traveling and living abroad with MC, tips from an insider

[harma]

Some MC traveling and living abroad tips.
I thought maybe it is useful for others if I share some of my food and other mc related experiences while I was in Jordan. Here are some:

- Take a medication supply with you, enough for the whole stay (and a bit more). Entocort is not everywhere in the world in any pharmacy available, not every pharmacy is familiar with entocort. In my case I forgot my meds while I was in Petra (overnight stay). They had never heard of Entocort. If they don’t know it in a pharmacy, don’t start about medication for IBD’s but mention type/kind of corticoid steroid. They understand that better.

- Gabes Doctor letter is not only useful for getting your survival food package on the plane (don’t count on airplane companies and diet meals, if you want to more than one allergy, they can’t provide it), but can also be useful in the foreign country. My experience is that a doctor’s letter saying you have a disease, because of that are on diet and eating wrong food makes you ill, makes more impression than just your story. It makes it more official. It doesn’t really matter if the letter is from a GI or GP, as long as it is from a doctor and looks official. I used it twice to get my whole day food supply into one of the dead sea resorts (you can’t smuggle it in, since all bags are checked by scanning them). As soon as I showed my doctor’s letter they apologized and I wished me with me bag of food a very pleasant stay.

- Find out before you leave which medication is bad for MC, of course you are aware of the pain killers, but find out before you leave about the antibiotics.

- Look for an accommodation (if possible) where you can cook yourself. As long as you can cook your own food and there are supermarkets, you will survive, meat, fruit, rice and vegetables they sell almost everywhere. What made my stay in Jordan so much easier is that I always was able to cook my own food.

- If I wasn’t home during lunch or dinner time, I prepared my food at home and took it in a small container with me and ate it when others had their lunch/dinner.

- For going away for a longer time (a couple of days and couldn’t cook) my survival package was: canned fish, canned fruit, canned veggies (red beets) and bananas. Other options are (of course) rice cakes, all kind of nuts, dried fruit, smoked salmon Important to me was that it couldn’t spoil and was high in nutrition (that is why I call it a survival package). Since this is not all the yummiest and always the healthiest food this is important: never feel sorry for yourself when others are eating great local specialties, self-pity is your enemy and you won’t dye of a couple of days without fresh food with the right amounts of carbs, fat, proteins, vitamins etc. What is important, that with the restrictions of your disease you can live your live and do what you want to do, if you hadn’t the disease: traveling, enjoying live, focus on that.

- Don’t be afraid joying your travel company during dinner and lunch. Make sure you had your food before you go with them (so you won’t be hungry). Let them ate as they want to; reassure them that you are fine with. With every course take another drink. Maybe there are some starters/desserts on the menu you can eat too (olives maybe or some fruit). Just be relaxed, it is not their fault you have MC and they don’t have to suffer for it. On the other hand of course it would be polite if they of course take their time to eat their meal, but don’t transform into a 5 course dinner. Than leave to another place for you after dinner coffee, tea, drink. When my friend was over for a week, this worked perfectly. What I didn’t but I think in Jordan would be fine, take your own food to the restaurant, explain the situation and ask if it is possible you eat you own food (bring your doctor letter too).

- Take ant’s diet card with you on which is written what you can’t but more important what you can eat if you want to go out for dinner. I didn’t go for dinner in Jordan, because I just didn’t trust them enough with the cooking. Diet restricted cooking is not very well known in the Middle East. But in other countries this could be much better. Of course tailor the card to your personal situation.

- Very important: be flexible. This was for me not always easy I have to admit. If you can’t find the food you are used to and only 3 or 4 things are left, than well, survive on the three or four things. Again being able to travel, living your life is more important than being able the yummiest food (you can do that, as far as possible with your diet, back home)

- As soon as you arrive somewhere, find out where the closest supermarket is, what the opening hours are and what useful food they sell. In the beginning I took food with me for three days. Well after three days the last banana’s looked quite sad. I later realized that a lot of my survival food was available everywhere in Jordan, even in the smallest supermarket. Even in Petra they sold bananas.

Of course if anyone has anything to add to my list based on their experience: be my guest and add it to this thread.

[TummyTroubles]

These are some great tips that you posted, Harma! After being diagnosed with MC, I was seriously worried about not being able to travel long distances because of my condition. To be honest, I was thoroughly convinced that I wouldn't be able to do ANY traveling (period). Now that I've looked at this list, I realize just how silly I've been being. Traveling isn't impossible for people like us -- you just have to take extra care when doing so. Sure, not all foods will be available for you, but being able to see sights, meet new people and have fun with the ones you already know is FAR more important.

Thanks for putting things into perspective, Harma. I really needed this. :)

[Jan]

Harma,

Thanks so much for sharing this. Your tips, added to Gabes when she flew to France, are good for anyone who travels.

I've been thinking of you and all the snow in Europe. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Jan

[Joefnh]

Wonderful post Harma and I am glad that your trip home went well.

The doctors note was also quite useful for me, I had no issues in traveling in the US with my food stuffed backpack, but it did come in handy in Australia at both the Brisbane and Sydney airports.

What also helped was having a medical alert ID card which also stated the medications and the condition name on it. With both of those I did not even have to explain the extra foods, I presented it to the security officer during inspection.

I certainly would recommend Gabes letter idea and Ant's restaurant card as a necessity.

I have had a few trips within the US since the trip to Australia and I found that the same planning and preparations are a necessity.

Overall it is great to know that with some good planning we can travel and visit abroad.

Thanks for sharing your journey with us Harma

--Joe

[Martha]

Harma, those are great ideas. Thanks so much for posting them.

I guess I missed Gabes's doctor's letter idea and Ant's diet card. Can somebody post a link to those, or just tell me basically what they say?

[harma]

Good question Martha, to be honest I have no idea where to find Gabes example of the Dr's note and ant's standard for the diet card. Both was already a while ago.

That's the one thing I forget to add Joe, plan the food part of the trip and think ahead.

And Jane (I don't think we have actually "met" here, welcome on this great message board), that is one of the reasons I put it here, that it can inspire others to do the things they want to do. What I have learned the last year being on the diet, apart from the practicle part, a mindshift is very important too. Not only for traveling but for the whole social part of life. Nothing really has to change (I am talking now that the MC is under control with meds and/or diet, so no D anymore) is my experience, you can do all the things as before, it only asks for some extra planning and carrying around food you can eat. The mindshift that was important for me was, focussing on the company, the social part of it and not on the food. Was is of course not always easy. At the moment, these days just before Christmas, walking in to town, I would like so much go into one of those coffee things and have a real cappuccino with real chocolate cake, or a muffin or any other pastries. I really miss that.

I just went out for a drink with my friend who also visited me in Jordan. She is still making fun of me, because of me eating a tin of fruit in Petra and carrying around my tins of fish. So yes also be prepared, that some people may think you are a bit crazy from time to time.

Jan, about the snow, I think where I live is the only part in Europe with only a little snow (like 5 centimeters, is about an inch ?). There has been a lot of snow in other parts or the Netherlands. So it is just fine here.

[tex]

Hi Martha,

This thread contains the details of Gabe's doctor's letter:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ors+letter

Peggy mentioned a similar letter a few years ago, to be used for air travel:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ad+seating

You will find a listing of the details of Ant's "to the chef" card, on the second page of this thread, near the end of the thread:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... t=eat+card

If you have any problems trying to locate them using these links, please let me know.

Tex

[Gloria]

Harma,

Your post is a great reminder that we can still travel with MC. I love the list you gave.

Nothing really has to change (I am talking now that the MC is under control with meds and/or diet, so no D anymore) is my experience, you can do all the things as before, it only asks for some extra planning and carrying around food you can eat.

That was my experience in travelling to Hawaii. I planned ahead for both meals I ate on the plane, found a place to stay with a kitchen, and located the nearest grocery stores. Once those preparations were in place, the rest was easy to handle.

I hope you are enjoying your visit with your friends and family and that you have a great Christmas!

Gloria

[Martha]

Tex, thanks so much for posting those links. You are very kind to take the time to hunt them down.

Should I be able to find those sorts of things using a search function?

Merry Christmas to all!

[tex]

Should I be able to find those sorts of things using a search function?

Yes, I just searched the archives, using key words. However, it helps to be familiar with the original posts, because the trick is finding the right key words. IOW, sometimes, unless you've read the post before, you won't be able to guess appropriate key words, that will allow you to easily find what you're searching for, because the posts don't always include optimum/logical and yet unique key words . IOW, the search might miss it, or you might get too many hits to read. Also, knowing the original author can narrow the search.

For those three links, I used the key words "doctor's letter", "bulkhead seating", and "can't eat card", plus the autor's username for each one. As you can see, remembering some of the wording in the original posts helped in selecting key words that were workable.

You're most welcome,
Tex

[MaggieRedwings]

Thank you so much Harma!

What a list and with Joe's, Gabe's and Ant's additions it will make things so much easier.

Jane - No reason you cannot travel - heck I can camp or travel both it is just being prepared and knowing where the loo is and having certain foods with you.

Love, Maggie