A family holiday brings plenty to look forward to. When someone has allergies, it also brings extra questions. Will there be suitable food on the flight? How will treatment doses stay at the right temperature? What happens if the journey takes longer than expected?
Immunity Group Australia has created an expanded School Holiday Guide to help Australian and international families prepare for these everyday situations.
The illustrated, 15-page guide brings packing checklists, travel information, and emergency planning into one easy reference. It draws on Australian and international resources, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, ASCIA, AAA, FARE and the CDC.
Whether you are flying overseas, taking a road trip, boarding a cruise or organising a sleepover, the guide helps you work through the details before leaving home.
It covers:
- Getting ready: medicines, action plans, travel letters, insurance and emergency contacts.
- Flights and longer journeys: communicating with airlines, keeping medicines accessible and preparing for delays.
- Eating away from home: reading labels, asking about ingredients and discussing cross-contact with restaurant staff.
- OIT and SLIT: additional treatment supplies, storage, time zones and questions for your treating team.
- Holiday routines: accommodation, bedding, skin care, asthma, hay fever, camping and children’s activities.
- Emergency preparation: recognising a serious reaction, following the individual action plan and knowing where to get help.
One essential reminder is to carry at least two prescribed, in-date adrenaline devices, whether autoinjectors or Neffy nasal sprays, as appropriate to the person’s prescription and local approvals. Keep them immediately accessible, keep an up-to-date emergency action plan, and make sure travelling companions know how to use them.
Food planning matters too. Pack non-perishable, allergy-safe snacks and suitable meals for the whole journey, with extra for airport waits, missed connections or unexpected delays. Do not rely on an airline meal being suitable for your family’s allergies.
For families continuing oral immunotherapy (OIT) or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), the guide includes a dedicated travel checklist. Arrange enough prescribed treatment for the trip plus additional doses for delays, with the reserve quantity and dosing schedule agreed with your treating team. CDC travel guidance also recommends packing extra medicine and planning for time-zone changes.
The guide explains what to ask about medical travel coolers, temperature monitoring and storage at your destination. It also explores translation cards and useful apps, including Equal Eats, which offers allergy translation cards in 58 languages.
A family travel record provides space for local emergency numbers, nearby hospitals, treatment details and important contacts. Complete it before departure and share it with the adults travelling with you.
Download the Travel and School Holiday Guide, save a copy on your phone and keep a printed copy with your travel documents.
This guide provides general information and does not replace your treating clinician’s instructions or your individual treatment and emergency action plans.
Word Doc Version of the School holiday guide: Download Now
Immunity_Group_Australia_Travel_and_School_Holiday_Guide
PDF version of the School holiday guide: Download Now
