Talking Allergies

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to balance my fear/stress regarding travel against my husband's desire to travel a lot. We do travel a couple of times a year when I will prepare as much of my own food as possible. I always end up enjoying the trip once I'm there, but find I have a lot of stress beforehand worrying about it. Today he came home excited about a possible trip to Las Vegas as he will have a convention to attend and can therefore write it off. He's all excited about going to Cirque de Soleil etc. but then can see the unhappiness on my face and I have just put a damper on his whole idea. I have suggested he go on vacations with his brother or someone else, but he wants to travel with me and the kids. Vacations are always his idea; I'd not complain if we never went anywhere. However as I said, things usually go fairly smoothly and I do end up enjoying the scenery, sites etc. I guess I'm struggling with my own self as much as with his desires. Mylene, I know you are amazing with your attitude. How do I get the positive outlook you have?

practice, practice, pratice . I only started to travel a couple of years ago and I started very slowly! I really wanted to visit my cousin and go to my favorite band's concert close to there... and I really really wanted to go! So I had to convince myself for weeks, prepare for a week and then go out of town for 2 days... But I enjoyed myself so much!!!! The more I go, the more tricks I find on what and how to pack. My plastic containers with safe food are now permanently in my dining room just waiting to be picked up for the next trip! It's not 5-course meals that I eat when I'm on the road, but at least it's safe and I get to enjoy my time there! I have a few quick trips to Montreal planned and I'm actually dissapointed that I come back the same day as I know now that I could stay longer. All the efforts I have made over the past few years have paid off and now I just can't wait to get my favorite band's schedule for next summer so that I can visit new roads! My excuse is being a groupie , but what I get back in return is confidence and liberty.

If you enjoy being away, isn't it worth it the effort? And if you do it more often and learn from the previous time, you'll cut down on the preperation. I went from preparing food for a week to putting stuff in the over the night before! I slowly make my list of what I bring and get to it when I'm ready.

Mylène

Hi soccer mom ( i'm the one with mother in law issues). I also was frustrated with the thought of travel. You cannot feed my milk allergic child in a restaurant.

This year my husband and I traded in my vehicle and purchased a 2 year old quad cab truck and a fifth wheel. The money we would have spent on a real vacation, we put towards the fifth wheel. We love it. We have our own space when we travel, and our kitchen is right with us. No worries. We can go to lakes or stay on the outskirts of cities and enjoy some of the big city attractions. We also drove to B.C. for my brothers wedding. I even baked a milk, egg , nut, peanut free wedding cake in the fifth wheel.

Kind of a big expense, but well worth it for us. It is great to look forward to family vacations.

Many people know I travel with my kitchen in my trunk, but I have dreams of a motorhome or fifth wheel... but for now my budget is nowhere close to that, so I do more "indoor camping" .

N/A

Being very honest, given my age and my allergies to nuts and then peanuts had never developed until my mid 30's. I had lived in vancouver and toronto. I loved my peanuts and mixed nuts. I never even knew that an allergy existed, until I developed my own. Personally mine is quite severe. I have been told by my doctors that my body would not likely be able to with stand another reaction. I have been very lucky, and I am very grateful, to say the least. Given my perdicament, I would not get on an air plane, only because of the 'ignorance' of others. I can not imagine, being in a compressed cabin and some passenger, snaeaks some peanuts, then I would breath that air and possibly have an ana. reaction. Even though i always have my 2 needles, according to my doctors. 3 strikes, your out. (re: because I have been saved 3 times from severe/life threatening ana. reactions).

Good Luck.
ps. If you have not suffered severe ana. reactions. then You should be good to go.

Monty; That is scary
None of my Allergiests have ever told me that. I think ER staff getting ready to a tracheaopty, or to place the breathing tube down if it would fit is pretty severe.
I know I have had severve ana reactions, but have not really counted them. I always remeber dates, appointments and birthdays. I purposely forget the dates when bad things happen. It was a coping method I learned as a child. I still do it today I know it is immature.
Kelly

Plane is not even an option for me... I am anaphylactic to the smell of fish and need to have an exit close by and a hospital not too far. Epi will probably not save my life next time and I have no intention on sitting here waiting for the next reaction, so I decided to live my life as accidents can happen close to home too! I make jokes that at 27, I still can't go most places without "adult supervision" , but it has helped me because of my inhalent allergy and saved my life many times too.

That is why I travel by car. I control what goes into my car and analyse every situation when it's presented. I also always keep the option open to simply leave and drive to the next place if I do not feel comfortable. This is why you will rarely see me in someone else's car as I always want to have the option to go home!

Mylène

I don't travel. If my gf wants to travel, I told her she would have to do it alone. I know it's not easy to live with me but I told her everthing in the first 3 months of our relationship. If she had wanted to bail out, she had many opportunities. But we've been together almost 5 years.