The High Road – Traveling with Edibles

Margaret 00:00:03 Welcome back, friends episode 303. And today we are talking about traveling and edibles. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your life. I'm your host and Certified Ganjier Margaret and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. And welcome back, friends, to the podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture and cannabis. And I help cooks make great edibles at home. Thank you for being here. I am so glad that you decided to join me today for this travel filled episode. And I guess travel is on my mind because I just got back from Camp Canada. I decided to wait to record this episode until after Camp Cannon, because I really wanted to talk a bit about my experience because I knew it was going to be a good one, and I almost didn't go this year. Can you believe it? I almost didn't go because I went last year with an alkene Alton. Some of you may recognize that name.

Margaret 00:01:03 She is the author of Butter and Flour and Stoned, both to beautiful cookbooks if you don't already have them. And what makes them so unique is that they are interspersed. The recipes are interspersed with stories from the cannabis community, and Anne is a lovely human being. And we went last year. It was sort of a last minute thing, but we we went last year and spent quite a bit of time palling around during Camp Cana, and she told me this year that she wouldn't be able to go, that there was a conflict and she was unable to attend. So I decided I almost didn't go. And then Alexis, who was the founder, I believe, of Camp Cana, I should have her on the show one of these days. shot me. I met, sent me a message, and she convinced me to go. And I'm so glad that I did. I had such a great time. It was really cool because there was a number of people that had been there last year that were coming again, and we shared the same cabin again this year.

Margaret 00:02:04 There was at least over double the numbers as last year for sure. There was definitely a bigger crowd, but that didn't really take away from the intimate feel of the entire experience. All weekend. It was. It was so much fun. I did some archery, there was rock climbing, I didn't do the rock climbing, but I cheered the people on who were doing the rock climbing. There was time spent down at the water. There were campfires, there was live music, there was night vendors, the food and the mess hall was fabulous. Three squares a day that I mentioned karaoke. We have fabulous weather, which all this spring the weather's been a little iffy, but the weather ended up being really beautiful. It was still a little cool at night, but the daytime temperatures were perfect. Lots of coffee, tons of weed of all kinds that you could imagine. And remarkably, there was also several non consumers there as well. They were just there to support the cannabis community and people in their lives that do consume cannabis.

Margaret 00:03:07 It's such a great experience. And of course, the setting itself was a camp in Haliburton and there was very little cell reception. So what I ended up doing was turning my phone off for the entire Saturday. I just left it in the cabin, turned it off and thought, you know what, I'm just going to enjoy the experience. And and I'm so glad that I did, because honestly, it kept me off my phone and paying attention to what was happening right in front of me, right around me. And I met a lot, a lot of wonderful people, some from last year, some brand new faces and names to learn. But it was such a great weekend and I'm really glad that I ended up going, which is what has gotten me thinking a bit more. Also about traveling this summer and many people, whether you're just doing some, you know, day trips, checking out local attractions that oftentimes when you're from a place, you never end up checking them out. That can be actually a pretty fun way to spend some time in your own town or city, because we tend to not experience our places where we live as a tourist might.

Margaret 00:04:15 And so some of those landmark things that make your place unique are often not visited. So I mean, there's that and I'm hopefully going I will be doing a road trip this summer with a friend to another province myself. It just got me thinking that how in the summer we are always traveling more often than we might otherwise. Although in the winter time, I think every Canadian is hoping to get out of the cold, cold weather to go to someplace hot and sunny, but that's not always feasible. So this is what has gotten me thinking about traveling. While infused. It's always good to have some some ideas and suggestions for how to do it best. So before we get into it, I am going to give a big shout out to Ellie from Australia who recently bought me some cookies on buy me a cookie. Thank you so much. Gestures like that are really meaningful to me and it does help to support the show because there are, of course, ongoing costs of running a podcast like this one.

Margaret 00:05:21 And as well. I am going to pick a card from the stone or trivia desk in Bhutan. Marijuana grows wild and is mainly used. By whom? Adults, teenagers or animals? In Bhutan, marijuana grows wild and is mainly used. By whom? Adults, teenagers or animals? And if you guessed animals, that would be the correct answer. I think I need to do a little research on this. I have no idea where Bhutan is. That is a obvious shortcoming in my geography. I need to look that up and verify. That sounds really interesting to think that all the animals in Bhutan are getting high. Now today's episode I'm sharing how I travel with edibles, what I pack, how I stay discreet, and tips to make sure your infused treats go wherever you go and whether you're headed to the cottage, a weekend getaway, a staycation or a full on vacation, we can make sure that you stay deliciously elevated as best you can. Some conditions may apply. So let's start with the golden rule when it comes to traveling with edibles, which is to keep it simple and discreet.

Margaret 00:06:41 And I have several go to travel friendly edibles that I like to take with me. And some of these are going to seem pretty obvious, but the first one is gummies or hard candies. And mainly because they're so easy to portion, they're not messy. They don't raise eyebrows. I can stash them in a resealable pouch. They're not going to you're not going to go and get them out and find them to be a big melted mess like you might with, say, something like chocolate. So that's one that I really like to have on hand when I'm traveling. The next one would be infused honey sticks or sugar packets, which is great for mixing into drinks. They're also lightweight and compact. One drawback is you pretty much need to buy those at a dispensary, so if they're not handy, although you could technically make your own sugar packets somehow, I've never done that. Or you could just make infused sugar, make sure you dose it and know how much per teaspoon at least so you know how much you're dosing yourself.

Margaret 00:07:37 The next one is nut butters or snack bars. And I mean, you can do store bought. I don't know, I'm trying to think are there that many bars on the market in dispensaries? There might be. But I find the issue, of course, in Canada in particular is that they are limited to ten milligrams. Nut butters are pretty easy to infuse as well. I I've done them before. I'll link to those in the show notes and things like snack bars, which I made protein energy balls to bring with me to Camp Cana, and I infused them, and I had a bag of them so that I could share them. Enjoy them myself. I got there and they're like, yes, remember, this is a nut free camp. And I don't know how. I didn't remember that when I was making these because I used peanut butter in them. So I had to take them out to my car and leave them there for the weekend. And I ate one before this podcast. Now I'm feeling it, but otherwise those can be a really great snack to bring, as long as you are making them with the awareness that that may prevent you from enjoying them in certain places, like the camp that I was at over the weekend.

Margaret 00:08:46 But otherwise they're usually pretty good. And of course, there's all kinds of different recipes for those that travel well. They may still need a bit of refrigeration, so depending. But if you're going actually out for like a day hike or something like that, they can be great because they do or they're nutritionally dense and provide a lot of energy. And another thing that I do occasionally buy our capsules now I do. I've been wanting to make an episode on making capsules myself too, but I haven't done it yet, in part because I would need to buy the actual capsule making machine, which I don't think is actually that expensive, but it's just a whole thing that I haven't gone into yet. But the capsules are no mess, no smell, and very discreet, and a lot of the times they look like like you could put them in another pill bottle. No one would really think anything of it. So those are some of the most travel friendly edibles that you can bring with you. Gummies, hard candies, infused honey or sugar packets, nut butters and energy bars and capsules.

Margaret 00:09:51 Now, as far as packing them goes, I often will label them innocuously or not label them at all, or put them in some other kind of container, like the capsules. For instance, you could just put in maybe like a container for some other vitamin or something like that, that that is otherwise empty. I just prefer to keep them innocuous because I don't know, When you're traveling, you're on the road. Just sometimes I think it's better to keep some of these things to yourself. Choose no melt options. Obviously, skip the chocolate if you're going somewhere warm, but bring only what you'll consume you. I think it's best to probably not overpack your stash, and if you run out, well, sometimes it can be an adventure to find more. And that'll always, of course, depend on where you're traveling. If I'm traveling somewhere else in Canada, I am blessed to know that most of the jurisdictions I'm going to are going to have an overabundance of cannabis stores within easy walking distance, most likely.

Margaret 00:10:48 So there is the I mean, I guess I can't say that for more rural parts of the country, but most places have a dispensary now. You could be in other places where it's not so cut and dried as that, but that's a whole other conversation. So dosing while traveling start lower than usual, especially if you're dealing with altitude, alcohol or new environments. Set and setting is often so is so often talked about when it comes to when it comes to mushrooms, but this applies just as much, I think, to like consuming cannabis and with edibles in particular. So start with a lower the normal dose and see how you react. And you can adjust depending on the day as well. So if you're pretty new to edibles or you're brand new to edibles, I would always recommend starting at about a couple of milligrams and going from there and of course working your way up. Now, when it comes to the legal side of things, it's it is important to know the rules of the the cannabis rules for the places where you're going.

Margaret 00:11:57 Some places obviously are cannabis friendly and others not so much if you're flying within Canada. I just be discreet. Personal amounts are generally fine. It's good to check the regulation, but I have flown with cannabis and edibles within within Canada without issue because it's federally legal, federally legal here. I would never travel internationally with cannabis, even if it's legal in both places. Now, having said that, I have traveled with edibles before, and I don't necessarily I don't advocate for this, but I do find that personally, the risk is likely lower with edibles that are unmarked. And I mean, it looked like I was coming back from a place with chocolate and that was it. It wasn't fused chocolate, but there would be no way of actually knowing that without testing it or eating it and finding it later. But I would personally, although I know people who have said otherwise, I would also never fly with actual flower because I feel like it's it's riskier in a lot of ways because that smell, that dank, dank smell, just wants to escape.

Margaret 00:13:04 I never travel internationally with flower, which makes it interesting to, sometimes try and find it in the place that you're going. And that's an interesting way to meet people. And I have also done that. When I was in Germany, I needed to find some flour, and I did, and I made a new friend and that was really cool. You know, told me a bit about the city that I wouldn't have otherwise known. It was just cool to hang out with a local and somebody who understood the city as someone who had been living there for like 20 odd years or something like that. So other travel essentials that I bring, I bring my own infused teabags or honey sticks, a mini stash pouch which keeps everything together and out of sight. And when I did fly to Germany, I also brought a I think at the time it was an ardent Nova because they suggested that buying a using an adapter for the art, because I was just going to bring the art in with me to make edibles while I was overseas, which I did do.

Margaret 00:14:04 And they suggested that was not a great idea because the 220 volt, I wasn't really prepared for how strong that how different that would be when I was in Germany, but I definitely noticed it when I remember the first time I plugged in my hairdryer and it was just like holy the power. But in any case, I brought an ardent Nova with me because it had a 220 volt outlet and they said that was better, provided better performance. But I typically wouldn't necessarily be traveling with an infusion device, but it is a possible to do. And of course, I made when you find edibles overseas, you can also make edibles. And I will note when I was in Germany it had just become legal. So it was sort of an interesting gray area at the time because it had been legal as of April 1st and I, I was there for the month of April. So Infuse Travel doesn't need to be complicated. It just takes a little planning and common sense. And odds are if you're planning some kind of trip, then you're going to be doing some planning anyway.

Margaret 00:15:01 So just plan for what you're going to be doing with your with your travel. Another thing I do also like to bring this is an honorable mention because sometimes they can get a little pricey is I do enjoy drinks from the dispensaries. That's one of the things that I do like to buy in dispensaries, because I can't can get a buzz off of, off of a beverage that I would never get the buzz off of from an actual edible. The actual edibles are really handy. Like, when I went to Camp Khan, I brought it. I brought some gummies, but the infused drinks are great. They're also great if you're in any places where people might be drinking, and you don't want to be seen without something in your hand, lest you have to answer too many questions. So whether you're road tripping, flying out edibles can absolutely come along for the ride. Do you have a favorite edible travel tip? Did I miss anything? This is why I typically don't record when I'm high because I tend to forget things.

Margaret 00:15:53 You can share it with me on Instagram at Bite Me podcast. Or why don't you join a Bite me.com? Check out the Bite Me Cannabis Club and we can talk about it over there too. More in depth and without getting banned on the socials. So pack light dose smart and take a bite out of your next adventure. I am your host, Margaret. And until next week, my friends stay high.