and rather than send him on a trip alone, in the dark, overnight, I decided I’d just go with him and work from the road. Couldn’t tell you why I had a problem with his riding the night bus (which always makes me think of the Harry Potter Knight Bus) really, but I did.
So we hit the road together, with an extra excited Dog, for a short weekend of errands. That night, we shared take out from In’n’Out, and hung out in a hotel room watching tv (hm), working (me), and guarding (Dog).
Budget Bonus: We found a hotel overnight stay special for less than $100, and redeemed a free night’s stay at another hotel so our lodgings cost just about $100 for the whole weekend. We managed to stay way from blowing big bucks on meals out, just having modest dinners that ran about $20 per night and had free breakfast at the hotel. +5 for not blowing a big chunk of our travel budget for an unplanned trip.
Oh, also, he got me two roses, one from each of the boys, and donuts. Because love tastes like donuts.
Sometimes home really is where the heart is. Other times, it’s just where you hide out from the rest of the increasingly annoying world. 😉
P.S. Geeky love songs are the best. I grew up on cheesy 80s power ballads and believe me, I recognize their ultimate cheesiness even as I enjoy them, but when someone makes the effort to take inspiration from something I enjoy in the geek world and renders melodic magic from it, well, that’s entirely something else.
Cover of Sam Hart’s Mario Kart Love Song by adrisaurus
Original: Sam Hart’s Mario Kart Love Song
January 27, 2014
It’s possible that we might travel to Italy this year. It’s up in the air, so while I’m feverishly researching how to redeem miles and points to cover most of the major costs, I’m pretending that this is just an academic exercise. Why? Well, because … ITALY. If I let myself start believing that it’s gonna happen right now you’d hear an explosion ’round the world from the epic excitement.
Update: It’s too late. I’m excited. AND disappointed at the same time. You’ll see why below.
We did just blow a ton of cash recently. That’s why, until I nail down some serious money-savers, I just don’t want to commit to a big trip (aka: travel expense). Not seriously, and not emotionally.
That said …. planning IS right up my alley! Perhaps neurotically so.
Things to do
ITINERARY
This didn’t occur to me til after I started researching flights. Clearly, too excited. We won’t have that much time (in my world, enough time in Italy is months) so I figure we’ll stay in one major region despite my yearnings to go to Silicy! Naples! Italian Riviera! Anywhere and everywhere!
Realistically, we probably can’t be gone for more than 2 weeks, so scheduling no more than 4 cities is a better idea. I’m not a power vacationer, I don’t like rushing from one site to another playing Tag! with the cities and checking off a list.
FLIGHTS
We have miles and rewards points for a number of airlines and programs none of which work out as well for us as I thought it would. It turns out with all their fuel surcharges, my many British Airways Avios points are basically worthless for this. For a ticket that would normally cost about $1000, the redemption quoted was 50K points PLUS cash surcharge between $800-$1000. Seriously? Pay up all the points you can scrounge and then pay nearly the ticket cost over again? Forget it. Might as well buy the ticket and upgrade. If we can even afford the upgrade! Humph.
On further research, we can’t even fly BA anyway, they only have 3 reward flights in the prospective travel months. Really? REALLY? Sigh.
Now I’m exploring all the other major airlines that fly a few possible flight itineraries to see if I can convert SPG points into miles on a relevant airline. Otherwise, at best, we’re paying $1400 per person to fly. Coach. Ugh. (Right, like I’ve ever traveled not coach.) This might be a dealbreaker, honestly.
HOTELS
I did a broke-college-student sort of trip to Italy years ago but now that we’re quite a bit older (ahem, and in a lot more pain), the creature comforts are more important than even I want to admit. Also, PiC keeps saying he’s just too old to go hosteling. The belligerently PFy bit of my brain wants to force the issue and pretend we’re tougher than that but a good night’s sleep and traveling lightly is critical to my survival and there’s no use pretending otherwise. So, no dorms for us, no backpacking-style travel.
The Avios points may well work for us here, we’re able to book hotels using those points and the research is turning up mostly decent options. Location is critical in some parts of the trip, and WiFi is critical for the whole trip since I have to continue working if we do go.
IN-COUNTRY TRAVEL
Access to public transit and walking distances will guide my hotel choices. Neither of us are jonesing to drive over there and there’s little better than getting to know a country on foot, working up an appetite for the amazing cuisine.
PASSPORT
Time to renew! It’s a little embarrassing that it expired last year .. no, wait, in 2012 and I’ve been too lazy to get photo done for the renewal. The packet is ready to go: paperwork, passport, check written. No picture. Time to get off my butt and get that done.
PACKING
I know these 10-year old hand me down sweatpants shouldn’t go to Italy. So a wardrobe review to find Normal People Clothes wouldn’t be a bad idea. New clothes shouldn’t be necessary, but I do have to unearth the untouched nicer clothes.
BIGGEST WORRIES
Leaving Doggle (because I’ll MISS HIM); bending the travel universe to my frugal ways while still enjoying all the tastes that Italy has to offer (except tripe. thanks but no thanks.); and surviving the combination of international travel + working for however long we’re gone.
August 8, 2013
These days, especially since the summer started, I’ve been feeling like the days just blend one right into the other.
Not for any bad reason particularly. Or any bad reason generally. I work a lot. PiC’s working a lot. We don’t “get home” from work until around 8 most nights now and we’d normally be eating a lot later than that, and eating out most nights, if I weren’t taking out time in my workday to prep dinners.
My work flexibility has been a serious lifesaver in this regard.
Also on our plates: working the mortgage refi (slammed into a brick wall there); coordinating and scheduling summer travel plans; bills; taking care of Doggle’s various needs; again, keeping ourselves fed with actual groceries. No wonder all I talk about is food and … food, these days!
Our continuing experiment in shared finances is, well, continuing. Halfway through the year, I see that we have spent nearly half the annual budget in some categories and in others, we are way over already.
Household: We both bought new phones this year, a first in a few respects for me. I’ve never paid more than $40 on a phone and I’ve certainly never bought one outright until my contract expired. This time, however, my contract was expired and everyone else on the family plan still had ten months to go. The way my phone wasn’t working, waiting wasn’t an option. Same for PiC, a couple months later.
My verdict after several months of use: I generally like the phone even if it’s too big for my hands but it, like most of my new phones, seems possessed. It’ll randomly turn off without a peep, and other times the screen is slower than molasses. The battery life used to be great but unless I am considered a power user, I think it drains batteries far too quickly. Combined with the fact that sometimes it hates every charging cable but its own so I have to carry my own charging cable everywhere.
Gifts: With two more planned gifts, and not even accounting for yet another wedding we’ve been invited to, we’re already tapped out here. We budgeted $800 which seemed like plenty for giving away of things for a year. I’ve suggested that we skip Christmas gifts for the whole family entirely – you may now call me the Grinch.
Travel: This budget was set pretty high for the year and even though we actually skipped two of the originally planned trips it looks like we’ll use a good percentage of this budget, if not all. And it was a very generous budget, IMO. We’ve spent more time on the road than ever, with more miles to go, enough so that I’m sort of looking forward to end of the year and clearing the slate. And staying home for months on end.
Honestly, I’m kind of running a mental marathon here and I’m not sure when I got so busy but for the first time in my life, I’ve found myself thinking: So much work! But, I like my job and I’m happy.
Hand to JossWhedon, I’m happy with my job right now and that’s one hell of a thing.
Traveling on the hottest weekend EVER. Awesome.
If you can’t tell, the dashboard is showing an outside temp of 110 degrees Fahreinheit. /frazzled.
Doggle was traveling with ice packs on his bed to make sure he stayed cool, even with the air conditioning blasting. Thank heavens the used car we bought really was in excellent condition.
I looked up and it’s already August. How are you guys doing out there?
To answer my own question with a few links:
Can I ever complain about heat to Funny About Money in Arizona? Nooo….
I’m semi-stalking The Asian Pear for Hawaii updates.
Donna’s scold about checking your email for giveaway wins made me smile. If I won more often, that’d be the sole reason I checked email sometimes, these days it’s mostly Twitter doing email’s job trying to tell me all kinds of things. But really, it was the employment of the neighbor children that made me smile. I loved working as a kid, whether it was babysitting or doing my parents’ finances, or whatever and getting paid for it was really some major icing on the cake. Now I love getting paid 😉
My friends in (or done with) academia may enjoy Rebecca Schuman’s thoughts on leaving it and the real definition of sour grapes. It’s a good read.
July 28, 2013
I think we all know I’m crap at anniversaries, right? Well, I’m pretty sure this was my tenth anniversary of attending Comic-Con. Or 11th. Whichever it was, it was AWESOME.
Welcome to San Diego, Comic-Con Style
We had to make a lot of compromises throughout the Con due to schedule conflicts and I was at least a bit amazed: they were none of them disappointing. I rarely experience that “Fear of Missing Out” except at SDCC when I hate giving up even a minute of hard-earned fun. Other than having to reconcile myself to not getting Preview Night, which wasn’t really a choice, we had barrels of fun. But that’s ok, we spent Wednesday with family friends and then goofing off at the close of the Petco Park exhibits.
Thursday was full of floor time to make up for missing out on the usual Wednesday Night scouting run. I bought seven TPBs, two to give away, commissioned a tiny pet portrait from the talented Katie Cook (@katiecandraw, now of My Little Pony fame), and got to chat with both her and another talented creator, David Peterson (of the gloriously cute MouseGuard). The creator and artists of Elephantmen were again, super funny and super nice. I wished Pia Guerra were there hanging out with them when I stopped by. I missed her if she did.
I blew through one-third of my $300 allowance in a day. !!
Scratching every possible itch I had:
Top left: A DUCK TALES GOLD VAULT TO DIVE INTO.
Top right: Game of Thrones trolley station stops.
Bottom left and right: Dog-Friendly on the floor and across the street. ConDogs were dressed up as Princess Service Dog, Scout Service Dog, BatDog, DogRobin, and casual we’re here to play Dogs.
Top left: Blood Drive at the Omni Hotel
Top right: Molly Lewis, singing about her offer to bear Stephen Fry’s baby
Bottom left: Marian Call, pre-Browncoat song
Bottom right: All the ladies together!
I’ve never been one to go to concerts but lately, indie artists who are both a delight in person and amazing on stage have been creeping their way into my schedule.
My attempt to give blood post-weight gain was denied, but we basked in the musics of Marian Call, The DoubleClicks, and Molly Lewis at a coffeeshop later and that salved my wounded pride of being rejected. I was so excited! And then so dejected. The guy who gave me my consolation t-shirt saw my face said, “Oh nooooo….” Oh well.
The Money Recap
… and “never again”…
After totaling the cash and credit card spending, it looks like I’ve only spent $220 of my $300 personal allowance.
Our hotel rate was bumped up a bit because it was evidently booked wrong, but since we usually share rooms, it keeps our accommodations cost to a reasonable rate. This time, the room-sharing was a bit of a disaster and has gotten one person bumped off my list of “I’d be fine never seeing you again” forever.
By common consent, shared rooms get divvied up into personal zones. You don’t put your stuff on another person’s bed if you’re not either married or related to them, you share the common desk areas and split the use of nightstands down the middle: you get the one you’re closest to and you don’t spill over into someone else’s. And you always respect the sleep! You don’t make noise when anyone is still sleeping, clattering and clanging, slamming doors and such. It doesn’t matter if they’re the last one to wake! (This hasn’t always been me, either.) And snoring? You warn your roommates if you snore. These are all courtesies observed without discussion by all roommates we’ve had, male or female and we’ve generally had decent rooming experiences.
Shared rooms can be a somewhat tight fit and we go out of our way to be more polite: asking if people are night or morning shower-ers and what schedules look like so we don’t cause a bathroom traffic jam, checking to make sure that no one wants the bathroom or shared surfaces when you’re about to monopolize it, etc.
This time? Oh man. We checked into the room after dropping off our stuff, claiming one bed and the area around the bed, furthest in the room to give our next roomies a clear path to the bed by the bathroom and door. We came back later that night to find that Roomie 1 had strewn stuff all over his bed, gone to the far side of our bed and claimed the whole desk with his electronics and food and beer and trash was on our nightstand, the floor, and the desk. He’d basically pooped on every surface. He didn’t shut down the computer until nearly 1 am, took a phone call in the room at 445 am and conducted a full freakin’ conversation, then let his phone alarms go off multiple times until 6am. Then at 630, he decided work at the desk next to our bed instead of taking the laptop back to his bed, so as to put space between us and his clicks, clacks and beeps. Then he acted put out when I lost my temper and asked him to leave the room as he’d keep me up for the past two hours already and I was sick with exhaustion.
That was Day 1. If you wonder if I had strangled him by Day 3, that’d be a valid question. He was passive-aggressive when he wasn’t being downright rude, talking through me to PiC. What a jerk. Once we get his repayment for the room, I wash my hands of him. You can be certain that I set a deadline for that payment.
The rest of the Con was fantastic and worth every penny. But I will likely never allow someone to room with us again without a full background check. I’d simply say no roomies ever again but it’s such a good way to save money and hang out with good friend-roomies that I don’t hate it.
June 26, 2013
The Exhibitor list for this year’s Comic-Con has been posted. Time to start plotting who to visit, which booths to patronize.
Does this ever get old? Normally the answer would be *insane cackle* “Of course not.” And in a lot of ways, nope. It really doesn’t. Mecca, after all.
But even I have to admit, after the Badging Debacle of 2011 (wherein my intrepid beloved never-to-be-sufficiently-thanked husband sat up ALL NIGHT among hordes of other similarly intrepid fans to buy our tickets for 2012’s SDCC solely because he knew that the prospect of not going to SDCC the next year would cause me *hic hic hic* “But .. but .. ok .. but but” *hic hic* speech-impaired grief), and after the Sit at the Computer Ready for Anything and losing out on Preview Night 4-day passes Debacle of 2012, a little of my pure, shining, glorious joy in going to Mecca has been tarnished.
I hate crowds, I’m not a huge fan of people in general and you know how I feel about paying ridiculous prices. And yet I’ll plow headfirst into every one of those conditions for Comic-Con, because there’d always been something utterly uplifting about going to SD just for fun. The one time in my year when work wasn’t allowed, when it was completely about fun and nothing else. When it was ok to spend money on myself if I wanted to, and not spend 3 days looking for a bargain first, and then talking myself out of it.
Life isn’t nearly so bleak these days 🙂 but there’s something about keeping the traditions originally built into the Annual Pilgrimage that’s homey and comforting. I started out watching every penny, parking out back of beyond, staying with friends because they’re awesome, and buying gifts for people six months early because you can find unique gifts there. Most of it sort of stuck.
It’s the one time in the year we spend quality time with certain friends; it’s awesome if we can find good presents, or at least ideas, well ahead of Christmas; walking the Con floor from end to end is like navigating an obstacle course collecting bonus gifts on the way. It’s really too bad we can’t hit a box for bonus coins or lives but this is good enough.
In recent years, the Con has grown exponentially, promotional events and booths spilling over the edges of the Convention Center itself into neighboring hotels, into the Gaslamp District and clear through to PetCo Park. It’s a sight to see, I tell you.
The main casualty of this growth is their ability to properly sell tickets. It’s become a situation where attendees can’t buy tickets in a sane manner on site for the next year, the vendor managing sales cannot serve up tickets online only without servers collapsing under the weight of anxious buyers and no one knows how many of what kind of tickets will be sold at any given time. It’s a bit of a mess.
There’s no longer a guarantee that this year won’t be the last year that we can get tickets and that’s terribly dispiriting. It seems easier to get a ticket if you went the previous year because you get two shots at the ticket purchasing gauntlet so once you drop out of attending, you almost can’t plan to go back. (Pessimist.)
On the other hand, if this is the last year, we’re going to make the most of it. (And look, I typed that whole statement without having to hold my breath or tearing up. I’m finally making my peace with it. Probably.)
Which means: we’re staying at a hotel in the Gaslamp District at conference rates (only hotel we could get at the time), sharing out the cost by rooming with friends, and planning to make the most of what little time we have left. I have a lot more flexibility with regard to work than I ever have before, so there’s that.
:: Have you got any travel/fun-only traditions? Any that you’re going to have to (or have had to) let go of?
June 10, 2013
From top left, going clockwise…
Our three across the top are Happy Hour appetizers from a little place called Cactus, in Kailua. The waitstaff looked to be shorthanded: they were a bit harried and slow, though very nice. We never make it to Happy Hour anywhere on the mainland but took advantage of our slightly more relaxed schedule on “vacation”. They had both indoor and outdoor seating, and moderately good food. Our friend didn’t like half the dishes we order (by consensus, mind you!) but since I’ll eat just about anything once, it was good enough for me.
Happy Hour beer was a Negro Modelo for $3 (staff took the initiative to substitute it for the foamy and warm Dos Equis) and frozen margaritas were $4.
Meal for three: 7 appetizers and 3 drinks for a total of $32, tax and tip included.
Cactus (tripadvisor reviews)
767 Kailua Road Suite 106, Kailua, Oahu, HI
Lower right corner: sauteed mushrooms.
Honestly, I’m selfish. I don’t even want to tell you about this place because the wait is long enough now if you don’t get there early enough. But it’s pretty amazing. We did a family style dinner, ordering WAY too much food for two people: sauteed mushrooms, pan fried pork chops, fried rice. I don’t even like mushrooms and I would eat these every day and twice on Sunday.
This was much pricier than our usual meals up to that point, having eaten rather frugally, generally speaking.
Meal for two: 2 beverages, 3 entree sized dishes for $59.50, including tax and tip
Side Street Inn on Da Strip Kapahulu Ave (tripadvisor reviews)
614 Kapahulu Ave, #100, Honolulu, Oahu, HI
Middle bottom: plate lunches
We were searching for a musubi specialty place and ended up here. Ironically? Stupidly? The place we couldn’t find was actually called Iyasame Musubi. And Sugoi didn’t have any musubi at all. What the hell.
Anyway, we got great lunch plates anyway: an amazing garlic chicken and chicken katsu curry. Mmm.
Neither of us was a fan of the mac salad though, it was absolutely glued together with mayo. I’m a fan of mayo but not in that quantity.
Meal for two: 1 beverage, 2 mini lunch plates (1 scoop of rice, 1 scoop of mac salad, entree) for $15.50
Sugoi
1286 Kalani St. #B-106, Honolulu, HI
Bottom left corner: Taiwanese style shave ice
This is why I hate paying cash (aside from not getting points): I can’t remember where we went for shave ice and I have no credit card statement to refer back to. It was pretty good though. It was walking distance from the Hawaii Convention Center though.
We picked the mango combination flavor and shared between three people.
Middle left: Hot pot!
We were told that we couldn’t leave Honolulu without trying this hot pot restaurant. You get to pick your broth which is prepped and brought to the table, order meats from the servers, and fetch everything else (vegetables, seafood, seaweed, etc.) from the two fridge units. They also had a sauce station with about a dozen sauce options for you to mix and match. All my mixes were terrible. Turns out you really can go wrong when experimenting. But it was good.
Oh, and the funny thing? They get so much business that they actually put you on a dining clock. You’re allotted 90 minutes to eat and git! We didn’t keep very good track of our time so we overran by about ten minutes. The one server was pretty grumpy about it.
Meal for three: water all around, about 12 plates of meats, vegetables, noodles, mushrooms, seafood balls, tofu for ~$50.
Sweet Home Cafe
2334 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96826
Other great foods:
Leonard’s Malasadas: A dollar for either a sugar or a cinnamon sugar pastry. Absolutely AMAZING. We’ve decided a hot, fresh malasada is basically the best dessert in the world. [feast your eyes]
Rainbow Drive-in: A bit of a classic recommendation for plate lunches.
Honolulu Cookie Company: they have yummy shortbread cookies and bins of samples in their stores. Mmmmm….
Garlic shrimp trucks: You can find these on North Shore, there’s one in Waikiki and a great one on the way down to Lanikai from PCC.
PCC: If you’ve never done a luau, the Polynesian Cultural Center’s supposed to have a good one. I didn’t feel the need to go to another luau this time because I really just want the food and not the show, but they also have (rather expensive but good) Dole whips here.
Over to you: have you got any favorite Hawaii foods? Did I miss any crucial Must Eats in this list? Or favorite travel foods you’d go the distance to eat?