Traveling with Celiac & T1D

I cannot wait to go back pack around Europe together - it has been something we have talked about a lot and I'm sure we will find a way to make it happen.  But traveling isn't as easy when you have T1D, and add Celiac to that mix and you can easily find yourself sick in a foreign country.  

Traveling with T1D is its own circus.  It may be enough to constitute more future posts.  It involves packing multiple backups of everything!  Extra meters, extra insulin, extra glucagons, extra insets, extra needles, extra ketone strips, extra test strips, extra batteries (depending on how you are traveling and TSA or other restrictions), extra chargers, and on and on.  Today Cecilia left for a month in California, and her insulin alone took up an entire bin through security - 2 boxes of lantus pens, 2 boxes of humalog pens, 3 boxes of humalog vials, and large ice packs to keep them all cold.  New charges for carry on luggage seam unfair to type 1's since it can't be checked and it took up the space of an entire back pack when other supplies, accessories, and non T1D meds were added.  But always better to be safe than sorry, and you can never be too prepared.

Now let's add Celiac to the traveling experience with type 1.  Yesterday we received an email advising us to arrive at the airport 3 hours early in order to wait in line to "bag drop" and to make it through security.  Umm, no way could we make it to the airport at 4 am.  They're crazy.  We were also right in assuming the security lines would not be super bad at 5 am, and I inevitably pick the slowest line no matter what.  Well, taking into consideration how packed the bag is with type 1 stuff and snacks for lows, other snacks got downsized the night before.  I did wake up early to pack breakfasts, but nothing was very appetizing at 4 am in a state of being somewhere between sleep and awake.  

So at 5 am there are restaurants open in the airport - Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Caribou Coffee, Quiznos - awesome choices for someone with Celiac.  Your options are prepackaged gf bags of chips and fruit salads that tend to draw appeal on the less appetizing end of the scale.  Celiacs make due however, even if less healthy - eating unhealthy is part of the fun of traveling right?!

Now this is all well and great when traveling in your native speaking language - but traveling abroad, better to be extra prepared.  Well, thank the greatest of goods/gods whatever your beliefs for the internet!  There is so many blog posts easily accessible to get recommendations, tips and advice, printables that have been tried, tested, and revised, and opportunities to learn from others' experiences to hopefully avoid the wretched affects of eating gluten tainted foods.  When all else fails you can also locate the nearest pharmacies to where you are staying.

I can't wait to start planning our trips - I've started bookmarking some websites for future reference and fully intend to continue to grow this list forever on.

• Personal blog that includes traveling stories and international guides for Celiac 
• Gluten free guides - ebook editions 
• Personal blog about traveling with Type 1
• Personal blog for the extreme travel with Type 1