From Spain, with Allergy-Free Love!

By Kelley Lindberg

He’s home! My globe-traversing son is back from his class trip to Spain. He spent 11 days in Madrid, Toledo, and Salamanca, with a few other stops in between. He ate everything from calamari to chocolate con churros, and brought home souvenirs ranging from swords (yes, plural), to a scarf from the Real Madrid soccer team, to a certificate showing he earned his very first college credit from the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. Not bad for a 15-year-old junior high kid.

I’m also happy to report that he didn’t have any trouble with food while he was in Spain. He had a brief incident on the plane on the way home from Spain when his mouth began to tingle, so he took some antihistamine and the tingling went away. He’s never had a reaction on a plane before (and he didn’t eat anything but the snacks he brought from home), but he was prepared with his Wet-Wipes, his meds, and friends who knew about his allergies and watched over him during the incident, and everything turned out okay.

In Spain itself, he had no problems. He said the waiters were very accommodating if you tried to speak Spanish, and he had no trouble ordering safe foods. He memorized the info on his SelectWisely.com translation cards and was able to talk confidently with waiters and chefs. Interestingly, lupin flour wasn’t a problem – he said most waiters looked confused, like they’d never heard of lupin flour, and assured him they only used wheat or white flour. Perhaps lupin flour isn’t as widely used in Spain as it is in France and Italy. Either way, it was a relief.

So thank you to everyone who kept your fingers crossed for him. His first—but definitely not last—travel adventure without me was a huge success and an invaluable character-building experience (for both of us).

But I must admit, I’m glad to have him home, safe and sound. I missed those hugs!