Food Allergies in Ireland: A Success Story

As I mentioned in my previous post, Ireland was a truly breathtaking country and such a wonderful place to visit. Over the years we have had many mishaps while traveling with severe food allergies but this was one trip that turned out pretty well since we managed to avoid a trip to the emergency room. However, we did have a few minor difficulties that we were not anticipating but that we managed to overcome. Here is a list of what worked for our allergic daughter and other aspects where we could have done better.

Airplane:

It’s hard to believe but this was the most difficult challenge for our daughter travelling with food allergies. The first hurdle was with the airline Aer Lingus. While they did offer several different food alternatives, including gluten free and vegetarian meals, they did not have anything free of dairy, eggs, nuts or sesame. I know that’s a tall order but this girl was hoping we could as least bring a sandwich on board. Aer Lingus and the TSA would not allow us to bring any foods on the plane other than a few snacks. While we loaded our daughter up with McDonalds outside of customs, that was at 4:00 p.m. During the 8 hour trip across the Atlantic they serve you dinner and breakfast so the rest of us were eating most of those 8 hours. Our allergic teen’s limited snacks seemed pretty measly compared to our two course meal. While I know this made me more uncomfortable, our teen was okay with it. You go girl!

Allergy Cards:

These cards were the best! In the past, we have always addressed all our allergy issues directly to the server just by talking to them. Since we were going overseas, I wanted to be extra careful so we used the allergy cards. At first we were a bit timid about using our cards but the look of relief on each waiter or waitresses face was enough to convince us that this was theway to approach ordering from now on. In most cases, the server took the cards back to consult with the chef or manager. That gave them the time to come up with food options that were safe for our allergic teen.

“Go To” Foods:

For anyone with food allergies your “go to” food is the one item on the menu you know, in most cases, is safe for you to eat. Our teens “go to” food is hamburgers. On the first night, we were starving and found a very “Irish” restaurant in Killarney. Thanks to the food allergy card we gave the server, she was able to tell us their restaurant used egg to bind their burgers. This was a surprise to us because we had never heard that before, but as it turned out using egg for binding is the norm in Ireland. Our “go to” choice quickly changed to sautéed chicken breast with fresh veggies and fruit or a plain baked potato. We learned you should never assume your “go to” food would be made the same way everywhere. On our first night back to the States we all had hamburgers—that’s the American in us—and avoided chicken for a while.

Supermarkets Are Your Next Best Friend

Since we usually rent an apartment or house when we travel, we hit the supermarket first thing. This allows us to save money and to purchase food we know our allergic teen can eat. In Killarney, we went to the local Tesco Supermarket where we loaded up on breakfast and lunch items, snacks and food to make two dinners. We even tried eating something new such as the great potato waffles she ate each morning for breakfast. On most days, we packed our lunches and always carried fruit and snacks. Not only was this a great way to avoid allergens but it also saved us a lot of money.

In the end, while travelling with food allergies it was always best to be prepared, be flexible, carry “safe” food and always carry your Epi-pen.

Ireland in Review

This summer, between back-to-back vacations to Ireland and Michigan, a wedding extravaganza, an impromptu baby shower, several horseback riding shows, and driving to and from cross country practice. Life has been very full. Throw in getting my oldest ready for his first college experience and my teen for her first high school experience and the scales have just about tipped over at our house!

All this is to say that I am sorry for neglecting you especially since so many of you have been wondering how our trip to Ireland went. What can I say, our trip really was a dream come true. The rolling green hills of the countryside to the roughness of the coast to the bustling of the city of Dublin all in 10 days. The sights and sounds of Ireland have been swirling in my imagination ever since I was little and now I would like to share some of them with you.

A view from our cottage; sheep grazing in the foothills of Killarney. Meandering through the rolling fields it's easy to connect with these wonderful creatures, each farm separated by handmade stone fences. We were amazed with the cows we encountered on our walks. Each cow stopped what they were doing, looked us right in the eye as if to say, this is my territory.

Bunratty Castle was just one of the many castles we visited. Each castle was a bit different but each had its own beauty. We were able to explore many of them up their circular staircases and through their many tunnels.

I was obsessed with the beauty of each small cottage and their equally beautiful stone fences.

Massive cliffs arise along the west coast of Ireland.  The Cliffs of Moher is a tourist spot not for the faint of heart. The beauty is experienced without fences even by walking along the very edge of the coastline. Well worth the three hour drive there and back, driving through coastal towns and watching the brave surfers in the frigid, rough waters.

The day of my birthday dawned bright and sunny which was a welcome change to the ever present drizzle of Killarney. We had booked a tour to Little and Giant Skellig Islands off the Southern coast of Ireland. The first tour out in two weeks due to the weather.

This is a view of the winding, fragile and uneven stones which were our steps spiraling upward toward the huts of Giant Skelling. Climbing these steps was not for the faint of heart but the views of over 4,000 puffins peeking out at you along the way kept our minds off the cliffs below.

At the top of Giant Skellig, are the huts left over from a six-century Christian monastery. It is truly amazing to think monks lived modestly on top of this giant mountain even during frigid weather conditions. At one point, we could hear the sounds of traditional harp music swirling around us as we explored. The man we had seen earlier carrying a large case up the mountainside was actually carrying a harp. Lucky us! Star Wars fans, keep an eye out for this same scenery in the upcoming Star Wars movie where part of the movie was filmed. 

Also along the coast of County Kerry is a beach community we stumbled on. While the locals were relaxing on the beach, we explored the remnants of Ballinskelligs Castle. I was struck by the contrast of the old and new in this picture.

We loved the many sights of Dublin and sampling the Guinness on our tour of the factory, but I loved the countryside of Ireland the best. We even managed to eat fairly well even with all our teen's allergies. I will talk about that in the next post. 

How to Plan an International Vacation with Food Allergies

It is summer vacation time and I just realized we will be taking our trip to Ireland in less than three weeks. Now is the time to get my travel planning ideas out to those of you who are also travelling so you can be ready to plan your next summer vacation! Even though we are travelling overseas, most of these tips could apply to any overnight trip.

The first thing we did when we decided to take the whole family to Ireland was to book our airline and find a place to stay while we are there.

1.     Booking Your Flight

You first need to check with airlines to see what their policy is on food allergies. This may be very important if you or your child has a severe allergy. As you probably know, some airlines serve peanuts on their flights which could be a problem if your child is severely allergic to peanuts. If this is the case, check with the airline to see if they would be able to serve another snack, such as pretzels, instead.

For us, all the airlines we looked at did not serve peanuts as a snack option. Keep in mind that there is no way to make sure your flight is entirely peanut or nut free since passengers are allowed to bring on their own snacks. If you are travelling overseas or are travelling far, you will need to look at their dinner options to see what is available. In the end, we chose Aer Lingus because they were the cheapest and they had direct routes which meant that we only had to check allergens on only one plane. Since it will be a 10 hour flight to Ireland, I went to their website to see their policy guidelines for their dinner options. This is what their site says:

“While we do not serve peanuts, there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients including peanut oil, in meals and sauces. We do not offer a special meal for peanut allergies.”

While they have many different dinner options available (kosher, vegan, gluten) our allergic teen has so many allergies that I knew it would be difficult to find any option for her to eat. We always carry snacks with us but I called the airline to see if they would allow us to carry on a sandwich for her to eat. According to Aer Lingus passengers are not allowed to bring any food items on the plane due to TSA rules. On the TSA website, they specifically mention that any food bought after you have gone through security is safe and allowed on all flights. Safe but expensive! Even though there are many food restaurants in the international terminal, very few of them will have any options for my allergic teen. Looks like McDonald’s may be the only option for us at this time. Either way, we will make sure we bring a lot of snacks and fruit for her to snack on.

2.     Where to Stay?

There are lots of options to look at when choosing where to stay during your travels. If you are lucky to have family or friends who live overseas, then you are the lucky ones! Our friends are more on the domestic side so this was not an option for us.

Contacting a travel agent is always a good idea because they can help you narrow down your options. Many countries have a core website to help you look at all the different options. In Ireland, you can go to Ireland.com where they have a section for accommodations. Under accommodations you will see listings for historic house and castles, bed and breakfast, hotels and self-catering  holiday homes. The best option for us is a cottage or an apartment where we can cook and store our own food so we looked at the self-catering listings. This has always worked well with us and I would recommend this for anyone with multiple food allergies. Not only does it save us money but we know we can make sure our allergic teen will have food she can eat.

We will be staying at a lovely rental house from Sykes Cottages in the Killarney area as our home base for most of the trip. For the other days, we found another small townhouse near the Waterford Castle and a hotel for the Dublin area. We feel there may be more food options in Dublin so our food selection may be more varied.

3.     What to Pack?

Snacks, snacks and more snacks!

The international food is not the same as we have here in the United States. While I am looking forward to eating the traditional Irish cuisine, we may have a hard time finding food free of butter and cheese which the Irish are known for. Corned beef or a burger may be good options but you can only eat so many burgers before you are tired of them.

When we travel by car we always pack a cooler so that we can pack some of our allergy free items, such as cheese and always have some cold cuts available for alternative lunch options.

4.      On Your Flight 

Clean Your Seat Area

It is a good idea to wipe your arm rests and tray table with a sanitary wipe as soon as you find your seat just to make sure there are no allergens  from a previous flight. The airlines is supposed to clean the plane before the next group but as most of us know, sometimes there is not enough time for them to do this if the prior flight is late.

Carry On Your Meds

Always carry on your meds. They could be lost in your luggage and you want to make sure they are within arm’s reach in case of an emergency. That is why I recommend you keep them under you seats and not in the overhead compartments. Also, it is a good idea to travel with more than one set of your Epinephrine (Epi-pen or Auvi-Q) just in case you need it. The same is true for your Benadryl. If you are flying, some airlines ask that they be in their original container. I also always carry a written request for the medicine from our doctor just to make sure there are no additional questions.

5.     While You Are There

Locate the Nearest Hospital

Anytime you travel, whether foreign or domestic, it is always a good idea to know where the hospitals are before you go. We have been to several out of town hospitals over the years during our trips so I know how important this is!

Emergency Action Plan

FARE has an Emergency Action Plan you can download from http://www.foodallergy.org/faap. This plan is good to have with you just in case there is an emergency.

Eating Out Guides

It is difficult enough to eat out here with food allergies or celiac disease but go to a foreign speaking country the process can seem very daunting indeed.  Kim Koeller is the founder of Allergy and Gluten Free Passport at http://glutenfreepassport.com/. Kim has travelled to over six different continents all with gluten, dairy, fish, shellfish and preservative allergies. With her experience travelling with these allergies, she has developed dining cards, guides and travel packs that will help you navigate the language barrier while you are travelling. Her handy dandy iEatOut Gluten Free & Allergy Free app will allow you to plug in your allergic foods on the go.

Other Guides for Travel in the U.S. include:

AllerDine – United States

Allergy Eats – United States (with free app)

Allergy Cards

If you are traveling to a foreign country that does not speak your language, it can be very hard to communicate your allergies while you are eating out. There are several companies that offer translation cards in many different languages. Select Wisely has a large selection of allergy cards, while Allergy Translation will allow you to custom create your own allergy card and have it laminated. If you would like to print your own FARE Chef Card Template click here. I took ours to the local Office Depot to have it laminated and it cost less than $2.00 for ten cards.

It's good to know that you can still have a great trip even with food allergies. So go ahead have fun and leave your worries behind and book that vacation you’ve always wanted to book with the knowledge that you will be well prepared to manage your allergies no matter where you are.

Happy trip!