Planning to travel with food allergies is no small task. I’ve done it, mostly for the weddings of family and friends, or for a vacation in a house with a kitchen. Traveling to a place with a kitchen is a great way to travel with food allergies! Shorter trips, though, or trips that involve hotel stays, can be a bit trickier. Those have not been the best experiences for me, mostly because I didn’t plan well enough.
I learned the hard way that if I miss the hotel fruit-and-yogurt continental breakfast option, I may not find another. “I’m sure I’ll find someplace that has a bagel” may not be the case when you take the New Yorker out of New York state. And when you are with a big group, it can be difficult if you don’t want to force everyone out of the Mexican restaurant they’ve been wanting to try.
My solution? I need to get better at traveling. Traveling is not the number one priority in my life, so I haven’t made it a huge priority with food allergies. My private practice, my family, my home… these are my primary focus. I’m up for an adventure here and there, but I’m not hopping on a plane to Tokyo on a whim. That being said, if I want to travel in the future with any sort of ease, or join in a family vacation in the future without inducing panic, I need to make it a priority.
Later this winter, I’ll be traveling for a long weekend to Georgia. Thankfully, I have a wonderful sister and sister-in-law who agreed to join for a short trip to see a new place and support me in practicing food-allergy travel. I’m now researching restaurants and food options in the area we plan to stay. I look up a couple of restaurants, and when I start to feel anxious about the whole thing, I take a break (or plan out foods I can pack with me).
I’ll keep you posted on how it goes! And for those of you reading with your own food restrictions, please feel free to comment with any tips or advice on travel strategies that have worked for you.
Starting From Scratch 
Our son has multiple, serious food allergies. Traveling does take a lot of planning. Our preference is to rent a condo or apartment with a full kitchen–it’s so much easier. But hotel stays can be manageable, too. I call ahead to reserve a room with a microwave and fridge, if possible. When we arrive, I thoroughly wipe the microwave, fridge, and any counter/desktop we’ll be eating or prepping food on with my Norwex envirocloth. We take fully cooked meals with us in a 28 quart cooler. (Obviously, we take road trips instead of flying.) Because they’re pre-made, it’s as simple as popping one in the microwave when it’s time to eat. Even if there isn’t a fridge, we’re usually able to keep everything at proper temp by periodically dumping the water out of the cooler and refilling it with ice from the hotel’s ice machines. If there’s not a microwave, I make sure to bring salads, sandwich fixings, basically anything that tastes good cold. I always bring an insulated lunch bag, several cold packs, and a thermos in case we want/need to take food with us (for example, if we’re attending a wedding reception). I apologize for the length of this reply. I hope you may find some of it helpful. Wishing you good health and safe, fun travels. Blessings, Christina
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Christina!!
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