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Thanks to everyone who responded to my email about our first GF Trip.  
Most respondents either wanted to know more about veratrum album (the 
homeopathic remedy that has helped our daughter through gluten and 
other food reactions) or requested a copy of the list of brands that 
label for allergens and/or gluten sources.  A couple of people told 
about their experiences at Disneyland or Disney World, which sounds 
terrific!!

You can purchase veratrum album at many health food stores and probably 
over the internet.   It is not a prescription drug.  Our family has 
used homeopathic remedies for our daughter since she was a toddler.  
She particularly likes the tiny pills which dissolve in your mouth and 
taste sweet.  You can find out more about the philosophy of homeopathic 
medicine at websites such as www.trusthomeopathy.org/ or 
http://www.hpathy.com/ (if you conduct a Google search, you will find 
hundreds of thousands of entries).  Our favorite brands are Boiron's 
and Hylands.   (I am not a homeopathic practitioner nor do I have any 
financial interest in either of these firms.)

Here are the other helpful hints that were provided:

I can offer some extra tips, we have been travelling with our daughter 
for 13 1/2 years as a celiac.  First,  I always designate one large 
suitcase that goes with us as a Katie food case.  I always take bread 
products because these are not easily obtained.  If possible, I have 
manufacturers ship directly to our hotel.  Speak with the hotel 
directly, they are usually very good about helping out.  I also take 
Katie's toaster, a small George Foreman grill and a small toaster oven 
with us.  I can make just about anything possible with these 3 items.  
I also take a sharp knife, a small cutting board, paper plates, bowls 
and plastic silverware.  I also went to sam's club and bought styrofoam 
"takeout" containers and small plastic containers that can be used to 
take food to restaurants etc. 
 
We have been to Alaska and on an Alaskan cruise.  We go skiing in 
Montana every XMas.  We have extensively travelled across the US.  We 
have been on cruises in the caribbean. Katie has also gone to camp for 
many years, this year for 3 weeks.  There happened to be a counselor 
and 1 other girl with celiac. 
 
No trip is impossible, you just need to be flexible.
 
***************
I agree with you 100% on the whole container issue.  I have invested in 
lots of containers.  I have bought some from The Container Store (that 
are a little bit pricey compared to some)... but I use those to store 
the various Tinkyada pastas I buy, and to keep about 6 GF cereals 
stowed properly.  (Our daughter likes to make a GF cereal mix/trail mix 
sort of thing, so I keep about that many boxes of cereal opened at 
once).  I also use one to keep the GF pretzels in.
 
I bought a whole ton of those sturdy Ziploc/Glad style containers and 
use those to keep about 15-20 different GF flours on hand.  I labeled 
them clearly with a permanent marker... and it's easy to see if I'm 
running low on any particular one.  As anal retentive as it may 
sound... since there are so many flours, I do keep those stacked 
alphabetically.  Many GF recipes call for so many flours... this way I 
can quickly check to see if I have the flours on hand to make something.
 
We have an extra freezer for storage.  I make homemade GF chicken 
nuggets, GF chicken patties, GF meatballs, etc. in bulk and freeze them 
in these nifty little containers.  I also bought a few round containers 
that look like they could hold 7" - 9" tortillas, and I make up GF 
pizzas (personal size) with kinnikinnick pizza shells, sauce & cheese & 
put 2 or 3 in each of these round containers and freeze them for later 
use.  (if we order a pizza for the rest of the family, all I have to do 
is pull out one of these and bake it for about 15 minutes at 350).
 
The containers are definitely handy for traveling, tossing in my purse, 
or diaper style bag.  I do keep an "emergency stash" of a few things in 
each vehicle.  Those are in a shoe box size container.  They contain a 
few Capri Sun drinks, small water bottles, THAI Kitchen Noodles, Dinty 
Moore pop top Beef Stew, UncleBens ready made rice in a vacuum sealed 
bag, and a bag of munchies (popcorn, funyons, fritos, etc.), and some 
fruit roll ups.)  These have been invaluable to traveling... instances 
where we've been stuck in traffic, or when we decided last minute to 
eat somewhere that wasn' gluten-free friendly.
 
*******
We just took our first trip as well.  My 20 month old son was diagnosed 
with celiac in April and the difference in him in just these few short 
months are amazing.  He is back to being my little guy again--no more 
laying around sick for him.  We just went up to Michigan too.  We go up 
to Houghton Lake every year so I know the area fairly well.  This 
helped tremendously since I knew what kind of stores were there.  
However, I did contact the Chamber of Commerce to check on health food 
stores since I didn't recall seeing any of those.  As it turns out, 
there was one with a very limited supply of things.  However, this did 
help me plan better for our trip since I knew more of what I would 
need.  We rent cottages on the lake so this really was an ideal 
situation for our first big venture out into the gluten filled world.  
We have most of our meals in the cottage, so I could be certain that 
what he ate was gf.  We took alot of frozen stuff.  It is about a 9 
hour trip for us, so we packed everything with dry ice.  I actually 
packed the cooler the night before and didn't unpack until four the 
next afternoon.  Everything was as solid as a rock.  I had never dealt 
with dry ice before and was thoroughly impressed.  I do agree with you 
about the smaller quantity idea.  I packed so much extra stuff that 
could have just as easily been left at home in the freezer to be eaten 
at a later time.  I had a whole bag of gluten free chicken nuggets.  I 
should have just packed 4 or 5 and this would have taken up a lot less 
space.  We packed rice cakes, crackers, pretzels, etc. in little 
containers and they stayed intact and fresh.  I also prefer to speak 
with the staff at restaurants instead of just handing them a card.  
Most people are very understanding and accomodating.  This has been a 
great learning experience for us and all in all, I think it went very 
well.  This is still so new to us, we are all constantly learning, but 
every day it gets just a little easier.  All the extra time, energy, 
and effort is so worth the end result.  When Matthew was sick, I knew 
how bad it was.  Now that he is better, I realize that he was sick for 
so long before he was really sick.  It amazes me to see the changes in 
him just from his diet.

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