Talking Allergies

Now that school is over and summer is here. I wonder what everyine's plans are this summer.

Where are you travelling this summer and what allergy precautions are you making?

My daughter and I are spending 5 weeks with my mother and will be taking several day trips into Toronto. I have looked into it and I know that I can stash a picnic basket at the bus station downtown, so I won't have to lug it around all day. We also take advantage of the lockers on Centre Island when we go to the amusement park there.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

That's clever thinking.

We're renting a cottage we've rented before. Really looking forward to.

Precautions:
They have the same brand of BBQ we have at home, so we'll pack our grill and use it to prevent cross-contamination.
I also give washed pans an extra rinse before using, bring my own bread board.

Lots of epis, of course.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

We are meeting my brother and his family in a german town in WA state for a long weekend, and then heading to a Gulf Island (between Vancouver and Vancouver Island) for a 10 day stay in a friend's cabin later in July. I will be bringing safe foods for my kids - bread, crackers, cookies, treats, etc, and will be pre-washing dishes, etc before we use them. Then we will just buy fresh fruit, veggies, meat etc from the local supermarkets.

Good idea about the grill, Gwen. I think I'll bring an extra roll of aluminum foil to protect my kids' from possible residue on their BBQs.

For the WA trip, I'll be buying travel insurance and making sure they don't consider allergies to be a pre-existing condition. I found one last year for our US trip and got that bit in writing. We'll have all our epipens - 8 in total for the two kids.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

We head to the family cottage for the summer - and thank God everyone in my family "gets it" so it is nut and egg free. My mom has a separate fridge, so my sister stores the milk for her kids' bottles downstairs. My sister immediately washes hands and face of her kids after they have had their milk.

We are also heading to Mont Tremblant for a week in the summer. Staying at the Mariott Residence Inn, which has a full kitchen. I'll bring my own toaster and my own frying pan (I've got a thing for using those non-stick pans - I feel like they're not very clean and food is stuck in the scratches) and like others, run the dishes and pots through the dishwasher before use. We'll do our shopping in town (we went last year and found most of the products the boys can eat). Of course we'll bring 5 epipens for each and their puffers.

boys' mom

Alison's Mom, do you mind explaining this. We were thinking of crossing the line for a trip (maybe).
Thanks

....and I envy your trip to the Gulf Islands. Growing up we camped on on the Gulf Islands every summer..GORGEOUS!!

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

I've picked up some expandable grill covers at Loblaws. They fit over the regular grill and keep pur food from touching. We also bring a can opener because those things always look dirty to me.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Some great tips! I always enjoy reading about some new safe travel tips.

Boysmom, I would like to hear about your trip to Mont Tremblant. We are considering going there next year, and would like to stay in the Village. Please let us know how you enjoy your trip!

We are off to Collingwood for a couple of small trips this summer. We stay at the Westin Trillium House in the Blue Mountain Village. All the rooms have some sort of kitchen or kitchenette, but we like the 1 bedroom room style as it has a fridge, microwave, 2 burner stovetop and a dishwasher. We will prepare our meals in advance (eg. teriyaki chicken, Thai chicken, Mongolian beef, tacos... something along those lines) and bring along our rice cooker. We wash the dishes, in the dishwasher, before using them. We bring along our own tablecloth and cover the table for the duration of our trip. If we are staying at hotels that don't have a kitchenette, we bring along our portable plug-in cooler and bring along plastic dishes, cutlery and dish soap and tea towels.

We really like the Westin Trillium House for another reason too... it has a year-round, outdoor heated pool, and 2 outdoor hot tubs. There is nothing like being in the outdoor pool and looking up the hills - summer and winter!

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

We are travelling back to Ontario to visit family. Mom just had surgery and is waiting for radiation to start. We will do lots of baking and food prep at her home so she will have healthy meals ready in her freezer when we go home and we will eat safely too.

I have also booked a one day excursion to Stratford to see Christopher Plummer in Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Does anyone with peanut/nut allergies have any recommendations of restaurants in Stratford?

There was a thread about this some time ago, maybe last year. Whenever we flew anywhere, our visa card gave us automatic travel medical insurance, and because someone had mentioned their insurance not covering pre-existing conditions such as allergies, I checked mine and it turned out CIBC Visa's underwriter did cover allergies as long as the condition was stable in the 3 months prior to the trip, as in like no hospital visits, doctor's visits about reactions, etc. CIBC changed their underwriter later and last year I had to purchase insurance through another source where I was sure the allergies would be included, and got it in writing in case of any dispute. Does that make better sense? I can't seem to find which underwriter I went with last year, but need to find it soon. Will post back here when I do, but it might have been RBC Insurance.

ETA - OK, it is RBC that I used last year: http://www.rbcinsurance.com/travel/comp ... dical.html It seems other companies have a waiver for pre-existing conditions if they are stable in the last 180 days (the RBC one is 90 days).

Yes, the Gulf Islands are awesome - we got married on Galiano, and have been going to Saturna the last few years. Love it there.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

We are heading to Mont Tremblant this year in August. We are going to a conference for my children they both have the same syndrome.

The hotel we are staying at has a complete kitchen. I will be bringing all of our food, and only eating in the hotel room.

Next weekend we are heading to my husband's mom's. She sort of gets it..but again I will be bringing most of the food. We are also doing some shopping/stocking up on food. She lives in Vaughan and there's many stores around her that we can shop at...very little here.

Other then that we may go camping for a weekend, near us. I haven't ventured to theme parks this year...this is our first summer dealing with his special diet and I haven't mastered outings yet.

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Tracy
A 4 -Gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free. Also asthma, pulmonary stenosis, developmental delays, Noonan Syndrome, and environmental allergies.
T 7 - asthma and environmental allergies. And a wonderful big sister to her little brother

Just back from NYC. We stayed in an apartment-style hotel in New Jersey by Marriott--we were happy with it. Nice place. very clean. no smoking policy. One complaint: we asked in advance if they could give us pillows *without* feathers. Answer: hopefully, but there are no guarantees. The pillows had feathers. I just slept without one.

upon arrival, first priority--grocery shopping.
second priority--cleaning off all counters and tables and washing all of the hotel's dishes prior to use.
3rd priority-- cooking for the next day.

I use the hotel's cutlery, glasses, mugs, plates, bowls, etc. I bring everything else that might be porous/more difficult to clean....like cutting boards, a frying pan. I probably could use the pots at the hotel, but I bring a few anyhow.

One useful item seeing as hotels usually have a single sink: a couple of small plastic tubs--one to wash fruit and veggies and the other to wash dishes in.

We took a bus into the city in the morning and would usually get back to the hotel around 7:00 in the evening. So I'd pack my lunch and something for dinner....and then would run to the store and prepare food for the next day in the evening.

All of my food requires refrigeration, so carrying it around all day is somewhat of a challenge.

On the first day, I carried around my Polar Bear Cooler bag. http://www.polarbearcoolers.com/ I highly, highly recommend this cooler. It keeps things *cold* for way longer than a conventional cooler and is more convenient (and lighter) to carry.
But carrying food *and* ice around all day is really difficult (I had help, however.)

The next day, I opted to try this backpack by Picnic Time. The top compartment is just like a regular backpack. The bottom compartment is insulated. I wanted to lighten my load, so I put all of my food containers (except for my rice) in the freezer the night before. I stuck one reusable ice mat (by Thermos) in there for good measure. Come lunchtime, I was picking away at frozen food, but at least I had food and didn't have to worry about it spoiling. The backpack was still rather heavy to carry around all day, but it was manageable.

Will be staying with relatives later on this summer. Other than that, am just making day trips to Toronto.