Trying to Travel Green & Healthy

I spent the last week out of town with my family and it was the second "long" trip we've taken since my son's diagnosis of having two auto-immune disorders (intolerance to gluten and casein) about 1.5 years ago. And let me tell you....it was a challenge! If you are any shade of green, or if you have food issues like we do, then you can relate!

• 2 Days Before the Trip: buy gluten free/casein free snacks
• 1 Day Before the Trip: pack our own shampoo, soap, lotion, and home-made toothpaste
• Day of the Trip: get on the trip and realize 2 hours into it that I've forgotten sun block! Ugg.

So sun block may not be a big deal to most folks, but for us, anything that touches my son's body is a MAJOR deal. I couldn't find an "organic" or earth-friendly sun block between Oakdale and LA. Okay, so I didn't really expect to find a safe sun block in Oakdale, but the Raley's there has recently put in a "natural" section so one can hope, right?

Onward to LA....the sun is shining and we're poolside....without sun block. Gasp! I scour the hotel's junk store, you know, those shops with the tchatchkies that people always buy but then have no idea what to do with when they get home? They had some random brand of sun block made overseas. Heck no! We'll take our chances with skin cancer today.

The next day we head to Disneyland. We've been waiting for this day for months! Disney's happy music is playing as we stroll down Main Street and I peek into a few stores. More of the same tourist junk and no sun block in sight! Finally, after hours of going on rides and hitting up every vendor from the Disney side to the California Adventure side, I finally find some sun block...Coppertone Waterbabies, SPF 50. There are two choices - lotion or spray. My son looks at it in disgust and says, "Mom, you can't buy THAT! There are SO many chemicals in it that are bad!" How can you argue with the truth? What's a mom to do-tempt the skin cancer-causing rays of the sun or the neurotoxins in the lotion? We choose a light slathering of the "bad" sun block. And guess what? I still got a bit sunburned and my son broke out in a rash. Sigh...

What was I thinking! We would have been better off taking our chances with sunburn, as I later reviewed the ingredients on the cosmetic database website, created by the Environmental Working Group. The effects of the ingredients are scary, and a reminder why we use Badger or California Baby sunscreen in the first place.

Our other major issue while traveling was food options. My son cannot tolerate foods that contain gluten AND casein, so wheat, barley, rye, and all dairy are out the door. You can imagine how difficult it might be to travel when you can't have any of those things. And to boot, contamination is a huge problem, so even when we choose a food that does not contain the evil gluten or casein, we have to worry about what it has touched or how it has been prepared.

So, every meal at a restaurant is like a treasure hunt to find a "jewel" of a food that my son can eat. Just for fun, I'll recount a conversation I had with a waiter at a restaurant on our last night of vacay:

Waiter: So, have you decided what you'd like to order.

Me: Okay, so I'm going to order for my son, but I have a few questions.

Waiter: Okay....

Me: I see here on the menu that you have these 'Delicious Dippers' for kids. Can he have half of the veggie dippers and half of the fruit dippers but without any of the sauces?

Waiter: Hmmmm.....so you don't want the yogurt or the ranch dip?

Me: No......my son can't have any dairy, so that's why I was wondering if maybe we could just modify the fruit and veggies, you know, make just the 'Delicious' part of the 'Dippers' [my sorry attempt at humor].

Waiter: Ohhhhh, okay. Yeah, we can do that.

Me: Great! Okay, and with the Mini Kobe Burgers, can he have that without the bun?

Waiter: A hamburger without the bun?

Me: Yes, exactly. He can't have any gluten, er, wheat either. [I usually say 'wheat' to people because they have NO idea what gluten is!]

Waiter: Oh! He's gluten intolerant. Okay! We had a lady in here the other day and she has that too!

Me: Oh......anyways, so that comes with fries, right?

Waiter: Yes.

Me: Okay, and are those fries cooked with anything else?

Waiter: What do you mean?

Me: Well, you know, like are the fries cooked in the same oil as other things?

Waiter: I don't know. Let me go check. [A couple of minutes pass.] Oh, the fries are out....they're cooked with the chicken strips.

Me: Okay, can we just do a side of rice then?

Waiter: Oh no, we don't have any rice dishes right now.

Me: So, you have no rice in house at all?

Waiter: Hmmmm, no, don't think so. But I'll go check! [Waiter leaves again and returns.] We can do wild rice!

Me: Great! Let's do it.

Waiter: So, does he want any ranch dressing or anything to put on his burger.

Me: Uh, no thanks.

So the conversation continued in this back-and-forth manner, with the waiter returning to the kitchen at least 4 more times to inquire about how the salmon dish was cooked, and could I have it without the breaded eggplant (although that is one of my favorites), because alas, I too am gluten intolerant.

The waiter comes out one last time to confirm our order and I, with a crazy idea in mind, think it might be a good idea to share with him how the cooks should prepare the working and cooking surfaces to avoid contamination. Well, that took another 10 minutes before we were all on the same page. And finally, our order was placed and I graciously thanked the waiter for being so accommodating! He truly was trying to help, but some stubborn cooks and a lack of knowledge about gluten and casein intolerances were just getting in our way!

So the meals come and they are perfectly delicious except that mine seems to be missing something. I ask my husband if he remembers what else my dish was supposed to come with and he noted that it was the "peasant potato" that was missing. After checking with the waiter he said, "Oh, I told them not to do that because of your dairy intolerance."

"Well, actually, only my son has the dairy intolerance." I replied.

"That's right, he's both dairy and wheat, and you're just wheat. Okay, I've got it now!" he offered, still looking a bit confused.

"Yes, so how long will that potato take?" I ask.

"Oh, just a few minutes," the waiter replied. And less than five minutes later an undercooked, sad looking potato arrived with the middle cored out and a sad piece of bacon hanging out both sides.

Oh well....I guess no meal in our gluten free/casein free world will ever be perfect.

And oh, did I tell you about the day when my son ate half of his basket of French fries before the waiter came by to tell us that the fries had been cooked in oil with the chicken fingers? I'll save that story for another day.

But truly, the long and the short of my ranting is to note that even though California is very forward-thinking, people still have a lot of changes to make! And while I found a greener path as a result of a health issue, I hope that for others, the choice to be greener and healthier (and to help others do the same!) comes from a desire to have a better life and a better relationship with the environment.