A Few Remarks About Peanut and Tree Nut Allergies and Airplanes

So, this is a relatively plausible description of what happens with nut exposure in neighboring seats on an airline:

http://nonuttraveler.com/tree-nut-reaction-on-american-airlines

Pointing out a few things: the nuts were heated, they were in very close proximity. Also, the reaction resolved with Benadryl — no EpiPen required.

Every Single Fucking Time there is a pet in the airplane, or a service animal — animal dander and feathers don’t care whether they are from a pet, a service animal, an emotional support animal, etc. in terms of triggering an allergy in me — I have to take extra allergy medication, and I will _still_ wind up coughing so much I disturb my fellow passengers. I don’t ask people not to bring their animals on the plane.

Yet somehow, tree nut / peanut allergies still generate a cabin wide do not eat peanuts announcement on JetBlue, which actually has a policy against doing exactly that, because some asshole, er, Poorly Informed Parent in the row behind me _on the other side of the plane_ has a kid who has an allergic reaction to airborne peanuts / tree nuts. Well, Dear Fellow Parent, I have allergic reactions to all _kinds_ of things: perfumes, your shampoo / conditioner / laundry detergent, the animal dander all over pet owners clothing. Everywhere I go I have allergy reactions that lead to me having to medicate constantly, itch and scratch a whole lot more than _I_ am comfortable with, and, occasionally, vomit.

But I don’t stop breathing and I don’t have asthma. (I do have a reactive airway disorder tho, so there’s always the chance that one of those horrifying coughing episodes could result in the end of my life. Why exactly is this not taken more seriously by anyone?)

You might think, well, you know, _that’s different_. Turns out it is not. Peanuts and tree nuts don’t readily aerosolize. There are a pretty wide variety of articles online on this exact topic.

Here is one:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/why-you-dont-need-to-panic-if-youre-flying-with-a-peanut-allergy/

In the meantime, because I foolishly believed there was actually a risk that was somehow different from the one I live with every day of my life, I didn’t eat the lunch I brought with me because _I_ have food allergies that prevent me from eating the food available on the plane, because there were peanuts and/or tree nuts in most of it. I wish I _had_ eaten my food.

I wish I had done this research before yesterday. But you know, there will be more airline rides, and this will be handy to know. The next time there is an announcement to refrain from consuming nuts, I’ll be eating my PB&J anyway, unless your kid is sitting right next to me. Which your kid will not be doing, because I’ll be seated between my own two kids. As a courtesy, I will NOT serve any nut products to my children, because they are often messy, and I wouldn’t want that to become a problem for you. In the unlikely event I remembered to bring wipes and you forgot yours, I’d be happy to share, but you probably shouldn’t actually get anywhere near me because, you know, I had peanut butter for breakfast, too, so I’m probably breathing peanut particles and you could die if you are anywhere near me. Or there might be peanut particles on my hands. Or something.

In mildly related news, Disney Cruise Line does a really nice job handling allergies, but they are still transitioning to the menu that lists options approach, and they sometimes have printed menus at a sit down restaurant that has zero DF options. They will _always_ accommodate and they always do a great job, but it is definitely still in Talk To the Chef mode. After a while, I quit even asking about the plain bread, because I knew perfectly well it was safe for me to eat.

ETA: Before anyone thinks, hey, you have no idea how hard it can be, walkitout, dealing with contact and airborne allergies and allergies to multiple foods. Surprise! I am also allergic to a wide variety of shellfish which has not yet reached anaphylaxis, but every exposure makes it worse. Turns out that is _also_ a contact allergy for me (yeah, don’t prepare shrimp for other people). I am also, disappointingly, allergic to buckwheat, so a fair amount of dairy free / gluten free items are off limits to me because they contain ... buckwheat. I really love buckwheat, too. I also loved crab and lobster before I figured out what was causing the multi-day migraines with vomiting. Other things I am allergic to: lemongrass (wow, that was sad — a bunch of thai dishes I loved really don’t love me, but at least now I know why I always itched after eating them), mango, the aforementioned feathers and animal dander, along with a really wide variety of plant pollen. And then all those scented products that everyone persists in using.

G Ro Check In and Multitasker Review

I recently traveled to Florida from December 21-30. It was a somewhat complicated trip: 3 nights 2 days doing Space Coast stuff, a Disney Cruise for 4 days including a day at Castaway Cay, and 3 days at Sarasota. I do laundry on vacation if possible to avoid having to bring an unwieldy amount of clothing, but it was cold (high 50s / low 60s) the first few days in Florida and in the 80s while on the cruise and in Sarasota, plus the need for swim / beach stuff. Add to that cruise clothing requirements and the whole thing seemed impossible to cram into a couple carryons.

I brought the G Ro Check In and the G Ro Multitasker, along with a backpack (DVC, so pretty simple but spacious), and A.’s new scooter bag, which has a lot more room than her previous scooter bag. Fortunately. Because she wanted to bring a really huge stuffie that she sleeps with, so that took up most of the space in her bag, leaving only a bit extra for some paper, colored pencils and, on the way home, souvenirs.

The Check In is kind of enormous. It opens like a suitcase, but has a front panel with a bunch of pockets that I haven’t figured out how to make good use out of, other than the one on the bottom which is great for shoes that you don’t want to leak sand all over the inside of the bag. The inside has zippered mesh and tie downs, but no other significant organization. I bought the eBags three pack, one in purple for me, and one in pink for A., and we used that to keep track of our stuff. That was convenient. We could just pull the biggest one with clothes out and plop it into a drawer and we were unpacked, mostly.

The Multitasker has multiple compartments for computers / electronic devices. That was nice, because I could put A.’s iPad in one, and my iPad and kindle in another one, and if I wasn’t too drugged up on Dramamine, I could usually lay hands on the right one on the first try. Half the bag is set up for clothes or whatever, and that was pretty handy, too. The heavy stuff I wouldn’t need on the flight basically went into the Multitasker, and I extracted A.’s iPad for the flight before putting it in the overhead. The stuff I needed for the flight went into the backpack (lunch, headphones, my cell, etc.). If you are thinking, but why bring stuff on the flight that you won’t need on the flight, well, Dear Reader, sometimes checked bags go missing for unpredictable periods of time, and that boat was going to leave when that boat left and I didn’t want to have absolutely nothing to wear in the meantime.

This luggage is pretty expensive. I doubt I would have bought it (much less all of it — I have the two backpacks, too, but haven’t used them yet), if the G Ro Carryon hadn’t been so freakishly amazing to use. I love the wheels. I love the durability. The zipper quality is excellent. And everything has a luggage strap, so you can stack things. That meant that arriving at the airport, A. rode her bag, and I rolled the Check In with the Multitasker parked on top, wearing the backpack. Yes, Dear Reader, about 80 pounds of crap that I could move at more than an amble with, altho I could not keep up with husband and the kids on scooters which is a Whole Other Rant. Once the Check In was, er, checked, the Multitasker was a dream to roll. I can’t wait to try it with one of the backpacks (with luggage strap!), but I will be waiting, because I’m also bringing the DVC bag on the next trip (Disney), so it will be the one after that they I try the Multitasker + backpack out on. One of these times, I’d like to try the Multitasker and Carryon Stacked, but it may never actually make sense to do that.

It’s always difficult to know whether to recommend something to another person. How about this: I buy new luggage like the stuff is disposable (I do not throw it away! Nor do I stow it unused in the basement. Many, many friends and relatives have gotten a decade or more out of luggage that I had lost interest in, and the rest went to Savers or similar). But the G Ro Carryon stopped me cold, until G Ro filled out the rest of their line. And I am really excited to travel with these bags again, which I am not sure I have been able to say about any luggage in a really long time. If you are searching for some ineffable Something that you can’t quite define, possibly the G Ro will do it for you.

The wheels are indescribably awesome. It is amaze balls to me that you can roll a loaded Check In with a loaded Multitasker on top (close to 70 pounds there total) in line without tilting. And you can hit a curb without noticeably slowing down when you walk with it tilted.

ETA: Links!

The eBags 3 pack I mentioned above. I bought two, and they nicely filled out to occupy the larger half of the Check In.

https://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/packing-cubes-3pc-set/13032

The Check In:

https://g-ro.com/products/check-in-classic

It would have helped if I remembered the expansion zipper. I remembered it when I was packing, and then closed it back up again and promptly forgot about it. There were some tears when I was packing up to leave Sarasota and I had totally forgotten about the expansion zipper. *sigh*

The Multitasker:

https://g-ro.com/products/multitasker-carbon-fiber-black-black

Happy New Year! Thank you, 2018 and Welcome, 2019!

Once again, the end of one year and the beginning of another.

This year’s project or theme — I can’t really call it a Resolution — was to get better at consistently making a variety of drinks. I did! It was a great project. People hit “like” on my drink pictures on FB. I met fun people at restaurants and bars, and nerded out about amari. I have new favorite things. The people at Colonial Liquors gave me a nickname. The very nice man who runs the place always finds me every single thing I ask him to order for me. It feels in a lot of ways like it used to feel, haunting used book stores to complete a series and talking books with people.

Food Waste was in the news this year, and I fought really hard to not let it influence me, just as I once did with the locavore trend. I failed. I discovered that it is actually worth zesting limes and grating ginger. I discovered the joy of finely chopped cilantro stems. I also learned (some of) which friends have the gene that makes cilantro taste evil, so I don’t inflict that on them.

This year contained the 20th anniversary of retirement for me (I’m going to pretend that all paid employment after I quit full time employment Does Not Count). I didn’t throw a party; I’m very bad at figuring out what people will think of various things I say or do, but even I can tell that throwing a party for that milestone is not going to increase the totality of love and friendship in one’s life.

We went to national parks. My son went to summer camp.

I gave a lot of money (from my perspective) to political campaigns in the midterms.

I was adjacent to the most expensive auto repair I’ve ever been near in my entire life (warranty, hence, “adjacent”). I still love the car involved.

Obviously, I wish everyone happiness, good health and things of that nature in the next year.

Here are some specifics that I am going to put out there, for the Universe — and my very limited readership — to contemplate.

Tell the people that you love, that you love them. Then tell them your other, potentially less attractive, but still important, feelings. Remind them that you love them. And if appropriate and if you can, move into a problem solving mode from there.

If you have been waiting a long time to do something, figure out if you can just fucking start already. If you can’t — valid, and full support! — identify when you _can_ start, as in, a date certain, put it in your tickler file equivalent (this could be a project, too! But if not, you could get a tattoo) and go do other things, sure in the knowledge that That Day Will Come.

Finally, and I think this might be the most important thing for _me_ to remember, as next year will be the year I turn 50:

Everyone is going to die some day. The Elder God Murphy dictates that of course many of those who die young are those we feel great affection for (and there is some kind of opposite of that which is also true). So. Back to points 1 and 2: tell the people you love how you feel. Do what you want — and start soon.

Good luck out there and stay safe. 2019 might be a bumpy ride. If the past is any guide at all.