I used to 'gig' all over the country and, occasionally, the world. Although my paid gigs were setting up high availability computing rather than music :-) It did pay pretty well and I did usually make my own travel and accommodation arrangements. On the road I did tend to use transport cafes or, as leeneia suggests, take something to eat on route. I did get some funny looks once when I happened to be in the Peak District and took my lunch to eat at top of Mam Tor. Wearing my business suit :-D