Getting fit for a trip, and Subway

On our recent trip to Paris, we ate at Five Guys, Chipotle and Breakfast in America. I am unashamed.

Oh yes, I try to "train" for my trips. I'm leaving tomorrow and this winter has been late so I'm not where I like to be fitness-wise. I don't like to walk on icy snow this time of year so prefer walking on bare pavement - not much around here right now.

I like to have a base of 4 mile walks 2-3 days a week and then bump up to a longer walk on one day a week. I feel most confident when I have done a couple of 8-milers but feel OK if I've done 6 several times. Just not happening this trip.

I'm not big on fast food at home so don't eat at American fast food places in Europe. I DO eat at falafel places, particularly in Paris, which is local fast food, lol.

I always up the stamina for a few weeks before a long holiday. That's I hill climbed 10,000 steps yesterday (not on a machine, on real hills).

Subways are reliable, nutritious and cheap. No issue there. European McDonalds are quite different to what you may see at home - French ones even serve wine. Predictable, fast, cheap and these days with care they can be quite nutritious. Just choose healthy.

We stay on top of fitness fairly well with a gym membership that affords daily treadmill time. Usually we have a summer of good outdoor walking and hiking before the annual European odyssey but this year we leave in 4 weeks and the weather has not yet supported our usual outdoor treks. However, while we may walk 10 miles on many days while traveling, it is never in one walk but split up throughout the day, so I am not worried about stamina, in particular. When we do a European hiking trip, especially in the mountains, we start with a couple of light days since we live at sea level, hiking at 6000-7000 feet makes a difference.

No fast food, unless you count panini in an Italian bar. I do up my baguette and croissant consumption in France and eat more than my share of chips in pubs in the UK, though!

BigMike,

• Walking, stretching, some PT exercises. Keeping a good posture/stance while out and about.

On my trips to Rome, I usually didn't eat a big lunch because I was satisfied with my breakfast buffet supplied by my hotel. I may have a protein bar or gelato which held me until dinner; eating around 8-ish. I saved my appetite for dinner. Most of the time, it was a pasta dish, wine, dessert, espresso. On a couple of occasions, I did order a prosciutto and melon dish or carciofi before the meal. I had pizza a couple of times.

Being new to Rome back then, I was not too sure about restaurant etiquette. Although, I then learned....On my first trip to Rome, I "used" McD's one day. Sometimes, it's nice to see a familiar face :) Jokes aside, I was walking around; sort of overdid it. I was (sometimes) using a cane on that trip and felt at ease to duck into Mickey D's for certain reasons. I knew that most likely I could use the restroom, order a Happy meal and get energized again. It was very cold and windy that day.

That corner McD's I went into was not crowded at that time since it was past the typical lunch time hour. I sat near a window, ate, people watched, browsed my Kindle a bit, felt rested enough to move on, took some Ibu's. I was fine after.

Oh, and, one of my favorite times (first trip) was when I went to the Coop market, got a panino, salad and a little dessert. I walked to Piazza Navona. Dusk was setting in. I sat on a concrete bench, ate and people watched. I also heard in the distance the street musicians I listened to at the Pantheon. It's the little things....

If you're not able to walk long distances, you should probably start walking before your trip. You might include stairs too to be ready for a world with much fewer escalators and elevators (or more escalators if you're speaking French).

I'd be most worried about making sure the shoes you are packing will be comfortable for long walking days. Test drive any shoes before they make your packing list.

Regarding food, my rule is I don't eat what I can eat at home. Fast food is fine as long as it's a corner brat, crepe or gyro stand. One evening I was in Dublin and starving. The only thing open was the McDonald's. I went in sad for violating my eating rule. I saw a McVeggie on the menu so I ordered it (even though the cashier gave me a funny look). It was truly awful. At least I couldn't have ordered it at home. I got the happy meal so I also bagged a cartoon character toy, that I'd never seen or heard of, as a souvenir.

Big Mike,
Your post reminded me of a study abroad trip I took in 1994. My first trip across the pond. The hotel we stayed at in Rome had free maps of Rome sponsored by McDonald's, with all their locations prominently shown on the map. So on one of our free days me and a friend hit up every McDonald's on the map. I don't remember how many restaurants there were but it gave us a pretty good tour of the city, and we ate at each one. I do remember being surprised that they had beer as well as soda. These days I try to avoid food I can get at home when traveling but, sometimes their restroom facilities are so convenient when you got to go, and you might as well get some fries and a coke too.

An Egg McMuffin and a coffee is cheaper in Paris than it is in Green Bay, and the coffee is way better.

Once tried to get a Big Mac at the Mickey D's in a shopping mall next to Lyon Part Dieu station, but the place was packed, so we had to settle for a fresh ham and cheese baguette from a kiosk with no line in the station. Serendipity.

This is an interesting thread.

We typically eat a low- or no-carb diet. No bread. However, that's hard to do in Europe. On our last trip, I waited to switch to a diet including bread until we go there. This had bad side-effects, which I will leave to the imagination.

When you eat a diet, your intestinal bacteria are designed to work with that diet. Switch to a European diet before you go, by possibly 2 weeks.

OK, I'll be the snob who says it. I don't ever go to a fast food joint in Canada, so I certainly don't eat at one in Europe, or anywhere else. And if Big Mike thinks "a Big Mac tastes as good as a $50 steak tartare", I am at a loss, and I am probably one of the small percentage of people who will eat raw steak. But it would be more to the point to compare the taste of a Big Mac to, say, a grilled filet mignon.

If I'm going on a trip where I have lots of hiking or other activity besides general sightseeing walking then yes, I try to "practice". That may be jogging more or turning up the incline on the treadmill (I live in a very flat area - no natural hills to speak of, so any uphill practice has to be on a treadmill).

Eat at subway if you want, sometimes a taste of home is good! I do admit to going to McDonalds for the bathrooms, and buying a coffee or soda to access them. My more typical food vice is buying something like cheerios or other food from home for my breakfast in an apartment, instead of finding a more interesting choice in the supermarket.

However, there is a world of options between American fast food chains and expensive steaks. If you want to branch out, maybe figure out what the local cheap fast food is and try it when you can. Pizza by the slice, sausages, fish and chips, gyro meat on pita, whatever is sold in local hole-in-the-wall counter shops might be just what you want - local, fast, and tasty!

I usually walk quite a bit on a normal basis anyway. But when I am preparing for a RS tour, I double that amount of walking starting a couple months before the tour. At the point I depart for the tour, I am usually walking 10+ miles a day at a fairly quick pace. It really helps and on the tours where I didn't have the opportunity to do the extra walking in advance I really felt it. It did not feel good.

Nothing wrong with eating at Subway. Or McDonalds. Or any other fast food chain you find anywhere in the world. I have done so when the situation allows it if it makes sense. Sure, I prefer a nice meal in a locally owned family run restaurant where I can possibly get a taste of the local cuisine. But you don't always have time for that and I do need to eat. I don't look for fast food specifically. The fast food places are also different outside the US. Different food that is sometimes surprisingly good.

I have a trip to France approaching, and am going with someone who very much likes French cuisine (which frankly is not my favorite cusine) and dining in restaurants in the evening, so I may be changing my opinion in about two months.

However, on trips to Europe in the past, for several reasons, I have avoided the nicer restaurants and, given the choice, have preferred to spend my money on a fairly nice hotel rather than restaurants. I am not talking about American chain restaurants, but I am talking about (outside Italy and especially in the UK, France and the German-speaking countries) street food, pubs, pizza, and Chinese restaurants. And money has not really been the issue.

One reason is perhaps ignorance and at times social awkwardness. But another reason is that frankly I think we can in many parts of the US eat as well, if not better.

I don't generally do extra physical training before my trips because I don't own a car and get in a fair amount of walking to and from doctor's appointments, farmer's markets, and the like. However, this year the weather has not been conducive to voluntary outdoor walking, so I've used the subway more, and I fear I will feel the effects at the beginning of my trip. I have 13 days to go, so I can still do some extra walking, but at this point I'm busy with trip prep. (As a late-night comic once said, it's hard to find time to do things you don't want to do.)

I try to keep in mind the sensible comment I read decades ago in a bicycling magazine: People obsess about the last ounce of weight when they buy bicycle gear while they're carrying an extra 20 lb. on their bodies. Being stuck with suitcases that weigh more than I like (I swear it's not extra clothing), I try to drop a few pounds before each trip, which I think helps a bit with endurance and may reduce the risk of foot pain. I haven't done so well this year, between the weather and the fact that I'm traveling 3 weeks earlier than I have ever done. It's a lot easier for me to lose weight in the spring than in the fall or winter; I think I eat to compensate for the lack of sunlight.

As for comfort food, I wouldn't be caught dead in most fast-food restaurants in the US, so they hold no attraction for me overseas. I like to know I'm not at home when I travel. Except for air conditioned rooms in the summer. I'm all-American in that regard.

Maybe most people don't make a habit of fast-food eating as a rule, but, sometimes it's convenient to take advantage if a person needs to rest, regroup or whatever. From my personal experience at that time, I saw the "M" and felt a bit of relief. I was hurting by then and didn't want to wander looking for a cafe to sit or how long I was allowed. We learn as we go traveling abroad. McD's or a BK Lounge can be necessary stand ins mid day.

This is what it's like to travel with my 23 yr old daughter-Marks and Spencer sandwiches or McDonald's( since there's no Chik Fil A). Not even interested in tea at Fortnum and Mason! But hey, that does mean she's cheap to feed!

A long time ago, a friend of mine was into the Jim Schwall Band. They had a song with the lyrics that went something like this: "....No matter how much steak I get, sometimes I just want a Big Mac". I can tell you that, having sampled McDonalds in Europe and Japan, without exception, the food was always tastier (i.e., using tallow to fry the French Fries in Vienna) and/or fresher (piping hot in Japan) than in the U.S. However, the one thing that we really valued about McDonalds in Europe was access to clean bathrooms.

I’m up to 3 miles walking hills and flat 4 times a week (6000 steps in an hour), walk all day at work 2 days a week (retail) and clean horse’s stalls every day 2 or 3 times. Plus I have to soak my special needs horse’s hay so that’s lifting 6# dry/18# wet hay into and out of buckets 3 times a day. Now that the rain’s over and horse’s abscesses are healed, i’m back to riding at least 3 times a week. So yes I get lots of exercise.

I eat fast food about twice a year. Today was Jack in the Box and I had a tummy ache afterwards.

The coffee in McDonalds in Paris is delicious!!
And... a wee bit cheaper...…..

"The coffee in McDonald's in Paris is delicious."

The coffee anywhere in Paris is delicious.

BigMike, no shame whatsoever here--I actually do not eat fast food at home, but something comes over me when I am on vacation and there I am, having a BigMac and fries, surprised that most places I've had them will charge you for ketchup. I travel solo so my mealtimes vary wildly, and I try to book a hotel with breakfast so I get off to a good start, and then either have lunch or dinner at a sit-down nice restaurant--whatever meal I don't have I tide myself over with a snack, that could be pastries or a quick stop at McDonalds. Sometimes a Subway sandwich hits the spot--after a long day I might end up wanting to eat dinner much later in my room. Sometimes a fast food stop covers other needs as well--on a hot day there's A/C to bask in, a restroom and free wi-fi.

I'm already a walker, so don't do anything extra to prepare in that regard. I average 8-10 miles per day on a typical trip to Europe, sometimes even losing as much as 7 lbs.

Actually, there are a lot of local sandwich shops that are every bit as cheap as Mickey D's. We went to some in Barcelona, Madrid and there's even some in London. That said, when we needed decent Wi-Fi while in a city, we've stopped off at McDonalds, I never ever eat it at home but for free WiFi, needs must.

The weather is finally warming up here. So, I get outside and get myself up to 20,000 steps per day.

I do enjoy a lot of good meals in Europe. But I also find it fun and convenient to pop into places that we have in the USA and compare. I’ve had a different type of chicken nuggets at McDonald’s as well as a different type of dipping sauce. Taco Bell is quite different, many menu items that aren’t available in Chicago. The cheese at Chipotle in London is wonderful. It’s also fun to try local chains. Barburrito and Tortilla are similar to Chipotle in the UK, for example.

I do plenty of walking daily anyhow, but increase it at least a couple of months prior. You should do this to make sure you have the right shoes! When in Europe for 2-3 months, I have stopped at Mc D's and Burger King occasionally. I get tired of the same European ham sandwiches. I also try if possible to have a larger meal at lunch and in the evening do a lot of small grocery buying for prepared salads, yogurt, etc. I am not a fan of eating real late as many Europeans do. Eat whatever you want and whenever you want. There are no rules!!! Just advice and preferences.

Our weather is finally turning here in beautiful central Illinois. I had my second knee replacement in November and recently developed an issue with the first replacement, which I'm beginning some therapy for this week. Needless to say, this has been one LONG winter for me. Just today, I finally got out and did a decent neighborhood walk, though it wasn't terribly far. I've been walking on the flat track at the gym, but that's just not the same as any outdoor walk. It's a bit under five weeks until our Best of Scotland tour, so I've got some work to do, but I'm confident I'll be fine for the walking. Just hope I'm doing better with stairs by then.

On our couple of overseas trips, I don't remember eating any U.S. chain fast food. I haven't even indulged my Starbucks Jones on those trips. We have ducked into a McDonald's or two for a cold drink with plenty of ice and a bathroom stop. Even on domestic trips, we usually make a point to look for interesting local places and keep the fast food to a minimum.

Pizza and hot dogs (pølse) are economy comfort food meals in Norway.

Just got back from an early March trip to Noway. Our first dinner in Oslo was a Peppes Pizza across the central train station. Pepe's is the big Norwegian pizza chain.

Pølse med brod translates to hotdog, the ultimate comfort food and at the equivalent of $5, an economical lunch. We also had pølse wrapped in a potato pancake (lefse).

I hate to break the news to people but RS is not a foodie. In his most recent interview with the NYT he states he would be happy getting a Subway sandwich and eat half for lunch and half for dinner.

I tend to eat in restaurants and sometime just get a takeaway to take back to my room. I especially like the UK where you can get premade sandwiches and salads almost everywhere.

You might want to try the local chains. When I had a hankering for a burger in Dublin, I found a chain called "Eddie Rockets." More of a sit down place with a 50's diner theme. The burgers weren't bad and they are all over Ireland.

As for getting in shape, I tend to take some long walks. And increase my stair walking.

You may be happily surprised there are similar "fast food" places in Dublin and Paris. Paris has Pret a Manger which features lots of sandwiches and Dublin has Costa Coffee with sandwiches that look like McDonald's to me. I am sure there are more. Looks like pub grub is available in both locations. No shame. Sometimes you just have to sit down and relax with what you know.

Ah, Debbie, we love Pret! Also Cafe Nero in the UK with Costa a close second.

We start every trip with the intention of avoiding McDonalds, but somehow we always end up in one! Usually it’s toward the end of the trip when we’re tired of being adventurous with menus and just want something familiar. That said, we’ve had some memorable McDonalds experiences. In London we people-watched while enjoying a Cadbury McFlurry (YUMM! why don’t we have those here?). In Antigua, Guatemala we had the most amazing view of a volcano from a beautiful patio. So now we go into every trip knowing we’ll probably end up in a McDonalds, and we try something new there - like strawberry cheesecake in Italy!

I do train for our trips. I normally walk a couple of miles a day anyway, so before a trip I'll try to add miles. I also start carrying a backpack about 60 days before the trip. I have my old Civitá bag loaded with books, and wear it on my normal walk. I start low - about 10 lbs, and add weight gradually.

I will also start adding some hills; in fact, I did that just yesterday. My regular daily walk (to visit my Mother) is a gently uphill for about a mile, then a gentle downhill on the way home. When I first started carrying the backpack this time, I thought "Oh, this is nothing" until I got a few blocks from home, uphill all the way. By the end of the week I really wasn't noticing the pack at all, so I added about 1.5 lbs today. Yowzah! Now I understand why people weigh everything they put in their bags!

As for fast food, eat what makes you happy. I don't eat fast food here at home, so I have no reason to search out American chains abroad. We did drop into a McDonalds in Rome once, about 8 years ago, to use the bathroom. Which is the only reason we stop at McD's here, as well, although I don't think we've been to one here in the States in about 25 years.

Not a snob; just don't care for the food.

I never go to fast food restaurants at home, but for some reason really enjoy McCafes and McDonalds occasionally when traveling overseas. Where else can you get cheap food, air conditioning, ice in your drink, free Wi-Fi and a bathroom?🤣 I’ve also visited a Subway or two for the same reasons!

I love that you can get a beer 1664 at McDo Paris as part of combo meal
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1498/3970/

And a guilty pleasure is getting a Whopper at the Burger King at Schipol Amsterdam Airport

Agree with Brad. Rule when traveling outside the states is I don’t eat what I can get at home.

Only reason you’ll catch me in a Mickey D’s or Pizza Hut or KFC is to use their toilet.

I’m not an adventurous eater but I’m open to enjoying new food dishes. I also purchase picnic like foods, fruit, sandwiches, chips, cookies, cheeses to keep me fed.

Why spend all the money to fly somewhere to eat fast food?

Now I’m hungry...

A friend of mine eats lunch at Subway virtually every day. On her trip to England, Scotland, and Wales, she also ate at Subway virtually every day. Upon her return, I got a full update of the differences in Subway cuisine - one less piece of turkey on a sandwich in Scotland, corn salad as a topping in England, etc. To her, this cultural difference was as interesting to her as eating local food is to me. To each their own!

Why spend all the money to fly somewhere to eat fast food?

No we put a lot of energy in sight seeing also

yes, I try to build up stamina before a trip with long walks/hikes and hills. Makes the trip so much more enjoyable if 6-8 miles a day feels like a walk around the block at the end of the day.

The only time I hit up an American establishment in Europe was within the first few days of my first trip, went to a Starbuck's each morning while we were in Paris. Subsequent trips I've learned there is great (even better than Starbucks IMO) coffee wherever I've gone so far in Europe, especially Italy! I think I was just a little timid after the faux pas our first dinner, ordered fondue only to be served raw meat on a platter with a small simmering pot ... and we ordered the meat medium rare, lol.

We've eaten at McD's more than a few times - our last trip to south of France we hit McD's at least twice within a week - funny thing is, I rarely eat McD's at home! We've had Subway in the UK a few times, Burger King in Italy and UK...KFC once outside of Paris...BK in Den Haag, McD's in Dordrecht.

Sometimes you just want something fast so you can keep going...

My father and I are planning our third trip to Europe this year in the fall and are just starting to walk to get back into shape for this. He will be 88 at the time of the trip so it is more difficult for him. But two years ago on our trip we were averaging something like 5+ miles a day.

Thier is a LOT of walking in Europe

As for the fast food bit. It all depends. I like a good meal every once in a while but in general I just don’t care about food. It is something I do to keep going. It is like washing my face or cleaning my cloths or taking my medicine. It is something tha needs to be done.
So I will do whatever is the most convenient at the time. If that is a fast food place and then back on my way so be it, I ate at a McDs in Avignon once because it was open I was walking past it and I could get takeout and eat in my hotel room. It had been a long day for us and we were exhausted. The next night we got back and had energy to spare so we walked to the sq where the restaurants where and ate there. It was a good meal and we sat watching people with the soccer game on for about 2 hours.
So whatever works for you.
That being said thier are people on this forum that would have a fit over this. I have had negative comments about eating at fast food places here before. I said in one post that I stopped at a Burger King along the Autobahn because it was fast and convenient and a few folks had a cow.
And I agree sometime just grabbing a sub eating half now and half later back in the hotel is a good way to go,
I know some folks think differently but for me I am not in Europe for the food, I am in Europe for the buildings the art the history and the people, Things I can’t get back in the US. And I won’t spend time on food that I can get at home if that time can be used on something I can’t get at home. You can get great French food in the US but you can’t stand below the Eiffel Tower. So I would rather eat a hot dog while walking around the Eiffel Tower then spend the time in a restaurant in the middle of Paris.
But to each thier own.

Regarding Rick Steves not being a foodie, this is why I generally don't trust his restaurant advice. I'll look up his recommended restaurants and read reviews on other sites. His places seem to be bigger on atmosphere and charm, but I am an unrepentant foodie and eating is one of the most important parts of traveling for me.

That said, I ate at Five Guys in York and Madrid in the last year. Why? Because where I live, there are no good burgers. Germans haven't figured it out yet, somehow. So when the opportunity for a real good burger arises, I take it! Similarly, I often eat a lot of Asian food in Paris, and Mexican food in Berlin, just because you can find good versions of that stuff there that I can't here.

I do try to avoid standard fast food when traveling in areas with good restaurants, because I don't like to "waste" a meal. But I don't mind eating it in my day-to-day European life.

Good on everyone for getting in shape before you travel! We always warn our parents months in advance to start walking and they never listen and when they visit there are a lot of sore feet and tiredness.

Someone mentioned Pizza Hut which reminds me last year when we were in London and ended up at Pizza Hut. It was practically empty. We were going to try a pub, but they were standing room only since the World Cup was on and I didn't want to subject myself to that.

As for exercising more - well, sad to say I turned into a lump over the winter - we lost our dog in Oct and I had nothing to motivate me to get up and go out in the cold. We got a puppy 6 weeks ago and I still haven't convinced him to go past the end of the driveway with me, but when hubby is with me, we get a nice walk in. And I'm planning on some good long walks once he's a little bigger and the weather warms up - good training for our Sept travels!

When my husband and I were newly married, he spent 3 months in Europe with his sister. (My career required 80 hour weeks at that point with little vacation time.) Now I want to travel and he does not. This year I went to Italy because his favorite European city was Florence. During my trip I wanted to recreate some of his trip. One of the things was eating at a McDonald's in Rome. I posted my photos on my trip report thread and I was dreading the negative comments I thought I would get for including the Big Mac photo, ; ). (I did not get any negative comments)

Personally, my intent is not to eat at an American fast food place, but to eat at local fast food joint. I ate at Luini's in Milan for example. I have this "rule" for myself so that I push myself to do things that are a little more risky or uncomfortable. Maybe I will get something that I don't like that much but maybe I will discover a new favorite thing. Also, in general it is just as easy for me to get fruit, cheese, sandwiches as it is to go to McDonald's.

I would recommend to a new traveler to generally avoid American fast food until they had experienced alternative venues. Again, just so they can learn what the alternatives are like. But really, why do people care what other people are eating? I say it is OK to encourage new eating experiences for someone else because you have enjoyed such, but it is weird to criticize.

I’m like douglasjmeyer. I like good meals, but sometimes I just don’t have the energy to deal with going to a restaurant and doing the whole dining thing (strong introvert here). On an evening like that, I am much more likely just to eat a snack in my room or grab a fast food (like I did a Burger King in Oslo a few weeks ago). I just wanted to get some (bad) fuel in my body and not have a full-blown “experience.”

At Subway I get tuna salads as I have wheat allergies. I can't say I have actually seen them overseas, but wouldn't turn my nose up if no other option. I was in a McD's in Paris more to look and in one in Versailles because I arrived before Palace opening and was looking for something to eat and the loo. Early Sundays in Versailles has little to offer but McDs. The one in Madrid near my short let was the turf of a local mad man. First day was phantom fighting and enough yelling and activity to make the other side of the street much more interesting to me. However, McD continued having customers as there was an alternate entry. I never did venture in to see what Spain's offerings were. Hopefully not skinny fries 'brava'.
I suffered my last long trip as I didn't build up after a bad injury. I have told myself that I wouldn't be booking a future Europe trip until I had a healthful regimen in place. Your routines are helpful to aspire to.

I get tired of the same European ham sandwiches.

Yes, I know what you mean. I think the ham you're referring to is commonly referred to as York ham. I don't know if it's supposed to resemble a good York ham from England but I can assure you that it doesn't. You can buy it in pretty much every European country, the Herta brand is ubiquitous but most supermarkets sell their own brand of it. Essentially it's just cuts of pork immersed in a brine cure and then formed into a ham shape before being cooked and sliced. A proper York ham would consist of a whole leg of pork, dry cured with salt and saltpetre and left for several weeks whereas these commerical hams are cured in a wet solution in just days before being processed. What you end up buying is a pack of tasteless, wet slices of pork fused together as opposed to the dry, coarse textured and salty slices from a proper York ham.

Maria...hubby and I hit that same McDs by Versailles...lol. And we met...other Canadians eating as well. ;)

One thing I do is hit up the local supermarkets. Quite often they have premade salads or sandwiches. In some occassions, like in Stockholm, I was able to custom make my salad at their deli counter. I then take it back to my hotel for a quiet, inexpensive meal.

I've also found crudities (cut up vegetables),then buy some cheese and/or meat and make my own meal. Or just some guacamole or other dip.

They also sell individual pieces or fruit and pastries if you need that sweet tooth satisfied.

Just remember to pack a Spork.

Laughing about the Versailles McD! Went to Versailles on the RS Best of Paris tour and yes we went straight there. Rolinka, the awesome guide, said it was the best and easiest bathroom stop for a group. We all had a quick coffee, a pit stop and off we went!!

I'm pretty sure the Versailles McD was a Rick's tip😁

We stopped there on our RS Best of Paris Versailles day. I took pictures of the McDonald's macarons.

The Mc Donald’s in Nice is right across from the beach and has a “fancy” coffee and pastry bar in it. I didn’t eat at the place but I did grab some pastry while out walking.

I just though of something - I have eaten at McDonalds in Europe. At least in Spain they offer gluten free buns and for my at-the-time 7 or 8 year old that was amazing. He can’t eat at McDonalds at home because he has celiac. So being able to do so was a prime cultural experience for an 8 year old. We all ate there once, and maybe two other times during the trip I got him a burger before we all went somewhere more local - he was happy to sit at the restaurant and nibble on cheese, full from the McDonalds he had earlier.

He’s 12 now and on trips after that one he was more adventurous, happy to eat local naturally gf food but on that first trip after diagnosis it was so good for him!

We eat at a McDonald's or Subway on occasion overseas due to convenience. Why? Sometimes it's just there when you want something to eat or drink and go to the bathroom. We prefer a more leisurely meal in the evening, but during the day we like to keep moving and seeing things. Most of the time we grab a sandwich at local place.

In Spain, McD's was a good choice for WiFi. I ordered a beer (which you can't do at home) and caught up on my email more than once.

Shameful I must say.

And you know who you are, my friends.

Prior to departure I do make it point to get more in shape by walking a lot more, which I need to do anyway. I know once over there, however, I'll be doing a ton of walking anyway. In that regard I am getting the exercise.

On the eating of "fast food," I never touch the stuff in Europe, never go to a McDonald's or Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, with Subway only once or twice (that was in London) since nothing else was open or around and when I didn't know any better.

Now, I just head over to St Pancras even if it's 5 am to get the morning coffee and sandwich, one of the advantages to staying the Kings Cross/St Pancras area.

In Germany, France and Austria...never been to a McDonald's or Burger King for the purpose of eating,, not my scene, not my tastes, ..well, one time in Paris in the 1990s. If I want fast food in Germany, I go to an "Imbiss" or eat at an eatery in the train stations, the same in Austria.

When we were in England and Scotland 20 years ago with two early teens and my mother-in-law, we weren't planning to eat at Pizza Hut, but it was a life saver on at least three occasions.

I always plan to exercise more before a trip but I rarely succeed. There is something about traveling that triples my energy. I rarely walk more than 1-3 miles a day at home, but I routinely walk 8-12 miles a day on vacations that involve a lot of sight-seeing and city walks. The only ill effects sometimes are sore feet, but that subsides over time.

My typical pre trip regimen usually starts 6 months out.

My diet consists mainly of native foods, such as if I’m visiting Germany and Austria, I’ll consume Spargel, Kugelfisch, frisches brot mit kopfkäse und Mohr im Hemd and not much else. This get the enzymes in my stomach prepped for vacation.

My mornings first consist of crunches and squats. I love to squat. Who doesn’t.
Then, after a few weeks I’ll add 200 pushups to my day. Then and finally, I start my days of cycling, walking and swimming. I work like this until I have the strength and stamina to swim, pulling a rope, in my teeth, attached to a john boat, with my mom and nanna in it, around Manhattan, against the current, twice.

My wife and I then walk up a nearby hill and practice yodeling in extremely tight fitting pantaloons.

This prepares me for my coach/bus tours. The ones on which I only get off the bus to eat, sleep and of course, squat.

wow, lol!

Paul, the rest of us obviously have a lot to learn from you.

I get my tips from old Jack LaLanne shows from the ‘50s and ‘60s.