Vacationing with Food Allergic Children
Lets face it. It’s really difficult to travel with food allergic children. Especially if you want them to eat more than crackers for the duration of your trip.
We knew this trip would be easier than many others. We were going to San Francisco: a land filled with Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and plenty of fresh produce. We would also have access to cooking facilities –we were visiting my sister and staying in a hotel with a refrigerator and microwave. Still, I was nervous — this would be our first flight with our daughter since her severe peanut allergy had been diagnosed. (More on how this turned out in my next post.)
The first challenge: the flights. So many challenges, not sure where to begin. Perhaps with the person sitting directly in front of us shelling pistachios. Or the person to my left on my outbound flight who complained that the stewardess couldn’t serve his wife peanuts while I served my daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which I explained, as kindly as I could, was in fact soynutbutter and jelly.) But equally vexing was finding 12 hours worth of food that we could travel with that would not require refrigeration. But we did OK.
The second challenge: the restaurants. Finding safe food in restaurants is always a challenge. Finding safe food that my daughter will eat is nearly impossible. One exception. Cucumber sushi. Boy, she ate lots of cucumber sushi. Also — hats off to the Whole Foods in Los Altos, CA for introducing me to a great new product for food allergic families on-the-go. O’Hana House fully cooked Organic Japanese Udon Noodles. Vegan. Microwaves perfectly in 2 minutes. Perfect for situations where you only have a microwave and a fridge.
The third challenge: lodging. Our hotel was great. One slight glitch. I found a pistachio shell on the floor. It started my mind whirling. What if there were other lingering allergens from former guests: between the seat cushions, on the tablecloth where other guests have eaten breakfast. It’s enough to make you crazy. We looked as best we could, removed visible offenders, and tried not to think about it. And it all turned out fine.
As summer travel season approaches — I wish you and your families safe and fun-filled travel adventures. If you have any food allergy vacation stories/tips to share, I’d love to hear about them.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
We travel a lot with the boys, and yep! it’s tricky. I’ve got a personal hit-and-miss list of airlines, with Continental and American on the top of the ‘we don’t give a flying rat’s heiny’ list. Sigh. On the other hand, Qantas is great…if you ever fly to Australia.
Because, you know, so many of us do..
May 28th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Just wanted to say that I enjoy reading your blog. I’m in my 20’s and have had a severe peanut allergy all of my life (I’m actually allergic to all legumes). Learning how to travel safely is definitely a challenge, and I’ve been struggling with it every since I started traveling abroad alone in college. I’m currently doing research in a region of China that primarily uses peanut oil to cook, so I am extremely restricted in what I eat. Sometimes when I travel to rural areas where there are no stores to buy food, I’ll lose 5-10 lbs in a few weeks, because I refuse to take any risks when there are no hospitals available. However, traveling is totally worth it! The key is to be as prepared as possible and be willing to make sacrifices when needed.