We had very limited internet on the vacation, but we're back now, and I can start posting in fits and starts what was good, great and not so good...
We'll start with the airline
We flew Continental from Austin to Newark, then from Newark to Rome. They had told S when she called ahead about the gluten free meals that they wouldn't be able to accommodate her on the domestic flight, as they only served a pizza-style snack, but that was okay. We packed protein bars and water and nuts that I could eat and GF pretzels.
On the overseas flight, however, they served dinner and breakfast, and they served gluten free meals much like they do kosher or vegetarian. S got her food first, in fact, and let me tell you, her chicken was way nicer than our regular meals. She got veggies and rice, as well as GF potato chips and a Jennie's macaroon. Her salad came with lemon juice and salt and pepper, since their creamy Italian was not GF, and what a wonderful thing that was. We decided to get some packs of lemon juice for S to carry with her from now on, as that was so much better than bare lettuce, and easier to pack than the big packs of single serving GF dressing.
Breakfast wasn't as great, as we non-GF people only got a roll and some fruit. S got a macaroon and fruit, which was a little less protein than a diabetic needs, but we had almonds in our purses, so it was okay.
Honestly, though, dinner was such a pleasant surprise that it didn't matter. Continental gets 2 thumbs up for their GF meals. Go them!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Gearing Up for the Cruise
We're fixing to take a transatlantic cruise at the end of the month. It starts in Rome, where we'll spend an extra four days. Then to Spain, the Canary Islands, St Marten and Ft Lauderdale.
We made the plans for this trip before the gluten allergy diagnosis, before my peanut/cashew allergy onset so hard. Bef0re S knew it was the dairy that made her almost deaf because her ears were so stopped up.
For me, the hardest part will be small meals every two hours, rather than gorging at the buffet, but for S, going to Italy and facing no pasta, no pizza, and very little cheese is depressing.
So what do we do? We get the Google Fu on. There's a gluten free restaurant in Rome. The cruise folks and the airline folks are now laying in GF foods for Shawn. We're finding little cards to present to restaurants in Italian and Spanish, and we've been upgraded (on the cheap) to a suite on the boat, where we'll have a fridge and a microwave, so we can lay in supplies like soy milk and instant grits.
We'll keep y'all posted!
We made the plans for this trip before the gluten allergy diagnosis, before my peanut/cashew allergy onset so hard. Bef0re S knew it was the dairy that made her almost deaf because her ears were so stopped up.
For me, the hardest part will be small meals every two hours, rather than gorging at the buffet, but for S, going to Italy and facing no pasta, no pizza, and very little cheese is depressing.
So what do we do? We get the Google Fu on. There's a gluten free restaurant in Rome. The cruise folks and the airline folks are now laying in GF foods for Shawn. We're finding little cards to present to restaurants in Italian and Spanish, and we've been upgraded (on the cheap) to a suite on the boat, where we'll have a fridge and a microwave, so we can lay in supplies like soy milk and instant grits.
We'll keep y'all posted!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
San Matteo for a conference
Hey y'all!
We just got back from staying at the Marriott San Mateo for a conference. We didn't hardly get the chance to get out of the hotel, save for one walking trip to a nearby Trader Joe's, but nonetheless, this trip went far better than the last one, food wise!
We geared up to fly on friday by packing pretzels (rice based), Bumble Bars, individual packs of almond butter, Lara bars and almonds. We got water at the airport, along with a couple of Odwalla protein drinks, and we were good to go.
We ate a late supper at the restaurant, who did pretty well with all of our special requests, save not leaving off the bread on S's salad. Luckily, there was no cross contamination, as it was one piece of focaccia gently balanced on the edge of the plate, the crumbs easily wiped away. It's still kind of amazing to us how you can explain that you have a wheat allergy, and people nod and go check on the salad dressing for you, but don't think about the bread perching there.
Breakfast was easy, though the breakfast potatoes had sneaky wheat. The bacon didn't. We had eggs and fruit, too. For lunch, we had the stuff we had packed from Friday, as well as some tiny cans of tuna. Dinner was from trader joe's, which didn't yield as much bounty as we hoped, but we did get olives and chips and salsa and hummus, as well as some lovely blackberries for dessert
The hotel room service staff was far better than the restaurant wait staff, and when we ordered hamburgers with no buns and no cheese, they came just as we asked. S couldn't have the mustard, as they only served a stone ground dijon we know to have wheat, so we made a note to bring packets next time.
What else? The only day we had any trouble was Monday, on the flight back. We left at the ass crack of dawn, and the SFO airport had one diner open. They had wheat free breakfast options, but they were all undercooked and underwhelming. The plane snacks? Cheese and wheat or cashews...
So, yeah, we were hungry and tired of Bumble Bars again. But not discouraged
S discovered the joy that is a venti latte with soy milk, as well...
all in all, I think we were better prepared and better at ordering in the one restaurant, but we still have yet to take a trip where we're not isolated by the big convention hotel...
We just got back from staying at the Marriott San Mateo for a conference. We didn't hardly get the chance to get out of the hotel, save for one walking trip to a nearby Trader Joe's, but nonetheless, this trip went far better than the last one, food wise!
We geared up to fly on friday by packing pretzels (rice based), Bumble Bars, individual packs of almond butter, Lara bars and almonds. We got water at the airport, along with a couple of Odwalla protein drinks, and we were good to go.
We ate a late supper at the restaurant, who did pretty well with all of our special requests, save not leaving off the bread on S's salad. Luckily, there was no cross contamination, as it was one piece of focaccia gently balanced on the edge of the plate, the crumbs easily wiped away. It's still kind of amazing to us how you can explain that you have a wheat allergy, and people nod and go check on the salad dressing for you, but don't think about the bread perching there.
Breakfast was easy, though the breakfast potatoes had sneaky wheat. The bacon didn't. We had eggs and fruit, too. For lunch, we had the stuff we had packed from Friday, as well as some tiny cans of tuna. Dinner was from trader joe's, which didn't yield as much bounty as we hoped, but we did get olives and chips and salsa and hummus, as well as some lovely blackberries for dessert
The hotel room service staff was far better than the restaurant wait staff, and when we ordered hamburgers with no buns and no cheese, they came just as we asked. S couldn't have the mustard, as they only served a stone ground dijon we know to have wheat, so we made a note to bring packets next time.
What else? The only day we had any trouble was Monday, on the flight back. We left at the ass crack of dawn, and the SFO airport had one diner open. They had wheat free breakfast options, but they were all undercooked and underwhelming. The plane snacks? Cheese and wheat or cashews...
So, yeah, we were hungry and tired of Bumble Bars again. But not discouraged
S discovered the joy that is a venti latte with soy milk, as well...
all in all, I think we were better prepared and better at ordering in the one restaurant, but we still have yet to take a trip where we're not isolated by the big convention hotel...
Monday, September 15, 2008
Travel dread
Traveling has been a great joy for me and for Shawn over the last two or three years. We've been from Pittsburgh to Cheyenne, from New Orleans to Anaheim. We've been to London and Cancun, to Nassau and Toronto. We've gone on two cruises, and on countless rodeo getaways, from little towns in Texas, to giant stock shows in Colorado. We've had conventions in New York City and downtown LA, and in all points in between.
We've both known for years that we're diabetic (20 years for Shawn as type 1, 8 years for me as type 2, diagnosed when I was 30), but on or off our insulin, that never made much difference to us in how we ate. High blood sugars made us feel sluggish, but the benefit of cutting out the sweets never seemed to outweigh the joy of a good chocolate cake, or of a big old pizza.
Shellfish is an allergy I've known about for years, as well, and while I used to love shrimp and scallops, cutting them out of my diet wasn't hard. The same could be said for Shawn's problem with some citrus fruits. She never has had a problem with them besides tongue blisters, so why deny herself that lemonade?
These new allergy diagnoses, though, are things we can't ignore. Since cutting out the gluten and caesin, Shawn's trigeminal neuralgia is almost completely dormant, and many of her MS symptoms are completely gone. My new diet requires me to eat protein at every mini meal, and I eat every two hours. So, an as to now undiagnosed nut allergy has suddenly become full blown, with hives and throat closures and all manner of ugliness.
I bet anyone can understand why S and I suddenly have a little travel dread.
How do you eat every two hours in a world that basically believes in three squares a day, and enormous portions? How do you deal with waiters, store owners and hoteliers who are well meaning, but essentially can't fathom something like a wheat allergy? (For instance, a sweet young man who checked to see if their restaurant's falafel was wheat free then asked if S wanted white or wheat bread or croutons for her salad.)
We're trying hard not to be bummed. We're both pull your socks up kind of girls, who see most everything as an adventure, but both of us are starting to just wonder if we ought to stay at home, where we manage okay.
What I'm proposing now is a few day trips. We live just outside Austin, so I think we need to go to Fredericksburg, or Salado (one south, one north) for the day, pack some snacks, do some research, and try to eat out a little.
Start small, my mom always said. Practice makes perfect.
Feel free to comment on what sorts of things you'd do to practice efficient travel!
We've both known for years that we're diabetic (20 years for Shawn as type 1, 8 years for me as type 2, diagnosed when I was 30), but on or off our insulin, that never made much difference to us in how we ate. High blood sugars made us feel sluggish, but the benefit of cutting out the sweets never seemed to outweigh the joy of a good chocolate cake, or of a big old pizza.
Shellfish is an allergy I've known about for years, as well, and while I used to love shrimp and scallops, cutting them out of my diet wasn't hard. The same could be said for Shawn's problem with some citrus fruits. She never has had a problem with them besides tongue blisters, so why deny herself that lemonade?
These new allergy diagnoses, though, are things we can't ignore. Since cutting out the gluten and caesin, Shawn's trigeminal neuralgia is almost completely dormant, and many of her MS symptoms are completely gone. My new diet requires me to eat protein at every mini meal, and I eat every two hours. So, an as to now undiagnosed nut allergy has suddenly become full blown, with hives and throat closures and all manner of ugliness.
I bet anyone can understand why S and I suddenly have a little travel dread.
How do you eat every two hours in a world that basically believes in three squares a day, and enormous portions? How do you deal with waiters, store owners and hoteliers who are well meaning, but essentially can't fathom something like a wheat allergy? (For instance, a sweet young man who checked to see if their restaurant's falafel was wheat free then asked if S wanted white or wheat bread or croutons for her salad.)
We're trying hard not to be bummed. We're both pull your socks up kind of girls, who see most everything as an adventure, but both of us are starting to just wonder if we ought to stay at home, where we manage okay.
What I'm proposing now is a few day trips. We live just outside Austin, so I think we need to go to Fredericksburg, or Salado (one south, one north) for the day, pack some snacks, do some research, and try to eat out a little.
Start small, my mom always said. Practice makes perfect.
Feel free to comment on what sorts of things you'd do to practice efficient travel!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Staying in Downtown Nashville, TN
A lot of the big downtown areas don't have a lot of choice when it comes to food. I say this for all travelers, not just folks with allergies. Often times the big high rise hotels are built near government or corporate offices, so all the restaurants in the area are lunch counters, closed on the weekends and at night. We didn't think we'd have this problem in Nashville, thanks to music row, but we found that with no car, and not wanting to take a cab, we were very limited in choices. Even the high rise hotel we stayed in closed down for room service at 11pm, and their choice for a non wheat meal was hummus or plain salad, at least for supper.
So. What did we learn? We found a place that we could order packets of peanut butter and salad dressing, so we're never stuck with just Bumble Bars again. (We love Bumble Bars, but four a day? Gets old) We had packed well for the plane, but had forgotten how hard it was to work up enthusiasm to go out and find food after traveling all day and bouncing from airport to airport to hotel. Now we have travel tuna with pull tabs, GF crackers and all manner of things with protein.
The next day was better. We got up and out and found a place for lunch on Church Street called Tazza. (I read the online reviews after we visited, and they're wildly mixed, so keep in mind this is our experience only). We asked when we walked in if the salad dressing for one of the salads had wheat. The waiter was exceptionally nice, went to ask the chef, and the dressing was safe, so we got a seat and ordered. The salads were lovely, and the chef even left off the rice noodles we would have thought were safe, saying he checked, and they had wheat in them. It was a very pleasant dining experience, and they were also telling the truth, because no symptoms presented afterward.
The other really nice surprise on Church Street in downtown Nashville was the HG Hill Urban Market
Open until 9pm most days, this little grocery store had all sorts of treasures, including gluten free crackers, organic peanut butter, Luzianne teabags (no gluten in the glue) and all sorts of organic produce. They had soy milk and Puffins cereal. We were able to get snacks and light meals to take back to the hotel to save us from eating protein bars endlessly. We also found a pita deli that would make salads with no bread, and that had wheat free falafel, and a Mexican restaurant called El Rey that had great guacamole and wheat free corn chips.
The bottom line is that without a rental car, and with no place that is open 24 hours serving breakfast (eggs and bacon are generally safe for Shawn, we've found) it's really hard to get enough to eat if you're not prepared. We're learning as we got, though, and we've got some good ideas for our next trip!
FYI, Lorna (that would be me) has just discovered that I'm also allergic to cashews. Yay. So, add another off the list, sneaky ingredient to our growing litany of can't have 'ems!
So. What did we learn? We found a place that we could order packets of peanut butter and salad dressing, so we're never stuck with just Bumble Bars again. (We love Bumble Bars, but four a day? Gets old) We had packed well for the plane, but had forgotten how hard it was to work up enthusiasm to go out and find food after traveling all day and bouncing from airport to airport to hotel. Now we have travel tuna with pull tabs, GF crackers and all manner of things with protein.
The next day was better. We got up and out and found a place for lunch on Church Street called Tazza. (I read the online reviews after we visited, and they're wildly mixed, so keep in mind this is our experience only). We asked when we walked in if the salad dressing for one of the salads had wheat. The waiter was exceptionally nice, went to ask the chef, and the dressing was safe, so we got a seat and ordered. The salads were lovely, and the chef even left off the rice noodles we would have thought were safe, saying he checked, and they had wheat in them. It was a very pleasant dining experience, and they were also telling the truth, because no symptoms presented afterward.
The other really nice surprise on Church Street in downtown Nashville was the HG Hill Urban Market
Open until 9pm most days, this little grocery store had all sorts of treasures, including gluten free crackers, organic peanut butter, Luzianne teabags (no gluten in the glue) and all sorts of organic produce. They had soy milk and Puffins cereal. We were able to get snacks and light meals to take back to the hotel to save us from eating protein bars endlessly. We also found a pita deli that would make salads with no bread, and that had wheat free falafel, and a Mexican restaurant called El Rey that had great guacamole and wheat free corn chips.
The bottom line is that without a rental car, and with no place that is open 24 hours serving breakfast (eggs and bacon are generally safe for Shawn, we've found) it's really hard to get enough to eat if you're not prepared. We're learning as we got, though, and we've got some good ideas for our next trip!
FYI, Lorna (that would be me) has just discovered that I'm also allergic to cashews. Yay. So, add another off the list, sneaky ingredient to our growing litany of can't have 'ems!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Introduction
Hey there.
I've recently been diagnosed with some severe allergies - I'm wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, shellfish-free and, because of my blood sugars, refined sugar-free. (Good lord, there's a lot of frees in that.)
As a writer and a publisher, my partner and I travel extensively - up to a total of 2-3 months a year and, as easy as I find keeping my allergens out at home, I find it incredibly difficult during travel.
So, on the second day of this first trip, Lorna (shellfish-free and refined sugar-free) and I decided to start a blog - recording the challenges that we find, the successes we have, and the restaurants that we go to. Good and bad.
*grins*
Welcome aboard!
I've recently been diagnosed with some severe allergies - I'm wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, shellfish-free and, because of my blood sugars, refined sugar-free. (Good lord, there's a lot of frees in that.)
As a writer and a publisher, my partner and I travel extensively - up to a total of 2-3 months a year and, as easy as I find keeping my allergens out at home, I find it incredibly difficult during travel.
So, on the second day of this first trip, Lorna (shellfish-free and refined sugar-free) and I decided to start a blog - recording the challenges that we find, the successes we have, and the restaurants that we go to. Good and bad.
*grins*
Welcome aboard!
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