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...

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!