Why You Need to Check a Bag Full of Food:

When you go on a family trip to a vacation rental, after the long drive or flight that last thing you want to do is to go grocery shopping. Most of us, especially during a global pandemic, choose

rental vacation units over hotel rooms because of access to kitchen space. Not only is it sometimes easier and more convenient to cook (especially if you have a lot of allergies in your travel group), it is undeniably safer during these unprecedented times.

On a trip to Colorado this past winter where we knew we would most likely be cooking from our rental unit, we tried a little trick. Because we were flying Southwest which includes 2 free checked bags per person, we decided to fill a cardboard box full of snacks and other food we would need, especially in our first couple days there and try to check it. 

The good news is that it worked! The agent was able to help us check the box of snacks, cereals, spices and more and it got to our Colorado unit successfully. The bad news: the box was not in good enough shape after our journey to transport the left over groceries home at the end of the trip. Additionally, it was quite the hassle to check a box.  It doesn’t have wheels or handles so it is difficult to carry, especially when you you also have to carry skis. Another issue is to prevent the box from being misplaced by covering up anything that had previously been on the box such as Amazon logos and shipping labels. It makes sense to cover the box with information that the baggage team can use to get your bag to the right place, all time consuming. Overall, the plan was helpful to get our food to the right place but difficult in the sense of checking a cardboard box.

On another trip we tested a new method: pack the food in a suitcase. This method worked much better. The food arrived in the suitcase ready to go and better than ever. 

If you have ever flown into Denver with the intention of skiing, you know the road up into the mountains is at least an hour and a half. When we got into our car, we were incredibly hungry but we had our snacks ready to help us power through the drive. When we woke up the next morning, we didn’t need to search far for breakfast. We had our food ready before hitting the slopes. 

Checking a suitcase full of food may sound odd, but I assure you, it can be greatly beneficial and worth your while. I might avoid checking a cardboard box though!