Best country to travel to with a child that has multiple severe allergies?

[MyVIsForVendetta]

Never taken them abroad before!

Anaphylactic to dairy, egg, nuts and shellfish.

I haven’t been brave enough before and unsure whether I am now.

I know an English speaking country would be good - Ireland, wales, America etc but would rather something more along the lines of Spain or Greece or the like.

i have no idea where to start.

If it was “just” nuts or “just” dairy I think I would have more confidence but I’m not sure.

Any experiences?

thank you!

Spain. Have had amazing kind lovely treatment by Spanish medics with very sick child

In Greece I got someone to write on a sheet of paper what the allergy was, in Greek, before I went. That way I could produce it and not worry about anything being lost in translation.

I have severe tree and peanut allergies and have travelled to lots of different countries. I take allergy cards with me that I can show to waiting staff restaurants Like these. They usually take them off you and show them to the kitchen staff. For the cards you select the language and the allergen(s) and they send you the printed card.

I also stick to very plain and simple foods. Take extra Epipens and all the antihistamines. Always declare your allergies when booking travel insurance.

A cruise might be a good starting point.

They’re great with allergies, will speak English and have multiple doctors onboard if that will help you relax. You could go from Southampton or fly and do the Greek isles and you can then see how you get on in the other countries with communicating allergies and how confident you feel whilst knowing you can always go back to the ship to eat.

We wouldn't do a cruise, too far from a hospital (ITU)

We do plan around the location of major hospitals.

That’s good to hear re Spain. I’m assuming Denmark didn’t go so well in terms of eating.

I have a soya intolerance and I find the USA one of the most difficult countries to avoid soya. Their guidance is that soya based vegetable oil is not an allergen so it's not always labelled. I do react to soya oil so completely disagree with their guidance. I'm very uncomfortable after eating soya rather than have a life threatening reaction so I have some leeway.

@TakeMe2Insanity

That’s good to hear re Spain. I’m assuming Denmark didn’t go so well in terms of eating.

Nothing to do with being in Denmark actually. A miscommunication with my English brother in law in their home over which food was for DS. My fault.

The danish version of NHS 24 was very helpful and an ambulance arrived very quickly. DS and I had a lovely private room for his overnight stay in the Danish hospital. They replaced his epipen no charge. Food wasn't up to much surprisingly!

Have travelled with a small child with the exact same allergies, all anaphylactic. Biggest takeaway is communication. Get the allergies and potential allergens written down in the language spoken

USA (Los Angeles and Washington) was pretty easy to avoid the allergens - some restaurants had limited choice and he probs ate chips a bit too often but was ok

France - (Paris and a town outside of Paris) was actually quite difficult- Egg kept appearing in random foods we wouldn’t have expected, we did end up in hospital due to egg in mashed potato even after explaining the allergies.

Singapore - surprisingly ok, expected ALOT of problems mainly due to shellfish (fish sauce etc) but we did pretty well in finding varied foods (some food markets we decided not to risk it but restaurants and more of the indoor markets were fine)

Greece (Crete) - no problems at all. Plenty to eat and super helpful staff everywhere

Copenhagen - no problems at all, sometimes a little limited with things like bread because some the breads have nuts in and they love an egg 😂 but everyone super happy to help find foods, restaurants very helpful.

Rome - the dairy was the biggest issue, it’s in so much of everything that we were (possibly a little too) super cautious and played it safe very often.

Spain - so helpful, very easy to find foods…one near miss due to communication but Spain can’t take all the blame!

Wow! Thank you for sharing I didn’t even realise there was soya oil 😭. Unfortunately the baby has reacted within an hour when he accidentally ate bread with soya :( we’re still learning!

@IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece hearing about Singapore gives me hope we might make it back!

Yes. Where vegetables oil is used, check which vegetable as can include soya oil. Soya is added to so many foods I find it much harder to avoid then fish, which I also cannot eat. I also react to soya lethicins such as those used in chocolate and gravy to bind oil and water.

Must be really difficult when your child is so young.

I echo this big time and will link the link again. DS has a peanut allergy and we use these cards when we go to Greece and France and they have a number of countries and allergies they provide for.

https://www.allergyuk.org/living-with-an-allergy/traveling/

My cousin has multiple severe allergies and when travelling abroad has a laminated sign in the local language to explain that X, Y and Z will kill them. They also liaise with the hotel prior to booking to ensure they can accommodate their needs.

What about a serviced apartment?

I've never taken mine abroad (partly cost, partly allergies) but I've toyed with it and the serviced apartments look like our best chance. I wouldn't risk a restaurant and certainly not a buffet.

When it comes to cruises, officially Cunard could be a good choice

www.cunard.com/en-gb/food-allergy-and-dietary-requirements

They follow the 14 standard allergies which these come within. I would be interested if anyone here has used them with multiple allergies (just a gluten intolerance and a vegan by choice here so not complicated)

I don’t know about restaurants but Cypriot supermarkets carry items from UK ones, so you’ll get Sainsburys branded stuff for example - might make self catering easier if you’re already familiar with them, or you can at least read the packaging!

I have an egg allergy child and live in France and they’re really bad with allergies. I would only do self catering if you came to France. The supermarkets are good in terms of packaging but I wouldn’t trust restaurants I’m afraid. I think I would be looking at the US.

I wonder if the big name chain hotels would be better at this kind of stuff as they presumably have protocols that they implement across the chain? I'm thinking four seasons that sort of thing ?

Spain is great as long as you can read the information in Spanish and/or make yourself understood about the seriousness of the allergies. Spain is also wonderful for celiacs as Spain has always used cornflour as a thickener instead of wheat flour.

My advice is to print a small note in whatever language you are going to use saying:

"My son has severe food allergies.

He's allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts and shellfish.

Can you provide a meal without these ingredients?"

And then take the risk. Unfortunately, once your son leaves the safety of your home, there is always a risk.

I think a cruise would be fine with something manageable, that they know how to deal with and that wouldn’t require hospital intervention. For us, the baby also has a rare illness which means we can only consider holidays with easy access to a major hospital.

Do self catering anywhere.