In a photograph from our 1986 trip to Greece, two plates of spaghetti sit on a tea towel. Beside them are cucumber salad, grapes and a pot of tomato sauce, still on the camping stove. One burner had to do. So did our budget.
These days, our accommodation usually has more cooking rings, though often only two. Spaghetti with tomato sauce still makes an appearance.
We like cooking when we travel. It is one reason we like staying in Airbnbs. And yes, money still comes into it. We travel a lot and are happy to spend money on it. But we do not need to spend it on every meal. We would rather stay away longer. Or book an apartment with a sea view.
No restaurant tonight
We love good local food in a restaurant. When the atmosphere is right, we have time and there is nowhere we would rather be sitting. That does not require white tablecloths or a hefty bill.
But choosing one or two restaurants every day for four weeks? We genuinely find that stressful. Once again, we have to decide where to eat, what appeals and whether it means going somewhere else. Eventually, we are sitting in front of a menu because we are hungry and another meal needs sorting out. Eating out becomes simply getting fed.
An evening in the apartment often comes as a welcome change. Something fresh, plenty of vegetables, a salad, some protein. We enjoy good food, but not every meal needs to be rich or elaborate. And sometimes we know exactly what we fancy. So we make it ourselves.
Our peculiar hobby
We also like going to supermarkets on holiday. As leisure activities go, it may not sound promising. We enjoy it anyway: seeing what is available, what is different from home and what we could cook with it. Shopping is part of travelling for us.
So is cooking. It is not some tiresome bit of everyday life we have accidentally brought on holiday. We like doing it.
We eat out when the place, the food and our mood come together. Or when the supermarket has little to offer. On other days, the pot goes on our own hob. In the recent photograph, there are potatoes, vegetables and something from the pot. The table has grown. We have chairs now.
And sometimes there is spaghetti with tomato sauce. It went perfectly well with a lovely day on holiday back in 1986, too.