Brahmama

We are planning 3 weeks in Europe next fall. (Sept/Oct 08) I am hoping to avoid the allergy season here in Texas that is making me crazy this year.

This is the worst allergy season I have been through in several years. I have some respiratory problems and need to get some relief.

So we are thinking about Middle Europe - flying into Frankfurt - training to Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Istanbul and flying back to Franfurt. But then my husband asked me last night if I had checked the "allergy" alerts for Europe in the fall.

I hadn't given it a thought. What a scary thing! Out of the frying pan into the fire? Hopefully not.

Do you have any comments, knowledge, remarks about this issue that would help me and other travelers who suffer from seasonal allergies?

carylspall

I usually get hay fever in the UK, but wherever I have gone abroad, I haven't had hay fever! I always take anti-histamines with me just in case,but have never needed to use them.

travel2live

Interesting. I, too, suffer from allergies here on the prairies in Canada but have found that whenever we go to Europe (have gone all times of the year) they drastically improve there! I go from swollen eyes, headache-y, general malaise, sniffling, you know the drill to everything clear. It is such a marked difference we want to move there (well, for other obvious reasons, too).

travel2live

Forgot to mention that includes the UK, Central Europe, Eastern, etc. We've been all over.

hetismij

You should be outside the pollen/trees/grasses period, certainly by late September/October you will be. Te allergy season tends to run from about April (grasses) through to late August for some trees.

jody

Carol, I have god-awful allergies from living in TX and FL . I can barely breathe from October on..double growing season for oak and then all the blasted pine, in addition to the regular things.

Strangely enough I am never bothered in France or England..don't know why. As soon as we get off the plane home though I start right up again.

sashh

You should be OK in the autumn.

In the UK (I don't know for the rest of Europe) the pollen count is given along with the weather reports on the TV.

Pack some antihistamines and give the honey a go. I'm assuming you know the honey theory - if you eat honey in the area it is produced you absorb tiny amounts of pollen and that makes the hay fever less - not sure if there is any scientific basis - but at least it's not going to do you any harm.

Brahmama

Jody,
So that's why you are going to England and France all the time! What a good excuse!

I hear you about the allergy season and it's earlier and worse this year in Texas. I read that it's because of the long extended rain (which we needed badly) which caused the pollen to appear a month earlier. I'm worse in the autumn than in the spring - by far. And October was always the worse month for me. Add to that mix rag-weed and cedar. I didn't realize it was that bad in Florida.

Thanks to the rest of you for the encouraging notes. I did try the "bee" thing and tried honey from close by where we live. It was delicious, but didn't help the problem!