traveling with celiac disease

Travel Gluten Free Podcast

Season 09 Episode 13

Can You Take Gluten Free Food Outside of the Country?

Ready to travel overseas? Is this your first overseas trip having Celiac disease or as a gluten free traveler? No worries! You can safely navigate food overseas when you know what to do, including using the European Codex, my gluten free traveler. Find out how to pack your bags, get through TSA with food, product ingredients overseas, and how to use Equal Eats cards when traveling.

Eating Out Safely with Equal Eats Cards

With his mission to empower people living with dietary restrictions to enjoy food everywhere by providing an accurate, accessible, and seamless technology solution to help communicate their dietary restrictions effectively, accurately, and conveniently - wherever their life takes them with Equal Eats Cards. Kyle takes great effort to give each individual a customizable option for their card. For example, you can add Celiac, vegan, vegetarian, food allergies, and food intolerances so your wait staff knows all the foods you can’t eat. There are dozens of food allergy and intolerance options and dietary choices you can order on Equal Eats. This comes in very handy when you’re ordering food when you’re in a country in which you don’t understand the language.

Food Shopping Overseas

Even when you ask all the right questions, you can still end up getting food you can’t eat. Make sure to take Equal Eats cards with you to the supermarket and ask the store clerk if you can eat the food that is packaged. 

Packing Your Food in Your Checked or Carry-On Bag

Find out how to pack your food, and make sure you weigh your checked bag to make sure it’s within the weight limit of the airline you are traveling to your destination. Typically, the weight limit for checked bags is 60 pounds and I’ve never come close to that weight on a checked bag, even after adding food.

Make sure that you’re following the 3-1-1 TSA rule for liquids if you’re packing liquids in your carry-on. I recently got stuck throwing out shampoo and conditioner because I had too many liquids with my medicine. Now, however, I carry a medical bag so my medicine that’s considered a liquid doesn’t count towards my 3-1-1 (see medical bag link below) . 

Podcast Resources

Journey safely with The Guide to Traveling Gluten Free which walks you through planning your next gluten-free travel adventure!

Get the best tool for traveling gluten free with Equal Eats Cards

Get the PracMedic Travel Medicine Bag. I just picked one up from Amazon, and I’m excited to travel with this handy medical bag.

Looking for a warm getaway this year? Find your next vacation on Airbnb! Get Your Travel Gluten Free discount with a $40 credit towards your stay!

Follow me on Social Media via Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, or Instagram

Spread the love of Travel Gluten Free podcast and share this episode with a friend

Travel Gluten Free Podcast

Season 09 Episode 08

Top Tips for Traveling Gluten Free

What do you need to know when you’re a gluten free traveler? While there are many details you need to plan for your trip, here are a few new ones that I haven’t talked about on previous episodes of the Travel Gluten-free Podcast. Today, I’ll give you great gluten free travel advice to travel safely, no matter where your gluten free adventure ends up taking you in the world!

Traveling with Your Medicine Bag

When flying gluten-free, you want to know about this not-well-known piece of information. If you have a disability, and any auto-immune disease is considered a disability, you have the right to carry one extra bag for medical supplies. In addition to the two bags you can carry on, you get one extra. Here’s the link to the TSA article, which explains in detail what you can bring and what they allow on the airplane when you travel with a medical bag. 

Don’t have a medical bag? Get the PracMedic Travel Medicine Bag. I just picked one up from Amazon, and I’m very excited to travel with this handy medical bag. I’ve been able to stuff lots of supplements and all my prescriptions, along with my spray hand sanitizer, into this convenient bag that has a shoulder strap for easy carrying through the airport. 

And if you need a clear, quart-sized travel case for your toiletries because the TSA agent took yours the last time you went through security (like the rude agent who I encountered at the St. Louis airport), then grab this amazing deal from CBGE! Three TSA-approved quart-sized toiletry bags for men or women for under $11.

Call to Verify Your Fridge, Microwave, and Freezer at Your Hotel or Air

Never assume that your hotel room is going to come standard with a microwave, fridge, and freezer! I’ve been to hotels that were very nice and had none of these accommodations. Always call ahead - ideally before you book your stay - to find out if they have these much-needed vacation items or if they can provide them to you upon your arrival. 

Cover Your Cooking Surfaces

Don’t believe it when you hear that gluten can cook off of surfaces! This is simply not true. You need to assume that all surfaces have gluten on them, because, well, that’s the world we live in! To protect yourself, you’ll want to purchase reusable toaster sleeves to protect your food. Looking to protect your food from someone else’s gluten laden stuff? Grab these compostable sandwich bags that are reusable and biodegradable.

Podcast Resources

Journey safely with The Guide to Traveling Gluten Free which walks you through planning your next gluten-free travel adventure!

Get the best tool for traveling gluten free with Equal Eats Cards

Looking for a warm getaway this year? Find your next vacation on Airbnb! Get Your Travel Gluten Free discount with a $40 credit towards your stay!

Follow me on Social Media via Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, or Instagram

Spread the love of Travel Gluten Free podcast and share this episode with a friend*

Travel Gluten Free Podcast

Season 09 Episode 01

Travel Gluten Free on International Flights

We kick off Season 09 of the Travel Gluten-free Podcast with an informational episode giving the gluten free traveler advice on how to navigate international air travel. While domestic air travel can be challenging, adding more hours and a foreign language or two gives us more hurdles to overcome when we are on our vacation. However, we can still navigate the international travel scene without getting sick when you know what to do and how to prepare for travel to Europe, Asia, Africa, Iceland, or South America.

Finding Gluten Free Eats at Airports

While some airports, such as Atlanta International have food guides to show you which restaurants could possibly accommodate a gluten-free eater, they may not be safe for someone who is Celiac because preparation of the food is essential for safe eating! However, you can use the Find Me Gluten Free app - even inside airports - to find safe food to eat. If you’re flying through Portland (PDX) you can definitely eat at the Burgerville restaurant, just make sure to tell them to tag your order with a gluten allergy.

Using Equal Eats Cards at International Airports

I absolutely love Equal Eats cards! They not only tell wait staff and chefs what you can and can’t eat in the foreign language of your choice, they also inform food preparation people about how your food needs to be handled. In addition, they are well-vetted and can be customized for food allergies, and sensitivities in addition to the details of Celiac disease, bringing an extra level of safety to traveling gluten free.

Podcast Resources

Journey with Travel Gluten Free when you get The Guide to Traveling Gluten Free which walks you through planning your next gluten-free travel adventure!

Follow Travel Gluten-Free on Social Media via Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, or Instagram

 Spread the love of Travel Gluten Free podcast and share this episode with a friend*