As the winter weather sets in, many North Americans start thinking about trips to sunnier climates. In fact, my allergic family heads south almost every year. We do so with two kids that have dietary restrictions, a son with environmental allergies, and a mother who also has a gluten problem. (My husband sometimes wonders what life would be like if we didn’t have all these crazy restrictions!) Based on my personal experience, it is possible to travel even with relatively severe allergies.
However, traveling can be a particular challenge if you have food allergies, especially if you are depending on others to cook and prepare your food.
Nevertheless, you can travel and you can enjoy yourself. While it may take some additional work, your vacation will be worth it. Here are some ideas from the Be Allergy Wise help file to keep you safe and happy on your winter vacation.
1. When heading south, consider renting a condo or vacation property, rather than staying at that all-inclusive resort. While it doesn’t let you be quite as lazy as when someone else does the cooking, it ensures that you are in control of your own food. If you have anaphylaxis, this is likely your best choice.
2. Heading to the Caribbean or Mexico for that week in the sun? If you are renting a vacation property here, buy food where you speak the language fluently so that you can ask about any ingredients in processed items. After all, if you are going to make your own food, you’ll have to know what’s in it.
3. When in doubt, buy raw ingredients and avoid processed foods entirely. Remember that labeling and other food safety requirements can be different in different countries, so generally speaking when you leave your home turf – all processed food is suspect.
4. Staying inside the US? If you aren’t getting on a plane, consider taking some of your staple foods with you! We’ve always traveled with a number of packages of our kid’s favorites like crackers, fresh-cut vegetables and dried fruit. It passes the time in the car, and it ensures that you are never without something to feed everyone!
5. If you have serious food allergies, never travel without your EpiPen. In fact, you might want to have your doctor write you a prescription for multiple autoinjectors, just in case. (Of course, this is assuming you aren’t one of the many parents who have a stash of 40, 50, or 60 of them around – just in case.)
6. If you’ve had a serious food reaction previously, talk to your doctor about a Twin-ject. This is an autoinjector with two doses of epinephrine in it. Be sure to get comprehensive instructions in written form that you can share with any traveling companions, regarding the use of the second dose in the autoinjector. You might also want to travel with more than one of these.
Now that you have some guidelines for your trip, it’s time to pack. After all, if you get some sun now, you’ll stock up on that healthy vitamin D!
