Need Some Travel Advice

[jasonD2]

I work as a sales rep and have been able to handle eating on the road by freezing my own food and using hotel microwaves/fridges and also visiting places like Whole Foods. in 2 weeks i have my company's national sales meeting and its in Las Vegas. The hotel i'm staying in does not offer microwaves or refrigerators and im going to be completely at the mercy of what everyone else is doing. I'm not sure what type of foods i can bring with me and how i will be able to eat. there are going to be 25-30 people and i already heard the meetings are going to have catered foods. i'm a bit nervous and really dont want to starve myself for 3 days. any suggestions? thanks!

[Phyllis28]

Below are a few strategies you maybe able to use:

Contact the hotel customer service via e-mail. Explain your dietary restrictions and ask if is possible to have your food reheated. I did this when I stayed at Harrahs. Harrahs made arrangements with several of the hotel eating facilities to reheat my food but only after I e-mailed them. The phone customer service said accomadations were not possible. I did include a statement in my e-mail about celiac being covered by the American Disabilities Act. You should also check and see if a small refrigerator can be provided, again by e-mail. Sometimes a hotel is willing to empty the mini bar refrigerator. Don't empty it yourself or you will be paying for everything in it.

Contact the caterer for the event. You may need to get the phone number and contact from whomever at your company is making the food arrangements.

Ask about staying at another hotel within walking, bus, or monorail distance of the hotel with the conference. The Rio has a refrigerator. You can also check with the Residence Inn (full kitchen) or the Embassy Suites (usually an in room mircowave and small refrigeator).

Pack lots of food including cold meats and specialty gluten free foods. I use a soft sided cooler made for cans and wrap everything in blue ice and pack it in my checked baggage if I am flying. You can keep it cold for the three days by bringing along Ziplock bags and refilling them with ice from the hotel ice machine. Bring an extra small softsided lunch box for during the day. Someone from the area maybe able to tell you where you can buy a cheap ice chest to use.

There is an Outback on the strip not too far from Harrahs. There have been other posting about Las Vegas. These may have other restaurant lisitngs. You can also try a Google Map search. I would hope you have some breaks to be able to allow you to eat elsewhere if need be. Of course you may not be eating at a regular meal time.

I am sure others will chime in with other ideas. Hope all goes well.

[aikiducky]

First thing to try would be to contact the hotel where the meeting is. You might get lucky and they are able to cater for you.

Pauliina

[Gluten-Free Guy]

I suspect the caterer or the hotel chef can take care of you, although cross-contamination could be a concern, depending on how knowledgeable they are about gluten-free.

A light-weight, very portable backup food is Quaker Instant Grits (check the label to be sure they are still gluten-free). All you need is a bowl or cup of hot water which the server can get for you. Carry a little brown sugar and, if you wish, some raisins or dried cranberries to add to the grits. Since grits are ground corn, they have staying power and don't digest so fast you get hungry quickly.

[Juliebove]

I would still bring some things with me that are stable at room temp. Like pumpkin seed bars, Lara bars, nuts, dried fruit, trail mix, etc. Things that are substantial.