nut allergy

[emasa]

hi my son has a serveve nut allergy and i wanted to take him abroad this year as i've never been brave enough. he's 11 now and never been on a plane. does anyone know where to start as i haven't got a clue we were thinking maybe turkey has anyone else been in my situation?..many thanks

There are two things to take into account: the flight and catering at your destination.
When you book your flight tell the airline about your son's nut allergy, they usually ask how severe it is, you might want to book a special nut free meal for him but when I took our dd (she has several allergies) I ordered a fruit plate and brought enough of our own food to tide her over. If you decide to do that take extra in case of delays.

Also if you have epipens and piriton make sure these are in your hand luggage and get your gp to write a letter stating that your ds needs to carry the medication on them at all times, otherwise customs can be a bit funny about it.
What type of holiday were you thinking of - resort, hotel, self catering? If you are booking a package at a resort ask the travel company about how allergy aware they are. We found self catering to be the easiest and so could find a nearest supermarket to buy our own food for her, the biggest suspects though are bakery products and processed foods where you never quite know what the ingredients are and if there is cross-contamination.
Also depending on what country you plan to visit it might be worthwhile getting some translation cards which states what the allergy is. We found these really useful when on holiday especially when there was a language barrier.
Good luck! It is possible to go abroad, it's just a matter of taking the right precautions.

Oh hi thanks so much for your help.. I think the bit i am most worried about is getting there and finding he can't eat anything and we were planning on going for 2 weeks. i had been to a few travel agents a few years ago and they didn't seem very helpful so i just decided on a holiday here instead. I was thinking of going to turkey as i know english is widely spoken there

Just be careful on the flight. My MIL was mortified on a flight to America when a little boy a couple of rows behind her started wheezing badly. She'd opened a packet of peanuts and with the way the air con goes on planes it had carried the "dust" from the nuts along to the little boy. The crew put an announcement over the tannoy asking for people to put their nuts away as someone was allergic - would have been more sensible for them to do that before the flight really, but then again maybe the parents hadn't thought to ask.

we have flown to usa,about 3 years ago and a internal flight and had no problems, we brought our own food.
we are planning to go to florida this summer, and are taking extra , extra safe food , in case of strikes, volcano ash, etc!

we also went to spain on ryan air, which was ok, and ferry/car to france , italy.

we have always done a fair amount of self cattering, and eating out.

for flying , got every med with a prescription label, and note from doc.

son carried his own meds, i carried spare set.

a letter from his gp in his meds, explaining that he must carry them at all times.

extra health insurance arranged before we go on flight/hols

medic alert bracelet worn by son.

did have a slight problem with with liquid piriton, son had to drink a bit before boarding to prove it was safe ....

Great advice above for travel and on fresh foods.
Also

• always carry food for your child, I've never had an airline actually deliver on a nut-free meal - lots of promises mind!
• one thing I always do, especially as bread and breakfasts are tricky - I stock up on croissant/ rolls etc freeze them, then stick them in a container in my suitcase for when we get there - that's our only thing that we've needed to do - it seems to be the main gap in foods.
• does it matter too much if they live off crisps, chips and fruit for a week? DS doesn't seem to mind!

Make sure YOU have a good holiday - we always manage it despite my worries before we go, good luck!

Oh thanks everyone got some fab advice off you all. i'm scared to death but have just ordered my translation cards and waiting for them to arrive. good thing is my parents have just told me they need a break so are going to go the same hotel as the one we've been looking at for a test run for us so i'll let her take the cards. i'm not too worried about the breakfasts as i was planning on taking my own cereal for piece of mind. if i'm not at ease i'll just go self catering first time round for piece of mind instead and stick to the fresh stuff. thanks again so much ;)