Find The Perfect Food Allergy Travel Type For Your Family
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Some of you may feel like traveling with food allergies is daunting and hard because you don’t know where to start. I hope this post helps you.
You may or may not know that we’ve traveled extensively around the world with food allergies. We’ve been all over Canada and the US, to the Bahamas, Mexico, Ireland, Spain, the UK, Italy, France, and Portugal. For the record, we’ve also been to Disney World and Disneyland many times.
I tell you this, not to brag, but instead, I want you to know that I have a lot of experience traveling with food allergies. I want you to know that what I teach comes from a place of experience, and I’m not guessing!
Today, I’m sharing 5 types of food allergy travel and their pros and cons so that you can decide what might work best for your family.
So let’s get to it!
If you want ALL the practical knowledge I’ve gained from all these travel experiences in one, easy-to-find place, get into my Food Allergy Travel Workshop. I’ll take you by the hand and help you safely make memories with your family, without worrying about food allergies the whole time.
6 Types Of Food Allergy Travel and Their Pros and Cons.
Ok, so let’s get right into this. The first thing I want to talk about is
All-inclusives and Ocean/River Cruises.
I put these experiences together because they both provide all the food. When we went on our cruises, both times we would have a main server assigned to us for the whole time. It was great because they would remember us and our allergies after a couple of times. That said, I was glad that our backup or helper server wasn’t our main server because he didn’t seem to understand allergies. I wouldn’t have had the confidence that our food was fully allergy-safe if it wasn’t for our main server.
Usually need to fly to get to the port or destination. There are strategies to make this safer and less stressful.
You need to advocate to get food made in the back because buffets are common. Even if you can handle traces of food, it’s just too risky to eat from a buffet where foods can drop into other foods and the chance of cross-contact is high.
You should be fully confident in the provider before you go because it’s difficult to get and cook food besides what they provide.
If you have a bad experience, while there it would ruin your trip and be very stressful because you don’t have the option to provide your food.
You will need to figure out the food situation if you do excursions off the property or boat, but you may be able to bring food from home for this.
You still need to discuss allergies at every meal and ensure you get the right food.
You don’t have to cook!
The accommodations may be far from quality medical help, but many have basic medical help available.
Examples where we did this: Mediterranean Disney Cruise, and the Seine River Cruise, France.
2. Beach Vacation - At a resort with a kitchen OR book an Air BnB.
Usually need to fly to get to the port or destination. There are strategies to make this safer and less stressful.
You can choose to cook OR go to restaurants; this means you have the most control over the food.
This may not give you a break from cooking unless you use strategies to make it easier and less work.
May be lower cost because you’re buying and cooking some or all of your food at grocery stores instead of restaurants.
You need to pack food from home. This can feel overwhelming, but there are strategies to make it easier.
Easier to pack food for day trips than for all-inclusive/cruises.
You can add a few restaurant meals, depending on your comfort level and ability to find allergy-friendly restaurants. Figuring out if a restaurant is allergy-friendly can seem daunting, but there are strategies to make this easier.
The accommodation may be far from quality medical help, but some resorts have basic medical help available.
Examples where we did this, are Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Maui & Ko Olina Hawaii, Nassau, Bahamas
3. Camping/Wilderness - this is my least favorite, not because of food allergies, but because I’m not an outdoorsy person. But I know others are, so if that’s you, this is an option to consider.
You will usually drive to this location.
You will need to cook most of your food since there aren’t usually allergy-friendly restaurants available. There are strategies to make this simple and easy.
Usually lower cost.
You need to pack your food, and there may not be options to buy food or go to a restaurant. This can feel overwhelming, but there are strategies to make it easier.
Maybe far from medical help.
Examples where we did this: British Columbia, Canada, Alberta, Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada, Montana, US
4. City Destination
*Side Note: If you’re going to stay in a city because the port for the cruise is there, try and do it BEFORE the cruise, not after. I say this because we decided to stay in Barcelona, Spain for 5 days after our Mediterranean cruise. Although we had a great time and enjoyed it, it's hard to go from all the easy-to-get foods on the cruise where you’re eating and being pampered non-stop to going to find your allergy-friendly food again. It’s a big jump, so I don’t recommend it!
Usually have to fly to the destination, but you could drive if you are close enough. There are strategies to make this safer and less stressful.
This can be a single city, or be combined into a road trip.
You can easily do a combo of cooking for yourself and restaurant meals.
It’s usually easier to find allergy-friendly restaurants because there are more to choose from in a city. Figuring out if a restaurant is allergy-friendly can seem daunting, but there are strategies to make this easier.
If you cook for yourself, you will need to pack some food. This can feel overwhelming, but there are strategies to make it easier.
You have to navigate a new grocery store, which takes time and effort. Some strategies can be used to make this easier.
Easy to access quality medical help.
Examples where we did this: London, UK, Paris, France, Barcelona, Spain, Toronto, Canada, Niagra Falls, Canada, Ottawa, Canada, Vancouver, Canada, Banff & Canmore, Canada
5. Disney World/ Disneyland
Usually have to fly to get to the park. There are strategies to make this safer and less stressful.
Disney is known for good overall allergy procedures, but they make mistakes and it's important to do your research and be on your guard.
Allergy menus are available at SOME restaurants but they are best and easiest to use for one of the top allergens. With 2 allergies, there are fewer options, and with more than 2 allergens, you must talk to a manager at each meal (even quick service).
If you can not tolerate may contains or traces of allergens, you must talk to a cast member at every meal (even quick service).
There are only some restaurants and snacks that have allergy menus or allergy options. It can be difficult to sort through and find safe food available, but purchasing a food allergy guide can make this much easier.
For example, We usually brought snacks to the park the last time we went. However, we didn’t realize how HUNGRY we would be because of all the energy we were spending, and because of jet lag. So we found that we needed a snack mid-morning. Honestly, there are not a lot of snacks that are safe for each allergy, especially ones that are a little more nutritious. So we luckily grabbed our food allergy guide for Disney, which helped us find a smoothie as the best option. We grabbed it and then were able to continue our day.
You can bring food to the park.
It can be expensive, BUT you can get accommodations with kitchens so you can cook food and lower the cost.
Easy to access quality medical help.
Examples where we did this: Beach Club Resort, Wilderness Club Resort, Disney World. Marriott Resort Florida, California Adventure, California, Embassy Suites Anaheim.
6. Group Tours.
You’ll usually need to travel on a plane to get there. This can feel scary, but there are strategies to make it less stressful.
This option takes a lot of courage because surroundings & restaurants are constantly changing, and it can feel scary.
Hard to control because you must keep with the group.
If you have a good tour company, they will help you advocate, and translate if in a non-English country.
It’s important to ensure the tour guide is very aware of what you need before the tour starts and upon the initial meeting. You may also need to advocate and let them know if things are going well during the tour.
An example of this last summer when we went to Portugal on a group tour. Our tour guide was amazing. She explained what we needed from every single restaurant in Portuguese. It was great. But there was a problem. The thing was that the follow-up wasn’t the best. For example, when the food came to us, it wasn’t marked so we couldn’t assume it was the right dish. If it wasn’t marked, how could we know it was an allergy-friendly dish instead of a regular one? It was awkward because I had to explain this to her more than once on the tour.
More costly because you may need a higher-end tour that will listen to your needs and advocate for you.
A higher-end tour will usually be booked with higher-end accommodations with higher-end restaurants. Higher-end restaurants are usually more educated about food allergies, but this isn’t always the case.
May be easy or hard to access quality medical help, depending on where you are.
Examples where we did this: Ireland, Spain, and Portugal.
Which Type of Food Allergy Travel is Perfect For Your Family?
Let me know by commenting below or sending me a DM on IG, @friendlypantry.
If you have questions about any of these options or about food allergy travel in general, I can help! In my Food Allergy Travel Workshop, I’ll take you by the hand and teach you all the strategies and tips I’ve learned through our travel experiences.
I want you to feel fully confident so you can have a safe and fun family vacation with food allergies without stressing the whole time.
You don’t have to do it alone!
