Travelling while being on a gluten free diet can be tricky. You don’t want to get sick and ruin your holiday, you want to try local specialties, and you don’t want to spend your trip hungry. It’s hard! My solution: research, research, research! I’m not sure I can accurately convey this in words. Research is my happy place. Hours of research. Google sheets. Many bookmarks. So. Much. Research. I am a planner. (Check out my itineraries and other gluten free guides if you don’t believe me!).
Here are 5 tips that have made travelling while gluten free a little easier:
1. Make your own breakfast
I find breakfast is the hardest meal to find gluten free options at a sit-down restaurant. At least, it’s hard to find fun options. Even something “boring” like yogurt usually comes with some form of granola, that’s not usually safe to eat. Sometimes you can get eggs, but I can make that myself for much less than a restaurant will charge me. So, if I’m staying more than 1 night, I try to book an AirBNB or a hotel room with a kitchenette. Then, I can just make my own breakfasts! Worst case: I need a mini fridge, a microwave, and a grocery store and I can usually come up with something that will work (think hardboiled eggs, microwavable oatmeal, or simple bread with peanut butter).
2. Invest in a Gluten Free Restaurant card
If you are unfamiliar with the local language, the $9 it costs to buy one of these Legal Nomads restaurant cards is well worth it! If you are familiar with the language, you likely don’t need one of these cards. Instead, you will need to be comfortable explaining your needs to restaurant servers.
3. Request your airplane meal ahead of time
Don’t just get on the flight and assume you’ll be able to eat something. Either request the meal when you book your tickets or call the airline to request a gluten free meal. Usually, they require 48 hours’ notice. I’ve seen other gluten free eaters try to wing it, and the flight attendants usually don’t know the ingredients in the food options, so it’s a big risk trying one of the non-GF meals.
4. Bring snacks
Even if you request your gluten free plane meal ahead, mistakes happen. Sometimes, that meal just doesn’t make it on the plane! Airports can be hit or miss with whether you can find something other than a bag of chips. Additionally, having snacks while you’re out and about exploring a new city can be a lifesaver. It’s the worst to be in an unfamiliar city, with a language you don’t speak, and be hungry and not able to think clearly while you try to find somewhere safe to eat.
One of our favourite snacks to bring is protein bars, as they will fill you up. You can also bring trail mix, jerky, or anything else non-liquid (that includes no gels or peanut butter through security). Bring snacks!
5. Do your research
Search ahead of time for safe restaurants in the cities you’ll be visiting. I start by just Googling “gluten free *city name*” and I usually stumble upon some great gluten free blogs with restaurant options. However, I have noticed many guides are pre-COVID, so they can be outdated with restaurants that are no longer open or have changed their offerings.
Once I have a bit of a list, I start looking up each restaurant. I look to see if they have a labelled menu posted online, if they are on FindMeGlutenFree, and/or if they have any positive reviews from people who have also required gluten free meals, (also, are they still open?!). I use this to narrow down my list.
Personally, I love a good map so that I can just pull it up while hungry in the middle of a city and see what’s nearby that I have already vetted. While Google Maps works great for some people, I personally love the WanderLog app as I find it works much better on the go.
Helpful Gluten Free Travel Websites:
Here are a few of my favourite blogs/sites to check out to help you with your gluten-free travels: