Travelling with allergies can mean an extra level of vigilance and concern for traveling parents, and in some cases can stop families from traveling altogether.
It’s understandable that parents of allergy-effected children and people suffering from allergies would be nervous before traveling. As always, preparation is key. To help get ready and manage traveling with allergies, top travel bloggers have shared their tips for managing food, dust, pet, and mosquito allergies while on the road.
Before you travel:
- Make a list of your allergies and include any information from doctors in case you need background information or medical history. Make a folder in photos on your phone and photograph and file any important information and records.
- Get scripts from your doctor and take precautionary medication with you.
- Plan your flights – take a small cooler bag on the plane with you with suitable food and snacks
- Pack snacks in your backpack/suitcase for your destination to take to restaurants and when out and about.
- Research your destination – join local Facebook parent or expat groups and ask about allergy-related information, like allergy-friendly restaurants and doctors.
- Contact your accommodation/bookings and advise of the allergies and let them know of any precautions they need to take/advice they can offer.
- If you’re flying make sure the airline knows about your allergy, and pack face masks if effected by an airborne peanut allergy
While traveling:
- Keep your medication with you at all times
- When ordering food, be very specific – if you say you are allergic to seafood you may be served fish, people have had sesame seeds scraped off a dish when they’ve advised of a nut allergy. Always use your allergy cards (see below). Be very explicit when ordering and make sure you’ve spoken to the person that understands and can make sure your meal is cooked correctly.
- Consider booking an AirBNB with a kitchen so you can prepare your own food
Health insurance:
It’s so important to have the right travel insurance. I’ve used Covermore for more than 20 years and they’ve got me out of quite a few scrapes. They’re the only insurer I trust to give me excellent medical and health insurance. Find out prices and what you’re covered for (AU only) here.
Managing food allergies: April from Globetrotting Grommets:
April from Globetrotting Grommets is travels a lot with her family, and has the added challenge of managing her daughter’s peanut allergy while on the road. She shares her top tips for traveling with a child who has allergies:
Having a child with a life-threatening food allergy can be scary and overwhelming at home, let alone when traveling to a foreign country with a language barrier.
But out of all of our trips through Asia and Europe, we are yet to experience any issues and we certainly don’t let it stop us travelling! Here is how we travel with food allergies
Allergy Cards
We use allergy cards made in the local language for each country we visit. I have them laminated and we keep them with us at all times. Some cultures aren’t too aware of food allergies and will often just nod when they don’t understand, so we made sure the waiters took this card to the chef wherever we were eating so that the severity of her allergy was understood.
I would highly recommend making these before you travel to any country where English isn’t the main language.
Information saved on phone as a screen shot
You can also save the information as a screenshot on your phone, however I would make sure to have someone check it before you go so you can be sure the translation is correct.
Langogo
We were recently sent a brand new Langogo Translator to review and it really is incredible. We road tested it in Bali with some waiters when ordering Alysse’s meals and the translation was spot on – this is going to be a must have when we travel to China next year! With over 60 languages translated accurately within seconds, this will cover all your future travel destinations. Check out Langogo Translator prices here.
Mosquito bite reactions: Bron from Smiths Holiday Road
Our son had an extreme reaction to a mosquito bite when we were traveling in Cambodia, waking up with a face so swollen his couldn’t open his eyes. He was treated with antihistamine but now we take the following precautions when traveling in Vietnam, Cambodia and throughout Asia.
- Mosquito bands from Parakito that hold little pellet to deter mozzies. They last around two weeks.
- Roll on repellent
- Stay at places with mosquito nets
- Keep antihistamine in your medical kit
- Wear long sleeved pants and tops where possible
These precautions are also extremely helpful in avoiding possible exposure to malaria and dengue from mosquito bites.
Dust mite allergies: Melissa Conn from The Family Voyage
Our son suffers from a wicked dust mite allergy, which flares the most at night when he’s surrounded by pillows, blankets and mattresses. To minimize the impact, we try to book rental apartments with hard surface flooring instead of carpets.
We also bring a special allergy pillow case with us that zips around the existing pillowcase and chewable children’s Benadryl in case his allergies flare enough to keep him from sleeping.
During our family gap year, we even had to have a friend who was visiting the US re-stock our Benadryl supply since chewables aren’t available in other countries and it wasn’t practical to travel with so much liquid medication.
Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy: Elaine & Dave from Show Them The Globe
As an infant, our son had to follow a milk free diet after being diagnosed with a cow’s milk protein allergy. It is not always obvious, especially when travelling, which foods contain milk. To ensure J never went hungry, we brought a stash of milk free food pouches from our home country. The pouches were easy to prepare on the road and we had full confidence that they were milk free and safe for J to eat.
Pet allergy: Sinead from Map Made Memories
I have allergy induced asthma and have been highly allergic to cats and dogs since childhood. We choose to self cater when travelling and usually stay in private homes or airbnbs so we must rent properties that are pet free.
Before making a booking, I always contact the owner to double check that there have been no pets in the property. I found out the hard way that reading ‘no pets’ in the property description is not enough to guarantee that the property is devoid of pet hair. Some home owners have pets yet choose not to allow other peoples’ pets stay in their homes so advertise their property as ‘no pets.’
I have also learned to be very specific in my pet free enquiry! I currently ask ‘have any animals recently been in your home?’ This is after we arrived at a ‘pet free’ property to find animal hair all over the house. When I brought the issue to the attention of the owner, he said the property does not own or allow pets, but they allow their cleaner to bring her dog to work with her! Always double check and keep evidence of the response.
Dairy and Soy allergy: Diana, The Elusive Family
Traveling with allergies can be a bummer when you are constantly going to restaurants only to find out every menu item has your allergen in it, or when you ask to change the dish, and they will not, or they do not understand. One of the best things you can do in advance is find local groups for your destination such as local facebook groups or local contacts, and ask for specific restaurant or grocery store recommendations.
People who have traveled with an allergy share their knowledge and great places to eat or buy food. Hotels can also be a good source of information, as their staff are usually well versed in the local economy. Always try to find places to eat at or stores to go to before you travel to reduce the amount of anxiety and enjoy your time a bit more.
Do you have tips to share? I’d love to include them
Please comment or email me at evie@mumpacktravel.com