Sunday, October 29, 2017

Chocolate In My Pocket for travel, Choctails on my Christmas list

Problem
What if you are in economy class and the airline doesn't give you a chocolate dessert?

Answers
Sometimes you can ask for chocolate as a snack after the meal.
You could bring a chocolate from home.

My husband was sitting on a Singapore Airlines plane, upstairs in Business Class, which he had to do to get enough airmails to maintain his frequent flyer status. I was down in Economy, benefitting from a free flight obtained with his Airmails. After the meal he came downstairs to see me. He surreptitiously handed me something wrapped in a white napkin. I unwrapped it. He had brought a chocolate from home!

I am quite happy with 'ordinary' chocolates. We had a friend in Singapore who liked chocolates as a gift, but she was not happy with ordinary chocolates. We were always desperately looking for a new chocolate shop to get something special for her.

I went for lunch with the Rothschilds, once. I was wondering what to take them. Since they had a shop on their estate, I presumed they had free access to all ordinary chocolates.

Now I know what to do for a gift for somebody like that. Pick a speciality chocolate. Note a list of chocolate suppliers so when it comes to Christmas or a birthday or special occasion you can find something special.

In Singapore chocolates are very expensive. If you go to a chocolate shop just before travelling, it's handy to have two or three packages of speciality chocolates to give when you get an unexpected invitation to dinner at a house or an expat club.

Some of the speciality chocolates contain cream so they will not let forever. Check the shelf life. One year I wanted to take chocolates and a white iced Christmas cake to Singapore for Xmas day, hoping to keep in in the freezer. Unfortunately, after I got home I looked at the label and found that the product said that it would expire before Dec 25th! We ate it earlier in London instead.

I discovered an email from a chocolate company I have not yet tried. I have added them to my list. I think I might have tried the chocolates and liked them at one of the chocolate shows in London. They run a chocolate club called Five O'Clock and you spend £15 a month and get unusual chocolates including ones just coming into production.

https://www.choctails.org.uk/chocolates/seasonal-specials/


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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