the 36 hr transit with mc

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:23 pm

the next installment
After my decadent and delightful high tea with ant, I then went the full security check to get back into the terminal to catch my flight.
I was a bit worried with it being hong kong how they would go with me carrying liquids. They looked at the doctors letter and looked at my itinerary with the no guarantee statement, asked for my boarding pass noted what flight I was on and all was good.

Maybe the fact I was travelling business class for this sector may have helped but there was minimal fuss. I was not carrying much by this stage just small container of juice (200ml) small container of jelly (less than 100ml) and small container of my DF/GF/SF margarine replacement (less than 40ml)

So then it was definitely like being in the amazing race to find my gate and get to the plane, hong kong airport is pretty huge (and it was busy) got there with no issues.
So I settled into business class on air france – my first real business class experience.
This time they did have meals for me! Woo hoo. Entrée was a chicken and roasted vegetable salad. They provided one rice cake but I supplemented this with some of my rice cakes. The only vegetable I could eat was pumpkin (rest was capsicum with a mango salsa, which looked and smelt yummy but I was not game to try). Main meal was chicken in a tomato sauce with pumpkin and peas, just to have a decent serve of protein was good. I scraped the sauce off (in case it contained yeast) and ate the chicken and the pumpkin. Discussion later with my lovely hostess is that she can not tolerate dairy or gluten. She was offering me fruit and various things and when I explained what I could and couldn’t have she was really worried about me, and the transit i was doing.
Having someone with an element of understanding goes a long way.

I have now had a decent 3 hour sleep, the best in the past 19 hours. ( I am typing this while on board) and only symptoms is a little bit of bubbly but. Which I think would have been from some hidden yeast. Havent had to resort to nappies yet.. but have them just in case

This has been a big adventure to embrace, the control freak that I am re my foods and having to trust an unknown source for my food and wanting to ensure that I don’t have any MC issues whilst travelling. I think most airlines struggle with multiple intolerances you can either have gluten free or dairy free (not both) I figured gluten was the item that would cause the most chronic symptom so that was the meal choice i chose. from my research most gluten free meals involve salad and fruit (not really our friends...)

Well it is 11.30am france time, about 8pm Brisbane time when I would be embracing sleep. The cabin is shutters down, lights out and lots of people snoring yet it is full light out side (Someone snuck a peek out of their shade a moment ago). As ant kindly reminded me, my body time clock will also struggle with the change (not that I had a good body time clock when it comes to BM anyway)
I hope by now Ant has drunk his bottle of aussie shiraz.

Thanks to everyone for your support and friendship. Writing these posts gives me the chance to debrief. To the world outside of PP, a 36 hour transit seems like nothing. I remember back in Dec when I struggled to face a 3 hour road trip in the car. My next mission re my MC management is to figure out what fruit(s) I can eat. Being able to eat fruit would remove quite a lot of barriers associated with travelling. Oh well back to my homework that I need to do on the plane.

i am in marseille it is 18 hours later i am struggling with time and time zone adjustments....

transiting paris, charles de gaule was an adventure...(i am an aussie gal with 1 terminal international airport!) the highlight of this last part of the transit was the plane flew over paris city and banked around the eifle tower, it was on dusk, so there was beautiful soft pink light and it was fully lit up with orange lights, No GF food available on this flight, so glass of apple juice it was.

arrived in Aix, got a BMW 3 series as the rent a car. (Niiiicceee) few issues how to start the bloody thing! damn computer controlled cars... after breaky and coffee i will go down and spend a few minutes getting familar with all the gadgets. given i am nominated driver for a group of 4 of us (there are 8 of us travelling, broken up into two groups)

got 6 hours good sleep, it is 6.30am local time, i woke up before the alarm and am keen to embrace my new timezone, so i am up, getting myself organised (clothes etc). (coffee... i need coffee....)
BM's are returning back to normal, i think my body was anti going on planes! i had only taken 1 small dose of the questran as a safety net during the first flight, and maybe this was enough with my conservative eating to ensure a no issues occurred.

next adventure....., driving in traffic in Right hand drive car on the opposite side of the road to what i have driven for the past 23 years of my life!

more updates and photos to come re the adventures of Bris Vegas gal with MC and bunny foo foo in france!

harma · Post by **harma** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:40 am

Yes Gabes I french flag next to your IP country, so we all know now you are actually there. Glad to hear it all went well. And cool with a BMW driving around in the country side of south of France. Did you get a Cabrio :cool:

For the next couple of days we are in the same time zone now.

Drive carefully and looking forward to the next update!

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:24 am

thanks harma, yes i did notice the french flag for my ip addy, pretty cool.
no cabrio...

i have 3 passengers and our luggage (and for the record my bag is not the biggest!) we have our fingers crossed that we get a day off the sunday coming and we can head down to cannes, nice.

I notice we have a new member from Monaco, Ant suggested how cool would it be if there was another international pp meeting!

just had boiled eggs (with my rice cakes bought from oz), coffee (of course), after the intensity of airports and planes with people everywhere, it is really nice to chill out in my room have some gabes time. I have done my yoga stretches and breathing exercises, giving a bit of love to my digestion system!

have a great day, it is blue skies and sunshine here.

harma · Post by **harma** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:59 am

Gabes, the travelling ambassador of official representative of the IPPF (international potty people foundation)

kimtg68 · Post by **kimtg68** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:57 am

How exciting. Amazing how technology can bring us together these days with computers but to actually get to meet someone SO far away. Awesome! Can't wait to see the pics

ant · Post by **ant** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:14 am

I hope by now Ant has drunk his bottle of aussie shiraz.

Not yet! It sits in pride of place, invitingly on my sideboard!

I will uncork your gift soon and think of blue skies and picnics by the sea...... and raise my glass to your health and happiness, Gabes.

All Best, Ant

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:30 am

Hey Gabes it sounds like the flight and transit overall went well. Its good that the food issue worked out in the long run. I think I mentioned before I had a much smaller airline trip earlier last week and was amazed at the lack of things available at the airports for people that are GF. That was my first trip this year with MC. It was an eye opener; I cannot image a 36 hour transit though.

Good luck with the LH RH drive issues, I had a quite funny experience dealing with that in Australia in 97'.

Take care

--Joe

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:22 am

I am so happy that the you got to meet each other. I was lucky enough to meet Alice and to this day, I really treasure the meeting and friendship.

Now to meet more people in person.

Love, Maggie

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:07 am

Gabes,

I'm so relieved that you made the trip OK - and had a decent meal on one flight to boot! BMs are back to normal....terrific! You go, girl! Enjoy the rest of your stay and keep us posted. I think we've all been on pins and needles hoping that all went well.

Gloria

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:01 am

Gabes,

Just for the record - we'll preserve this thread, so that it can serve as a primer for anyone with MC who needs to do extensive traveling.

Thanks for the updates, and the best of luck to you, as your adventure continues to unfold,
Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:25 pm

tex, i will do up a factual summary re the international flight travel, and include suggested wording for doctors letter.

After the high of surviving the transit, today i think jet lag and exhaustion hit.
The challenge of finding mc safe food with the language barrier was really hard, that mixed with the stress of driving, and major stuff up with the accommodation booking, i broke down!

Tears, shower and a 1 hr snooze later, i am ok, was not up to going out for dinner. . My staples at the moment are rice cakes and apple juice. Tonight i had boiled egg with rice cake and juice, i am hoping tomorrow i am feeling ok, and will cook some rice and veges.
Managing mc away from home is hard! Throw the language barrier. No one in the health food shop spoke
English.

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:15 pm

Gabes,

It's tough enough, being alone and on your own, in a foreign country, without having to deal with jet lag, and serious diet restrictions. You need a comrade, who can go with you, who can speak the language, and help you to deal with all the little problems related to language and customs. I was hoping that the company would provide you with someone, (or several people), in the company, who could be available whenever you needed assistance of that type.

You've done the hard part, (getting there, safe and sound). Hopefully, with some more rest, (and some nourishing food), you'll be better able to handle the jet-lag, and you'll feel more like the adventurous, self-reliant Gabes that we know and love.

:bigbighug:

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:18 pm

I hope tomorrow is a better day and you're able to find some places where you can purchase food you're able to eat. You're a brave soul!

Gloria

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:23 am

Hello Gabes, Tex is correct this needs to be made a reference thread for people traveling with MC. Its hard enough to go out to dinner or go food shopping locally speaking the language etc... I cannot imagine trying to do that not being able to communicate effectively with the locals.

That was a good idea that Tex brought up, if there are local bi-lingual co-workers that could help with the translation.

Thanks for sharing this with us, it will be a great reference for future travels.

You certainly have been a trooper getting there with all of you prep work. Hopefully things will get easier today.

Hugs and tail wags from Nurse Nestle

Take care

--Joe

PS: How did you fit the luggage for 3 people in a BMW 3 series.

kimtg68 · Post by **kimtg68** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:08 am

How cool! I hope that the rest of your travels go well. Enjoy!!!