Travel tips – Serenity Through Sweat

Travel Tip Tuesday: Amazing Grass

If this is your first time visiting, welcome, and if you are returning, thanks for joining me for another edition of Travel Tip Tuesday. All alliteration aside, today I want to talk about Amazing Grass Green Superfood supplement.

Eating a clean balanced diet is difficult no matter where you are. There are lots of different opinions on nutrition, and you can find research to back up most of those opinions. I think most people, carnivores aside, try to eat a balanced diet and get some fruits and vegetables in their diet. This is sometimes easier said than done, especially when you factor travel into the mix.

Whenever you travel whether it is at the airport or the hotel, think about what food options are always available. You can find a McDonald’s on every corner, and you can always find some form of fried chicken or a burger. But, how often can you find a restaurant where you can get some high quality vegetables and a healthy overall meal, especially if you are short on time? Sometimes it feels like an uphill scavenger hunt to get a healthy meal while traveling.

For me, this is where the Amazing Grass Green Superfood supplement comes in. It is an easy way to make sure I get some vegetables and some healthy greens in my diet. It has a variety of greens, antioxidants, and pre and probiotics. As an added bonus this helps keep me regular, because nothing makes a four day trip feel longer than being backed up.

I normally mix this up with water and chug it with my vitamins after my morning workout. While this isn’t a beverage I would sip slowly and enjoy, the taste isn’t a problem for a greens supplement. If you can’t get over the taste, adding a packet of your favorite flavor of Emergen-C is a great way to combine your vitamins with the supplement and add some fruit flavor.

The 30 serving jar fits perfectly in my suitcase and is worth every inch of space it takes up. But, if space is a huge issue, my recommendation is a ziplock bag inside your shaker cup. Put a few servings and your serving scoop in a ziplock bag and stuff it in your shaker cup in between uses and your supplement is protected and with you where you need it.

If you are looking for a way to get more greens, probiotics, and a good overall supplement, especially while traveling, I highly recommend Amazing Grass Green Superfood.

Thanks for joining me for another Travel Tip Tuesday. Stay sweaty my friends.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Teton Seat Cushion

All alliteration aside thanks for joining me for another edition of travel tip Tuesday. This week I’m talking about the Teton seat cushion.

As someone who spends a lot of time in decidedly uncomfortable aircraft seats (our cockpit seats are less comfortable than coach) this thing is a real lifesaver.

Trying to get a workout in after a full day of work is hard enough, adding a sore back and legs in to that equation isn’t necessary. On the other side working out in the morning and then trying to recover on a stone hard seat is equally no bueno.

This was a Christmas gift from my wife and after two four day trips with it, I notice a huge difference in how I feel after a day of flying. Super bonus, it is an added insulated layer for those aircraft that spend the night in Minneapolis when your Florida butt is not conditioned to sit on those overnight frozen seats.

I haven’t gotten a chance to use this outside of work, but I can already think of plenty of other places where it will be great, camping, tailgating, and I’m looking at you, gym bleachers at a Jiu Jitsu or wrestling tournament.

This also packs down to about the size of a small water bottle and can easily be attached to the outside of a bag with a carabiner clip on the draw string.

Next to a 32oz Nalgene for size comparison

If you find yourself a little achy after your next flight, or you spend your weekends in uncomfortable gym bleachers for your little one’s activities I would highly recommend the Teton seat cushion.

I am in no way affiliated with Teton sports, and am not receiving any compensation for this post. It is available at

TETON Sports Seat Cushion; No More Hard Stadium Seat Pain; Office Chair; Car https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009L1MXE0/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_r4sfEbKW21526

Thanks for joining me for another Travel Tip Tuesday, stay sweaty my friends.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Christmas Spirit

Merry Christmas and welcome back to another round of Travel Tip Tuesday. All alliteration aside this will be a little different than the past few iterations which were very gear heavy. I love gear as much as the next guy and with Christmas here hopefully you found some heartfelt and useful gifts for your loved ones. But this week’s travel tip is about the Christmas Spirit.

I’m finishing up a four day trip and I’m very excited to be home with my family, even if only for a about 15 hours over Christmas. On this four day trip I was flying the last flight of the night from Atlanta to Charleston. Everything was moving on schedule and we were ready to push around 11:30 at night.

Right before we started our push, the captain and I saw someone doing that very familiar “I can’t believe I missed my flight” dance at the gate. We sent a message to the gate agent and told her to bring the jet bridge back and put the delay on us.

For those of you not familiar, everyone at the airline has a job to do in order to get flights out on time, and often times those metrics are tied to performance pay. So by us (the pilots) saying to put the delay on us, we were relieving the gate agent of feeling like she might be penalized for the aircraft going out late.

The jet bridge was brought back, the three passengers (two more made it up breathless in the time it took to get the jet bridge hooked up and the door opened) all made it on the aircraft and we’re extremely grateful.

What surprised me was the response from our flight attendants and one particular passenger in first class. The flight attendants were annoyed that they had to repeat their safety briefing over again. (The aircraft I fly kicks it old school without screens so the flight attendants actually talk and demonstrate). The first class passenger scoffed loud enough for me to hear from the open cockpit door and said “I can’t believe we are letting them on” I assured him that we would still be on time in Charleston

The flight proceeded without incident, we arrived at our gate two minutes ahead of schedule, and we got three more people to their destination for Christmas than we otherwise would have.

All it took for us to make these people’s Christmas as little better was a little bit of attention to recognize the situation, and a little bit of empathy to make the right call. One of the best things you can travel with all year round is a little bit of Christmas spirit.

Whether it is helping someone fold up their stroller in the jetway, giving up your seat in a busy terminal gate, helping someone get a bag in the overhead, or just having an overall cheerful attitude in what can be a stressful situation, we can all use a little more Christmas spirit in our travel experiences. A little bit of empathy and compassion will help all of us on our journey towards Serenity through Sweat.

Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, Merry Christmas, and stay sweaty my friends.

Today’s Serenity through Sweat, the 8th annual Christmas half marathon through the Carolina North Forest and around the UNC campus.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Morsel Spork

All alliteration aside, here is another installment of Travel Tip Tuesday and this week it’s the Morsel Spork.

If you have tried to get an iced coffee or any other cold beverage with a straw lately, I’m sure you are aware of the war on single use plastics. This seems to be slowly making its way to cutlery as well, but even when plastic cutlery is available I can’t tell you how many times I’ve snapped cheap plastic forks or knives and been left with a nub to finish my lo mein.

Enter the Morsel Spork (available at https://morselspork.com). As with previous posts I am in no way affiliated with Morsel and am receiving no compensation for this post. (but feel free to hit me up if you are interested in sponsoring the blog) The Morsel Spork is just a cool gadget that I carry with me on all of my trips and highly recommend.

Size comparison between Morsel, Morsel mini, and a toddler fork

I originally bought this thinking it would be great for my then 1 year old son. The rubberized edges are great for oatmeal and yogurt but I thought would also be gentle on toddler gums. However, since it is ideally designed to get the last morsel out of camping pots, it was a little big and unwieldy for my toddler.

The mini is the perfect size to bring in a lunch box or meal prep cooler. The Spork side is tough enough for raw veggies and even has some light serration to help with cutting. The rubberized side has different edges to help getting every last drop especially from odd shape containers (I’m looking at you Nutella jars)

The Morsel for me has been a great tool for eating everything I meal prep for my trips, from oatmeal and peanut butter, to salmon and veggies. I don’t have to create extra waste with single use plastic cutlery, or risk shrapnel injury when cheap cutlery inevitably snaps. It has also come in handy in our tailgating kits, and I’m excited to take it with us on our next family camping trip.

With Christmas right around the corner, the Morsel Spork is a great stocking stuffer for anyone who is eating away from home. It is something I have been using for over a year now and highly recommend. Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, and stay sweaty my friends.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Zendure passport

All alliteration aside, welcome back to travel tip Tuesday where I break down some things I’ve learned while living out of a suitcase.

This week I want to talk about one of my favorite travel accessories the Zendure passport. I am in no way affiliated with this company and am receiving no compensation for this post. I received this as a gift from my wife and I don’t leave for a trip without it.

The Zendure passport has 4 USB ports plus the option to plug in another charger

When I travel for work I have an iPad for charts and work documents, a backup battery so I can run that iPad all day in the plane, my cell phone, and then a set of wireless ear buds for workouts. If you spend any time in a hotel, good luck finding enough places to charge all this stuff, plus not forgetting it when it’s plugged in all over your room. The Zendure passport has 4 USB ports so everything can charge at the same time and in the same place. It also has a built in surge protector and 4 different power adapter settings so you can use it anywhere in the world.

4 different adapter settings for use wherever your journey takes you

My wife bought this for me when it was a Kickstarter product but they have their own store open now at https://zendure.com/collections/power-adapters/products/passport-30w-travel-adapter-white

If you have ever found yourself frustrated with your charger situation on a trip I highly recommend checking out the Zendure passport. Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, stay sweaty my friends.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Pocket Monkii

All alliteration aside, travel tip Tuesday is something I plan to make a weekly thing. I’ll try to cover things I’ve learned spending my entire professional life and a decent part of my childhood living out of a suitcase, especially as it relates to fitness, diet, relationships, and overall travel saavy.

I often joke with other pilots that the three most important things in the hotel are the three W’s: Wi-Fi, water pressure, and a workout area. If any one of the three are mediocre chances are your stay will be mediocre. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to a hotel with a broken down workout room and been left to my own imagination to get my sweat on.

The Pocket Monkii in it’s case next to my suitcase for a size comparison.

I’ll start by saying I am not affiliated with this company and I’m receiving no compensation for this post. (Although if you are part of the Monkii team and want to show me some love, please reach out) This is something I was excited to buy and something I use both on the road and at home. To me, it is an insurance policy against the broken down hotel workout room.

The Pocket Monkii (https://monkii.co/collections/pocket-monkii) has been my go to for a great hotel room workout, especially when the weather is bad and I can’t get outside for a run. The trx style workout is great for it’s variety and scalability. I can do light stretching and range of motion exercises, all the way up to a full on sweat session. It also folds up super compact and doesn’t take up a ton of space in my suitcase. The company has a companion app that also helps provide instructional material, pre programed workouts, and a glossary of movements so you can get inspired and create your own.

Movement library in the companion app with gif animations to check your form

Turn your planks up to 11 with the Pocket Monkii

I really enjoy using the Pocket Monkii both on the road and at home, and coming in at roughly the size of Coke can, it’s a great insurance policy against crappy hotel workout rooms. Thanks for joining in on travel tip Tuesday, stay sweaty my friends.