So I’ve decided to take a Toblerone (dark chocolate) and eat a triangle at various stages of my current travels. I’m travelling to the Philippines with two legs on my flight and a couple of layovers too. My layover is very tight as well. The temperature is warm at all stops, so it’ll be interesting to see how the bar holds up.
To start I’m sitting at the terminal waiting for my flight. Opening a Toblerone is actually fairly easy, so even with a few bags I managed. There was also very little garbage, it was a small enough amount that I could have stashed it in a pocket if needed. I should also mention that the bar went through customs and airport security with no problems. While it’s kind of early to be eating chocolate for me (7am), it was a nice sweet snack. Closing the bar went well, since it’s a cardboard tube(?) with a flappy lid, it slid back into my bag with no problems.
Eating a Toblerone on an airplane is a little complicated, but I feel like it’s more the fault of the airline and not the candy bar. I decided to enjoy my treat when they delivered the snack for our first flight. I also left the Toblerone in my bag that was stowed at my feet for what I thought was easy access. It was slightly challenging to get the bar from my bag with the tray down. Having said that, any treat would have been equally or even harder to retrieve. The advantages of a Toblerone in this instance was that the package is durable, but more importantly it has a distinct shape. While rooting through my bag it was easy to identify the bar because of the triangular shape.
This particular Toblerone (dark chocolate) held up very well flavour wise. They say that when flying you lose some of your sense of taste, but this bar was bold enough to satisfy. It was also easier to eat compared to my snack (chocolate cake) that required a fork and the use of my tray, which ironically made getting the Toblerone more difficult. The cake tasted pretty good, but I feel like the Toblerone was better. Allison mentioned that she preferred the cake because it didn’t have any bits that stick to her teeth. So far the Toblerone has held up well, but let’s see how it does during our tight connection, will I even be able to get a single bite on the move?
The answer about whether or not you can eat a Toblerone bar while running to your next short connection flight is not really. I did manage to get a bite in just as we arrived at the gate right before they started boarding. This was the first time that the tinfoil became a problem. I hurriedly peeled it back, and missed a piece that had broken off. Chewing on tinfoil is not fun. This might be the first issue I’ve had with the Toblerone packaging since starting this experiment.
After boarding the plane I decided to have another bite of my Toblerone bar. It was a leisurely bite after putting all my luggage away and having the tray table down. Within a few minutes of biting this our dinner arrived. It was a chicken curry with a salad, I did not enjoy either and wished I had eaten the Toblerone after to cleanse the palette.
I decided to challenge myself for this bite and had a triangle just as we were pulling up to the gate. As you might know, pulling up to the gate on an airplane is a very stressful time. At this point you’re collecting your belongings, and thinking about getting up. Since this bite was rushed, I ended up eating another piece of foil. I also damaged the package a little. I seem to have twisted the end cap a bit. The strength of this triangular, cardboard tube is starting to give.
For my last bite of this particular leg of my trip, I had a bite after eating at a Wendy’s in the airport. This was another leisurely bite, but I did do a bit more damage to the top of the package. I did also take some time to peel away the excess foil and throw it away.
After a quick break, we went onto our second leg of the journey. This leg is a little less traditional, yet I feel like it’s a place where one might still find a Toblerone bar. To start this leg of the journey I find myself in another airport waiting for a plane. This other airport also sells Toblerone bars, so I know the concept of this article still stands.
The reason this airport is different than the first airports is that this is a domestic airport (in the Philippines) with smaller planes and much less grandeur than some airports (but still nice). It also means that in our case we would not be boarding our flight with a jet way, but instead we had to get on a bus. Allison was slightly annoyed with my effort to take a bite of a Toblerone on a busy bus, and I think I ate some foil again. The top of the package is also getting worse and the chocolate was very melty (the bus was hot).
We finally made it onto our small propeller plane and were on our way. My seat mate (which due to booking issues wasn’t Allison) was a little perplexed at me taking a selfie while eating a single bite of a Toblerone. It was fairly easy and since we had a really short flight, was a nice accompaniment to the small bag of cookies we got as a snack.
At this point I feel like I should have stopped this adventure as Toblerone bars are really sold primarily in airports and the flying portion of my trip was over. However, I still had a couple of triangles and a small boat trip. By this point the chocolate was very melted, and the bouncing of the boat made it very challenging to get the foil off (I may have eaten more foil). I don’t think Toblerone bars are really made for tropical, small boat rides.
To end this adventure I find myself at my resort enjoying the end of my Toblerone bar. In general I would say that this bar actually makes some sense as a bar to travel with. The only stipulation is that it must be the Toblerone in the cardboard tube. The tube is really the key to making this bar travel friendly. It allows you to take a bite and tuck it away easily. It also protects it fairly well from getting crushed.
The flaws are that since it’s fairly high quality chocolate, if you find yourself in warmer temperatures, it’s very melty. I would also say that the top of the tube isn’t really providing much protection. By the end of my journey it was barely holding on.
