Food Allergy Travel
Dec 14 2010 in Food Allergy News, travel-vacation, Your Questions Answered by Ruth LovettSmith
Anyone ever deal with food allergy travel? We’d like to travel with our young son who has multiple food allergies. We’ve done day trips and weekend trips but are nervous about taking a longer vacation so far from home – especially out of the US. Is this normal and what can we do to prepare?
Planning everything in life when dealing with food allergies takes time. Time to research food options, hotel choices, airlines and more.
To be honest, we rarely travel overseas and it’s because of food allergies that we are planning our 2012 vacation before we even enter the year 2011.
That might seem crazy to most. However, if you consider the fact that many families can travel only during school breaks and that food allergy families have a lot more to consider – one can see why it’s important to plan well in advance.
There are many places we’d personally like to go as a family. Some are more realistic than others. Having a Thai background – we’d love to take the kids to Thailand, however we can’t see doing that with a peanut allergic seven year old. Italy is on hold until our son fully outgrows his egg allergy as most fresh pastas contain egg. What would Italy be like without enjoying pasta?
We’ve finally narrowed down our 2012 family trip to beautiful Hawaii and here is why.
Reason 1. It’s part of the United States
This means no translation issues, better medical facilities and pretty tame food. Also, any food we’ll need to purchase (while expensive) will more than likely be brands we know and trust and will follow US labeling laws.
Reason 2. It’s a popular destination
Popular destination means a higher likelihood that restaurant and hotel staff have dealt with food allergies before. While we plan to write and call the places we will eat and stay – popular destinations like Hawaii mean many high end resorts and hotels go out of their way to treat their guests.
Hawaii is beautiful, tropical and offers so many things for a family to do. It’s like Jamaica or Costa Rica except it’s in the US. Hopefully it will offer our food allergic family a safe and peaceful place to rest and have fun.
If you plan to travel and are dealing with food allergies – it is possible. It just takes a little extra time and effort.
Following are some important tips to get you started:
- Bring your emergency medication.
- Notate the hospitals in the areas you plan to travel.
- Consider wearing an allergy bracelet.
- Consider renting a house or condo with a kitchen.
Have you traveled with your food allergic child? Share your stories and favorite destinations in our comments section.
If you’ve been to Hawaii – we especially want to hear from you. Where did you stay and what did you do?
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Marie said on December 16, 2010
we spent 2 weeks in Oahu and Maui early this year. our 7yo has a peanut/nut/seafood allergy. you’re thought process is logical…because it is stateside, it does allow you some level of comfort. but be aware that the availability of variety of foods in the supermarkets is limited because of shipping costs. as you probably are aware, food and dining is more expensive in Hawaii than any other American/Canadian cities. We have ventured off to Europe as well and have taken precautions such as cooking for ourselves, bringing our own non-perishable foods in case we run into problems, and we used a site select wisely.com which allows you translate the food allergy in any language. we used this in czech republic, holland and france recently…it was a lifesaver (pun intended!) because we found out that the French love using peanut oil!
enjoy your travels!
Ruth LovettSmith said on December 20, 2010
Marie,
Thank you so much for taking the time to post. I was not aware that the French love using peanut oil – that is good to know!
I sincerely appreciate your tips and am looking forward to our much needed vacation. :)
Kate said on July 18, 2011
We went to Aruba recently with egg, dairy, peanut/tree nuts and shellfish allergies and the key was to stay in a room with a kitchen and bring key ingredients that we might not be able to buy there (ex. Earth Balance margarine, bread, and sunbutter (great for lunch time)). We were able to buy soy milk there. It was great because the hotel also had grills available! It turned out to be an incident free vacation.
PS – a note on Italy – most traditional Italian pizza crusts are just flour and water, and they don’t typically use much cheese. You can find some GREAT pizzas with sauce and a mixture of topics of your choice. We love pepperoni, peppers, olives and onions. It is so much better than your typical cheesy American pizza.
Ruth LovettSmith said on July 19, 2011
Kate – thank you for much for stopping by and for commenting!
And a huge thanks for the information and travel tips! We are hoping to hit Italy in 2 years. We decided on Hawaii for this year as it’s US based but still tropical!
Thanks again!
Jennifer said on November 15, 2011
We will be traveling with our allergic son for the first time since we discovered his allergies. And it’s for a food holiday of all things – Thanksgiving! I’m stressed to fly, as it’s a full day of traveling, and we have to pack a full day’s worth of food. He has multiple food allergies, so eating out is very hard. How can I pack healthy things that don’t need to be refrigerated? I’m going to try, but I have a feeling it’s going to be sunbutter and jelly sandwiches with carrot sticks and other healthy snacks all day. Once we’re there, we’ll be in the US, instead of Canada where we’re used to buying all his foods. So, it’s back to allergy reading 101 – we’ll be at the store for hours :( And then Thanksgiving! Oh boy, that is going to be interesting. I’ll probably have to prepare a special menu just for him as we’re guests at a family event. It’s going to be a challenge, but we’ll make it.
Hawaii is beautiful! Enjoy!
I came across your site on the Circle of Mom’s top 25 Food Allergy Mom Blogs. It’s given me the idea to start a blog hop for allergies, asthma and eczema – parents or adults dealing with the condition. Please check out the page here and add a comment if you’d like to join. Thanks!
http://itchylittleworld.wordpress.com/blog-hop/
Jennifer
Ruth LovettSmith said on November 15, 2011
Thanks Jennifer for stopping by and for commenting. I know traveling can be a huge pain, especially around the holidays. If you let me know which allergies you are dealing with I can try to offer some food suggestions. I’ll be sure to ck out your site!