How I've travelled the world with kids who are allergic to almost everything

"Having serious food allergies doesn't mean you have to miss out."

When it comes to travelling, Aussie mum Shirley has more baggage than most.

The NSW mum’s daughters, Paris and Phoenix, carry a weight that has nothing to do with tipping the baggage scales at check-in. 

Paris, 21, is anaphylactic to dairy, eggs, nuts, wheat, fish, seafood, legumes, and pulses. Her younger sister, Phoenix, 18, is allergic to dairy, eggs, and nuts. 

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“You just find alternatives. There’s always a solution." 

But none of it has ever been enough to ground them or stop them from exploring the world.

“We didn’t want them to miss out on life. My husband and I were avid travellers before kids and we didn't want allergies to stop us from doing things that we loved,” Shirley shared with Kidspot. 

They wanted their daughters to grow up with a thirst for adventure. 

“We wanted to teach them that just because you have allergies doesn’t mean you miss out on doing fun things in life,” she said. 

And the stamps in their passports prove that point. 

The family has travelled across the globe, expanding their horizons despite dietary restrictions. 

“It didn’t stop us,” she says. 

From Vietnam to Hong Kong, from Italy to Hawaii. Each destination brought its own culinary challenges, but the family always found a way to adapt.

“You just find alternatives. There’s always a solution,” Shirley insists. 

“That’s something we’ve taught the girls. Don’t let the allergies stop you from doing anything.”  

Image: Supplied

Thankfully, their travels have been mostly free of horror stories. The key, Shirley says, is caution and preparation. 

She often packed food from home to eliminate uncertainty and always included backup supplies. 

“In the earlier days when the girls were younger we would stay in serviced apartments so that we could actually prepare food in case we couldn't find anything when we went out,” she explained. 

As the girls have grown, they’ve thankfully outgrown some allergies, which has made mealtimes a bit easier. 

Still, eating out is rarely as simple as booking a table. 

Before dining out, Shirley would call ahead to make sure restaurants could cater to their needs. 

Sometimes chefs would decline due to the risk of cross-contamination, but others were more than willing to accommodate. 

“You get a feel for when you speak to the people at the restaurant, whether it's the chef or the servers, if they sound like they're quite confident that they know what they're talking about in terms of the allergies,” Shirley explains. 

“If we feel that there's a lot of hesitancy then we actually say ‘oh no, that's fine. We'll go somewhere else.’”

Image: Supplied

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"It really just would've saved us a lot of time"

She urges other parents who are navigating allergies to not let them become a roadblock to travel. 

She says it all comes down to research and preparation. Packing an EpiPen and understanding foreign supermarket products is vital. 

“Also just making sure there are medical facilities close by as well. God forbid if there was something that happened you wanna be at least within 15 minutes to half an hour of a medical facility,” she urges. 

For families feeling unsure, Shirley recommends the Food Allergy Travel Hub by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, a resource she wishes had existed when they first started travelling. 

“It's a one-stop shop for all your travel advice. I wish we had that because it really just would've saved us a lot of time,” She explains. 

The resource offers comparisons for airlines, translated chef cards and checklists to support safe travel.  

Originally published as How I've travelled the world with kids who are allergic to almost everything