LondonElite

This is bizarre. Water comes from a tap, and if you want to eat go out to a restaurant. It's weird to me that someone would want to turn their hotel room into some sort of bat cave where they have stored supplies for the next week. Why would you want to live off unhealthy snacks if you can go out for a nice meal somewhere?

Efrem

That's a bit harsh. Suppose I'm staying at a holiday/vacation resort location for a week in a suite or room with cooking facilities. Why would I want to spend $20 per person for an indifferently-cooked breakfast in a hotel dining room, when for a quarter the cost I can eat what I like, cooked the way I like it, while sitting on a balcony in a bathrobe and letting the housekeeping people wash the dishes?

While I don't often buy stuff for hotel rooms, I have bought milk (I like real milk in my coffee, not powdered "creamer" or half-and-half) and juice to take a few evening pills with. I just think it's absurd to buy water in places where perfectly good water comes out of the tap.

LondonElite

The OP said that it was a 'ritual', in other words done very time, regardless of whether it's the Ritz or the motel. I agree with you that if you are staying in an apart-hotel situation where there are facilities for in-room food preparation it's different, but checking into a Four Seasons or Park Hyatt with a Piggly Wiggly bag full of Poland Springs and Cheetos (to make my point) is a bit déclassé, in my view.

Proudelitist

I see your point. But as someone who has spent the better part of 9 years on the road constantly, that "nice meal" somewhere isn't all that nice after awhile. Restaurant food is fine on occasion, but for every meal over a long period of time it causes problems. Food poisoning becomes a regular event. Weight gain becomes noticeable before too long. Regularity goes out the window. Cholesterol shoots up.

Taking care of your body is an entirely different experience on the road and keeping things lighter and more routine, as well as gaining some level of control over what exactly you are eating is required.

That said, keeping the hotel room as a bat cave is no fun. It is important to get out..but not necessarily to eat. Go see something...at least go to the bar!

emma69

I will confess that when I travel to some locations, I will pop into a local store (Co-op type idea) to buy some prosecco, of which I have a glass as I am getting ready to go out, and perhaps another glass once I get back from my evening out. I even carry a sparkling wine stopper in my standard travel kit! Mini bars rarely have prosecco, if anything sparkling it is horribly overpriced champagne. I have even been known to pop to a deli and buy some olives to go with my pre-dinner drinkie. I have, as yet, never got a Piggly Wiggly bag to put either item in tho! I kinda want a Piggly Wiggly bag now.

pinniped

- I've brought my own wine into a FS hotel many times. I see this as fairly common, normal, and not something the hotel itself would even view as low-brow. (Assuming the wine is consumed in the room and there isn't some bizarre local liquor law that prohibits such a thing.)

- I've never brought any significant food into a regular hotel room. I don't know why, but to me this seems a bit strange. Maybe it's because I find the idea of actually eating in the room to be odd to begin with (again, I'm envisioning your typical rather dark/soulless business hotel room here). My personal exception is when I'm traveling to run a race: then I do bring oatmeal, bananas, and energy bars...and I prep the oatmeal in the in-room coffee maker. Why? Because runners are weird - don't judge. It's not a cheapness thing - it's a "where else am I going to get *my* flavor of oatmeal at 5AM?" thing.

If I want to eat healthy while traveling solo, I've found that sushi bars are generally very welcoming.

Grouchy

Nope. In most areas the USA is (far) ahead of the rest of the developed world. However water governance isn't one of them.

pinniped

I've consumed the tap water at hotels all over the U.S. with no ill effects.

Furthermore, I'm not aware of any common advisories that foreign nationals avoid drinking tap water in the U.S. I've never seen this in any hotel or travel literature outside of some very localized emergency, which could happen in any developed country.

The only problem with tap water is that it doesn't have a marketing budget like the bottled water industry.

mapleg

I travel to Japan regularly. There is virtually always a convenience store either attached to the hotel or on the same block (barring rural areas where you might have to go 3 blocks).

I have never once bought bottled water for use in my hotel room. Beer, sake, whiskey, coffee yes and generally from the convenience store or a vending machine.

I have no "ritual" about needing to do something en route.

televisor

Examples please.

emika

I tend to take a water bottle with me when I fly so if I arrive in a place where the tap water is drinkable, I fill it up at the airport. If not, I just make sure that I fill it up at the departing airport or buy a bottle there or stockpile mini water bottles they give me on the flight. Most of the time when flying to areas with dodgy water, airlines give out mini bottles instead of pouring out water for you unless if you're flying an US carrier who doesn't really stock mini bottles.

Another thing that I fly with are some snacks or candy and I try save some for when I arrive especially if I'll be arriving at an ungodly hour of the night. I can't really count on hotels having food and water available at all hours especially with budget travel. I just either go check out the nearby food options if there's places open or crash and get food the next morning.

No real ritual unless you count filling up a water bottle at the airport after arrival, I guess. Typically don't take detours from the airport to my lodgings as I'm cheap and do public transport. Dealing with luggage is annoying enough on the train or bus, don't need to add a grocery stop to that.

Grouchy

W're getting off topic...
Most recent infamous example might be Flint, Michigan.
However overall: outdated, confusing and contradictory water laws. Use of chlorine as disinfectants, intentionally adding of fluoride to drinking water. All so last century/1970's.
Then add for instance the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. Out of thousand of chemicals the E.P.A is restricting iirc only 5 chemicals and they only can test chemicals when it has been provided evidence of harm.
But even then...E.P.A is dropping the ball with only 2.x percent of Clean Water Act violations that are being punished/fined & only around 5 percent of the public water systems that violated the law is punished/fined (20% did).

Annalisa12

Why is this question awkward?

Annalisa12

bat cave... lol

On trips overseas we usually check in first then a day or two later we pick up stuff from a supermarket. Booze and snacks. I don't drink but my husband does so I am not a huge fan of sitting in bars for ages so he has a drink late arvo or before dinner just depending on what we have planned. We also enjoy a snack here or there, say when reading or just watching tv. My trips are for relaxation so I enjoy reading or just resting for an hour in the afternoon.

It's funny... I'll pay for premium airfares and suite accommodation yet if I can save a few bucks on booze here and there I will. It's weird I know.

Bear4Asian

I'm diabetic and I usually try to find a shop near the hotel (or airBNB) to get snacks and fruit for my stay. It is much healthier to have nuts, fruit and such that I can choose compared to the overpriced, small servings that I find in the minibar. I don't want or need to have large meals in the hotel or restaurants nearby.