Travel When You Have Food Intolerances
I travel quite regularly so that I can go back to Switzerland and visit my family. As a result, I spend a lot of time on trains and in airports! Anyone with a restrictive diet will know how hard it is to travel when you have food intolerances. I was once at Heathrow Terminal 5, starving (I hadn't followed my own advice this time around; bad Olivia!), and hunting everywhere for something that I could eat. There was nothing. No gluten free anywhere. No dairy free anywhere. It was a nightmare. I ended up finally finding a bag of nuts and faced up to the fact that that would be my dinner for the day. What I did do was tweet them and let them know they weren't catering to us. Next time I went to Terminal 5 (which wasn't long after), there was gluten free dairy free and everything else free options everywhere! Thanks for listening to me Heathrow.
However the vast majority of places (*cough* Geneva Airport *cough*) still aren't very savvy when it comes to food intolerances. Usually all you can get are sandwiches, McDonalds, pain au chocolat, chocolate bars and sweets. Not good! So here are my tips for travelling when you're on a restricted diet:
Bring your own
I can't stress this enough. Never (do what I did) and go unprepared. You will be hangry (hungry and angry). I usually bring a bag of pecans with me, some blueberries, or a homemade protein oat bar. You've got to think easy to carry and practical, but also what will fill you up. If you're going long distance, I'd recommend making a rice salad of some kind and snacking on that in the plane. Plane food is never good.
Warn your airline
If you're going really far and you don't want to lug around boxes of food (security give me strange looks. I ignore them.) then it's best to be organised and let your airline know about your dietary restrictions. Most are quite good these days and will cater for your needs.
Research
If you're going to have a long wait in an airport, why not check out their website and see what restaurants they have? This will give you a good idea of where you'll be able to grab a bite to eat. Most restaurants have menu's on their websites now-a-days, but if they don't, shoot them an email and ask them what they could offer. It's always good to ask!
Drink lots of water
Regardless of having food intolerances, everyone should try to drink lots of water when they're travelling. Going up in a plane is dehydrating as it is, plus the stress of travelling can mean a lot of us forget to drink. So when you get through security, go grab a bottle of water and keep sipping away.
Do you have any advice for me about travelling with food intolerances?
