Tips For Traveling With Dietary Restrictions & Food Allergies

TMPE42
===

Meggan: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the travel mug podcast. We hope your 2022 is going well so far. We're only in early days, but we can hope, we thought it would be interesting to kick off the year talking about traveling with dietary needs or restrictions or allergies.

So sort of lumping all of those together. So for me I'm a pescatarian, meaning I only eat fish or seafood periodically, otherwise I'm plant-based and Peter is an omnivore. He's into all of it. Um, Jenn what about you?

Jenn: So for me, the only meat that I eat is chicken, and I've been this way, my entire life. I've always hated red meat and the smell of fish is absolutely repulsive to me. No, no, that's a no, no, for me we've gone through periods of being like full vegetarian and we're currently probably like 60 percent-ish vegetarian at home right now. So my husband, Ryan is allergic to nuts and shellfish, especially tree nuts. He's also allergic to peanuts, but it's not as deathly of an allergy.

And so otherwise he eats with me at home, mostly chicken and vegetarian. He also will put in some fish usually when I'm not home. So I don't have to smell.

Meggan: Yes, yes, yes.

Jenn: He'll occasionally do a red meat at my, like my dad's house or at a restaurant, but. Yeah, so that that's kind of us.

So we thought that we'd bring someone else into the conversation. So we have our first guests of the new year, Brianna cook, a friend of the show she's gluten-free and vegan.

So she's going to help us talk about traveling the world with dietary restrictions and, yeah. Welcome Brianna.

Brianna: Hi guys. Thank you so much for having me. I just have to say I'm so excited to be here and I really appreciate the opportunity to be be on and talk about this.

Meggan: No us too. I think it's going to be really valuable because I think this is really good information to people that have, especially as they're trying to get back out into the world, we don't know what dietary changes people have had in the last couple of years that could sort of affect how things go now.

So first and foremost, this is a travel podcast. Of course we know you love travel just as much as we do. So talk to us about some of your travels that you've done so far. So you've done solo trips, et cetera. So tell us a little bit about that.

Brianna: Yeah, so I've done quite a bit of travel. I feel super fortunate in that. I, I do love travel and Megan knows this because we are very close in real life. We do talk daily. I do think about travel probably daily. I've always got ideas floating around and places I want to go. I'll see something cool online or on TV and think I need to go there someday. And I love researching, so I, I kind of always have an ongoing wishlist of travel. So I have traveled quite a bit. I used to have a job that was in publishing and sales, so I used to travel quite a bit to the U S so I've seen some pretty cool places there. Some of my bucket list, places like Washington, DC. I went to Charleston. That was really cool. And I've also seen quite a bit of Canada.

So Kelowna and the Oakanagan is favorite places at work took me as well. Aside from that. I have done some travel on my own, obviously. I've been really lucky to do a couple of trips to Europe. So right after I graduated from university, I took off a two week bus tour, which I probably wouldn't do now.

In my 20s it seemed like a good way to do it. So I definitely enjoyed that trip, but it would probably be a different type of trip if I did it today. So like I said, I've seen some pretty great places in north America. Rocky's is another one that I have to mention. I, I used to live in Edmonton. I feel very connected to them. So I miss the Rockies a lot. A lot of my travel dreams revolve around Europe and one of the trips that I've taken involve Europe as well. So the most recent trip that I took that was really cool. I traveled by myself for two weeks and I went . To London to go to a festival, to see some favourite bands play and, the trip just sort of grew from there.

So I went London to Poland. I stayed in Krakow for a few days and I got to see Auschwitz and then went on to Budapest, which was amazing and then ended that trip Paris for a few days. So it was great. I really, really loved that and the opportunity to travel alone, I highly recommend. And I guess my last big trip before COVID was an amazing, probably trip of a lifetime trip with my grandmother to Finland.

So we spent two weeks traveling around Finland and her parents were both from Finland. So I planned out this two week trip. My Grams and I, and we saw five different cities in Finland. We traveled by train and by plane and we got to meet and stay with relatives. So

Jenn: that was the special, yeah.

Brianna: Special trips. So I've had some really cool trips I've taken that one's definitely top list. And obviously, you know, smaller trips are important to you. So Megan and I got to go to Vegas together right before the pandemic. And we saw lady Gaga and sort of a dry trip Megan, neither of us had any drinks.

Meggan: No.

Brianna: We did gamble and I won.

I won on a slot machine. It was so amazing. We were freaking out, we were so excited about, we just had like a girls' weekend away and ate some delicious food. So yeah, I started running the gamut of trips nothing further than Europe. You know, south America, something I think about often Asian, maybe someday, but yeah, I've had a lot of great travel experiences.

Meggan: And what would you say would be favorite? Like if you had to pick, so Jen and I talk about Iceland a lot and she also loves Disney. So what would you say in terms of your travels so far, would you say has been your favorite? If you could pick.

Brianna: You know me. So you know how difficult this question is for me, if you read what I wrote before the show, you know, when I'm trying to sneak in like five groups, I do have to say, I love London and the UK, not London, Ontario.

Not that there's anything against the one in Ontario, but I've been there. So. And that's it. It was just so great. You could go there 10 different times and see things that you didn't see, you know, on your last trip. And it's just,

Meggan: I love it too,

Brianna: but yeah, so London's right up there. I did get to go to Vienna which I also loved.

And Meggan I hope you get to go there when you finally get to do your, your European trip. It's an amazing city. It's just so cool. But I have to say my favorite spot is Italy. So I have been dreaming about going back to Italy since my first trip to Italy, which would have been, I guess, 2005. And it's just, it's so beautiful.

You see it on TV. You see in movies being there, you just can't even really explain what it's like. So. Definitely, definitely dying too back there. I'm my boyfriend's been carrying around a coin in his wallet for both three years. We talked about wherever we like to go on a big trip in Italy was it. So he's had this coin in his wallet and I kind of forgot that he had it, but I was like, I'm going to throw it in the Trevi fountain. So we've got to get back there.

Jenn: Oh, that's so awesome.

Meggan: I can't wait to see that when you do and we're going to have to rediscuss the gluten and the cheese.

Brianna: Well, not too. Okay. So I have jokes cause Megan knows that I want to go back to Italy and I have joked a few times that I don't know how I would do it live without eating gluten, because pasta pizza.

How do you do that? I have to hope that Italy is progressive enough that they can,

you know, I probably shouldn't eat the glutenins it's not good for me.

Jenn: How long have you been vegan?

Brianna: So vegan. I think I'm at five years now. Both sort of switched our eating habits around the same time. I think I was December five years ago. And yeah, five-year anniversary just rolled by it. Yeah. I was vegetarian off and on for quite a few years before that. And did sort of switch back to eating meat for a brief period of time.

It's hard when you're first starting out and trying to figure it out and we were actually training for a half-marathon Meggan and I and I did eat some meat during that time.

Jenn: Right? Yeah.

Meggan: Our bodies needed it. Maybe we just needed the fuel or we'll just go with that. I don't know.

Brianna: So, and I do remember eating a delicious burger at that diner. Meggan was it called Lori's diner in San Francisco after.

Meggan: Yeah.

Brianna: So I have no regrets.

Meggan: Well talk to us then about gluten-free cause vegans one thing, and that's a choice. Gluten-free is, is sometimes a choice for people, but oftentimes it's more of a necessity.

So sort of talk to us about that journey for you in terms of the gluten-free piece.

Brianna: Right. So yes, definitely vegan is a choice. Gluten-free is a necessity for me. So I am also type one diabetic and strangely everything is connected. So your endocrine system, gluten issues are tied up with that. So after, I think it was about 20 years of being diabetic and being very controlled. I had a couple of serious, low blood sugar incidents that required an ambulance. So I woke up with paramedics in my room and had had these severe lows. So we ran a bunch of tests and there was a connection to a gluten issue. So I have had a scope.

I did get checked for celiac, but it was inconclusive, but the blood results showed that there was something there. So that was sort of it for me, I just chose to eliminate it completely and just eat gluten free now,

Meggan: right

Brianna: yeah. I guess about 11 years ago. Yeah.

Jenn: Okay. Yeah. So you've been, gluten-free longer than you've been vegan.

Gotcha.

Brianna: Okay. I may have actually gone vegan sooner if it weren't for the gluten part, it was super intimidating choosing.

Jenn: Absolutely. Yeah, I can totally see that. So tell us about your first trip after being vegan and gluten-free kind of together. How, how did you manage that?

Brianna: So the first one where I was both would have been this last solo trip that I did to Europe, by myself.

Totally fine. I had all the tools I needed to plan, and there were lots of different options for me. That trip was sort of easy peasy. The first trip that I took after going gluten-free was a disaster. Yeah. It was a really tough learning experience because I just, I wasn't prepared. I was on a trip. We were in Scotland first and then we ended up going to Prague and that was the Vienna trip where I ate sausages from vendors on buns so that trip, it was just really difficult. I was pretty new to it. I didn't really understand how imperative it was to plan I'm planning is so important when you have any credit dietary restrictions. If you're not prepared, you're setting yourself up to fail.

So probably not what I was doing. Probably wasn't as serious about it as I should have been. I was also traveling with a group of people. They were close, but they weren't like Meggan and I so I, when we were having discussions about, well, where's the group going tonight? I didn't always feel like I wanted it to be that person's like, hi, I can't eat gluten.

Or, you know, sort of what things slide and. Deteriorated and lower a few times I had to pump yourself up with some sugar and really learned a lot. And you know, the way I plan for trips now, a lot of it is based on what I learned, then

Meggan: that's what I was actually just going to ask you. And I think that that can be really helpful for people.

What does planning for that mean? So you mentioned Europe, but really, you know, in Canada, hopefully we have, or we can feel comfortable maybe with knowing what the everyday options are, but like going to Europe, and I know there's apps that you've used to find things. So talk to us about planning for a trip being vegan and gluten-free, what does that look like? What can people do to plan ahead? What are some resources or what are you doing?

Brianna: Yeah. So there's a lot of things. So at the beginning I started talking about how I love to daydream about travel. A lot of times that involves social media. So Instagram, you know, somebody will pop up and I'll see, you know, a cool place or a cool city.

So typically what I do when I'm planning travel is I go to Pinterest. I will start a Pinterest board and I just drop everything in there. So. You know, I'll find places I want to go landmarks. I want to see, but at the same time, I'm always thinking of food too. And part of that, I need to, I'm just like, can be prepared, but I also really like food.

So one of the coolest things about traveling is seeing what kind of food other places have, you know, and going into the grocery stores in foreign countries. I love that. Like take me to a place for 24 hours and guaranteed half of it will be spent finding cool foods eat or look at grocery stores because I just love it.

So I'm always standing and prepping through Pinterest and Instagram. I'll do a hashtag search and find cool places that way. There are some restaurants I discovered in Paris and through Instagram. Looking at where people were eating, what they were doing. So those are sort of the main things I do. I also just really love reading maps.

I know that's weird.

Jenn: We don't think it's weird.

Brianna: I mean before Google was like the thing, you know, I would look at atlases or roadmaps and, you know, an old globe and just kind of spin it and pick a place. So now with Google, you can just pick a spot and zoom right in, you know, and if you know, you're going to be in a certain place and neighbourhood just expand on that and have a look to see what's there.

So that's usually what I do. Those are sort of my main things. There is an app that you can use, and I know that Meggan's familiar with it too because we've both used it. I think you may have used it in Iceland.

Meggan: Yeah.

Brianna: Happy cows. So it's pretty dynamic. It's a really neat tool. It will list all of these places that you can go to in a certain city.

So for example, if I was going to Dubai, I can type in Dubai and it would show me a list of all of the rest. Um, You can filter it out by purely vegan, vegetarian, omni. You can search by meal type. The great thing about that app is that you get reviews from actual people. So people will post pictures, menus, or full posts, a straight up review, good or bad about the place.

So you really have an idea of where you should be spending your time. And I just reminded me to menus. That's another thing that's hugely important. So when I'm on Google, usually if I find a place on the map, And check with the menu and Meggan, you know, I do that here all the time, too. I'm always looking to know what A: I can eat and B: I want to eat.

So the menu thing is super important. If you're going to a country where perhaps English, isn't the first language if you're looking at a menu and there's no English version of the menu, you probably need to be prepared to not be ordering something in English. So maybe that influences your choice to go point or not.

Meggan: I agree.

Jenn: That definitely makes sense. And I also love looking at menu.

Meggan: I love it. It's like a thrill it's like shopping for things. You'll get one day and it just happens to be food.

Brianna: I mentioned to, I just quickly looked at my notes. I don't want to miss this. I'm something that I really love doing is once I find a place in the city, I'm not afraid to go back to it. So there were a few places, almost last trip that I went to where I found a place that was really, really great. And I would visit it more than once and it's especially great if you're scared of about the safety food. So if you're not sure if a place can accommodate you, if you find one that does and you know, for a fact that you're eating something, that's okay for you to eat and it's delicious. Why not go back? Yeah. So there were a few places that I did that with, for sure. On this last trip.

Jenn: Yeah. What would you say is like your biggest challenge of traveling with like dietary needs or restrictions?

Brianna: I think just being prepared, And you know, it sort of goes in hand with being a vegan gluten-free person. Anyway, in my regular life, I have to plan a lot you know, you can't always just roll up to a restaurant or fast food place.

Right. So just being prepared, like I always have snacks with me you know, not just for the plane, but I like to bring things like have with me while I'm out. Usually while I travel, I have a jam packed day. And so I always make sure I have some snacks with me just to make sure I'm eating. And sometimes if you don't want to actually have breakfast, you can just have like fruit and a granola bar.

So being prepared in those ways definitely helps. It's also good to know where your grocery stores or markets are. That's really important. Just to make sure that you have access to certain things like fresh produce or but on that same note, make sure that you're prepared for what you're going to find there.

When I was in Budapest, the grocery store right across the street from my Airbnb, I was like, well, this is perfect. We'll just go in there and get a few supplies. But all the ingredients were in Hungarian, which I don't. So. problem with that.

Jenn: Do you tend to book places with a kitchen? Like, is that kind of one of your tactics?

Yes.

Brianna: Absolutely. If I'm going somewhere for a few days, and I know I'll have time, I always try to book an Airbnb that has a kitchen. Yeah,

Meggan: yeah, definitely. And another thing too, for you, I'm sure. In terms of planning is you're not just, you know, vegan and gluten free. You're also diabetic. So making sure that you have those things on hand in case you have lows or whatever is really key as well.

And something when we're traveling together is always on my mind as well. I'm like, does she have coke Does she have, you know, a juice pack, just being sure that sort of your tea. I know, just making sure that you're, you're taking care of in that way as well. So th that has to be why there's planning, but do you think that in any way being diabetic first helps you in terms of planning for these things too, do you think that was just always your mindset anyway?

Brianna: Sure. Yeah. I mean, diabetes is a daily minute by minute, hour by hour thing, you have to be prepared. Luckily my control is great, but I work hard at that. And even though I do, sometimes things happen, you know, like, especially if you're traveling and, you know, Walking around the city. You know, if you're expending a lot of energy, maybe your blood sugar is going to be a bit lower.

So I am always in the mindset of be prepared. I actually worked with someone who her boyfriend was diabetic and they had gone on this amazing trip to Italy. And he wasn't prepared. They got to their BNB, which was like a village outside of any main city. And he didn't have any juice or any kind of emergency stash as I call it.

And his blood sugar went low in the night and they completely panicked and didn't know what to do. And I think eventually had the, like she left and had to walk and go get something like, and they ended up canceling their trip because they were so unnerved by the whole experience. I get very.

Yeah,

Meggan: definitely. And would you say, is there anything since you've, you know, made this switch to vegan obviously the gluten-free plays a part in it. That's kind of surprised you while traveling with these sorts of needs or, or preferences.

Brianna: Yeah. I mean, again, it is scary. I guess that one thing that I, I sort of been surprised about is that I haven't been glutened more.

Gluten free people call it glutened. It did happen to me once when I was in Krakow I had found this really great burger place, but they did not speak English at all. They had a menu that was in English and you were just kind of point and see what you needed the first two nights. It was fine. The third night I definitely had a bun that was gluten.

So. You know, but again, that's the only experience that I can think of. So that's sort of a surprise too, because there does seem to be a lot of care and safety put into these restrictions, regardless of which country you're in. And then also just the availability, like these places are, are not behind the times.

You know, there are so many options. Be signs everywhere in London and Camden market. I mean, it's just, it was like a Mecca. I was like, ah, First and Finland actually really surprised me and they just it's just life there. It's not, you're not even like a gluten-free vegan person. You're just one of the mill, you know, so everything in the grocery store is readily available and even priced similarly. So no shortage of options.

Jenn: That's awesome. And I feel like right now is probably the best time ever to be gluten free and vegan because there's been such a huge push of a lot of people who have gone gluten-free who are going vegan or going plant-based or like going more vegetarian. And there's just more options now than there ever has been before and yeah, like you said, like they're not behind the times in Europe, right? Like they're not- like everywhere is kind of pushing forward together. So

Meggan: can you imagine there are people that were vegans or vegetarians. Not so much gluten-free probably, but in the sixties and the seventies, and they had to like make their own way in the world.

I'm like, we're like pampered people now in terms of like these needs or choices that we're making. And I think, I think we're so lucky to be in this time where you're not like, oh, no, like she's coming with us and she's eating vegan. No. The restaurants where it's all combined or vegan restaurants are just delicious and everybody can still find something that tastes good. 100% I think that we're in, it's a brilliant time to sort of, and it's only, I can imagine it's only going to get better from here. So.

Brianna: And

Meggan: yeah. And so when Jenn I know you wanted to talk a bit about this too, because you know, Ryan's case in particular is a little bit different than sort of obviously gluten-free for some people, if you eat it, it's like life-threatening and whatnot, or, or what, but what about like actual allergies in terms of like nuts and things that are a little more prevalent, I guess?

Jenn: Yeah. So like it, it's not, maybe not more difficult, but it's a lot more risky, right? Like it can be a life or death situation. So it can be a little bit scary. And I mean, the first time Ryan and I traveled together was really more like US and we were pretty comfortable like going to the U S but the first time, like when we went to Iceland um, I was scared, especially with shellfish, like he's highly allergic to shellfish.

He's like touching it and then touching a face he's going to get hives, so like, it's just, it's very stressful. And so we really didn't eat out in Iceland at all also because it was expensive.

So there was that. We got a place in the kitchen and we went to the grocery store and we cooked our own food.

We ate at a cafe that I had been to before, because I had gone to Iceland two years previous to that with my step-mom and had eaten at this cafe and kind of knew the menu or at least what it kind of looked like and knew that it wasn't really shellfish. She, and so Iceland was nice because most people spoke english as well. So at least you could talk to them. Um, Yeah. So I want to talk about some tips to like traveling with life threatening food allergies, so you can buy or make allergy cards with like a local translation of the allergies. So like you can show it to your server. Okay. This, if you don't speak the language, right?

Like

Meggan: That's a great idea. Yeah. That's very smart.

Jenn: Just because like, we've always traveled to an English speaking English or a French speaking country where we speak both those languages. But I've heard of a lot of people doing them and sometimes they'll just bring them even back to the chefs so that the chefs can see them little like laminated cards.

Brianna: Yes.

Jenn: Bring multiple EpiPens people guess you don't know bring, bring lots. Like we said before, like pre-packaged snacks from home that, you know, are safe are really nice to have. Know the local emergency phone number. You need to call hopefully you down, but like it's not 9 1, 1 everywhere.

So you just make sure you know that and have medical insurance. When you travel in case you do need to go,

Meggan: right.

Hopefully you don't But you know,

Jenn: I will say that Disney has been one of the best places that we have traveled with for like dietary needs. And it's actually really funny that Brianna, because my best friend is also gluten-free and type one diabetic, which is just a real

Disney the four of us. So me and my husband and her and her husband in December, 2019. So, and that trip, my husband's allergic to nuts and shellfish and he was eating plant-based at that time. And then my friend with the gluten allergy. So it was they're really, really great. When you book your dining reservations at Disney, you can click on um, What allergies are at the table. They'll bring you special allergy menus that say like, this is, has like corn, like top eight kind of allergies. They'll kind of list them. And what doesn't have in each dish or the chef can come out and talk to you. If your situation is a little bit more complicated. They're really, really great. And they go above and beyond to make sure that you're safe and that you get something that you'd like. And like they've made stuff off menu. My husband wanted something at a restaurant that wasn't plant-based and they like changed the whatever. Like, I can't even remember what it was now, but I remember them like kind of special making something that would accommodate him.

And, and your meal comes out with a little stick that says allergy on it, you know,

Meggan: that they remember it's always like.

Brianna: Great. So, because I have been in so many situations where I'm like, is that really, and you ask them because you're scared, you know, you hear about, like you said, especially with an allergy, that could be, life-threatening like, you need to know.

Meggan: Yeah,

Jenn: I highly highly recommend Disney with people with food allergies. And I'm in a couple of Facebook groups that are specifically for Disney and food allergies. And there's people who can't eat a list of like, you know, 20 things or something, and they're still able to be accommodated and safely.

And so

Meggan: Yeah, it must be scary out there though. Like with life threatening allergies, like my niece, apparently her doctors never seen anyone like more allergic to nuts. And so even when she comes to like my parent's place, she's. Even though my mother knows she's like, so this is good. And so that's in someone's home who loves her. So going out into the world and trying to like navigate that in order food must be like terrifying. When you know, X, Y, or Z could like send you the hospital or kill you.

Jenn: And like living in Atlantic Canada with a shellfish shellfish.

Meggan: Yeah, definitely. Oh my goodness. So Brianna before we let you go, like any parting words or anything you want to share with people who are maybe getting ready to travel for the first time after finding out, you know, they can't eat gluten, or maybe over this time they've changed the way they eat and maybe it was plant-based or vegan or whatever the case may be.

Any tips for them sort of on the way out the door.

Brianna: Yeah. I mean, just, don't be afraid. Obviously be cognizant, you know, go into things, knowing what, you know, what you need to be prepared for, and obviously be careful and cautious of any allergies or, you know, any of your restrictions that you have. But the world is quite literally your oyster. You know, there's so much to see out there and unless your Ryan,

but the cool thing too, is that when you're doing all this research and prep and, you know, you're able and willing to local places in these different foreign cities to eat, sometimes we'll even discover some really cool, like local cuisine. So it's all. You know, it's all tied in together and just, don't be afraid, you know, do a little bit of research, get yourself a Pinterest board.

You know, really make the most of being in a new city and finding new ways to eat while respecting what you've chosen to do.

Meggan: That's really great advice. I love that. And I, I think too, like, and I think not being scared just because you're choosing to eat differently makes a big difference because you're right.

Like the door could be open to something. I mean, we didn't know existed in terms of food and, and flavor is really what's important. And so as long as you're finding something that sort of meets what you're looking for, but tastes great. I also would go back to somewhere. Twice three times. If I knew I was getting what I wanted, like, I think all of that, what you've shared is really great advice.

Even for people who are picky eaters, even like, cause you're on a vacation, you're like I should be going to multiple places to eat. But at the end of the day, if this one place makes you happy and you can go five times, just go. Like, I mean, I think, I think that's really great advise.

Brianna: There are meals that I would literally fly across the world to get the burger that I ate in Budapest. I had it every single day that I was there. It was called the juicy Lucy burger. And it was vegan. So good. Like, honestly, like just, you know, if I had been too afraid, I wouldn't have experienced those, so just be cognizant but enjoy what you might definitely on.

Jenn: I'm hungry.

Brianna: I know.

Meggan: Well, that is it for the episode today, guys. Thank you so much for your time for joining us. I think this was a great episode, especially as people are hopefully 20 22 fingers crossed getting back out there. If you did enjoy today's episode, please consider subscribing. So you don't miss a darn thing.

Share the podcast with a travel loving pals. You can now leave reviews on apple and Spotify and two places to say you love us. And you can obviously find our episodes on travel on podcast.com. Say hi to us on Facebook and Instagram. And we'd love to hear from you, especially if you're out there with some dietary needs or anything that you want to share with us.

Any tips that maybe we don't know about yet we would love to hear from you. So until next time friends. Bye.