Gluten Free Travel Blog

Gluten Free At College -- Adding Another Dimension to the College Search Process

BLOG HOP, DAY 9: So your son or daughter is starting the college search process. This is a stressful enough time for him or her -- and for you. Now add to it the fact that you'll have to put colleges through an extra filter: which ones can best serve gluten free students. The question is...do any of them really know what they're doing?  And if so, are there ample choices to make mealtime an enjoyable experience, not just another boring meal of the same "safe" options? 

It is with these questions in mind that our sister website, GlutenFreeTravelSite, recently began welcoming reviews of college dining services, submitted by students on gluten-free diets. Gluten free college students follow the steps for Submitting a Review as they would for a restaurant, store, hotel, or resort, but they choose "college" when prompted for the type of establishment they're reviewing.

 By adding colleges as a choice of venues to be reviewed, GlutenFreeTravelSite gives college students a way to share their feedback -- both positive and negative -- with current and prospective students who follow gluten-free diets. You can view the colleges reviewed thus far on our Gluten Free College Reviews page, which is organized in alphabetical order.

Our goal is to get reviews of as many colleges on our site as possible so students evaluating different colleges can get peer feedback on the “GF friendliness” of each institution they are considering. 

You can help us by forwarding this post -- and spreading the word to encourage all the gluten free college students you know to submit reviews to GlutenFreeTravelSite. That way, we can help as many gluten-free teenagers as possible as they embark upon their college selection process. 

Please share your thoughts in a comment below -- and receive one entry into our giveaway of a $25 P.F. Chang's gift card, to be selected at random from all entries received by May 18, 2012, the last day of our Blog hop. Each person is allowed one entry/comment per day for each of the 10 days of posts (May 7-11 and May 14-18), for a total of 10 entries on THIS Blog. You have the same opportunity for entering a total of 10 times for the giveaways on the other 9 Blogs listed below. The giveaway is limited to U.S. residents who are 18 years or older. The Giveaway begins May 7, 2012, and ends at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 18, 2012. No purchse is necessary. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries. The winner will be randomly chosen and contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen. 

Would you like to get more great gluten-free tips on baking, dining out, and kitchen tips? Check out today's posts from other Blog Hop participants: 

Getting Started - Linda at The Gluten-Free Homemaker 
Resources – Wendy at Celiacs in the House
Eating Out – Heather at Gluten-Free Cat
Frugal Tips – Janelle at Gluten Freely Frugal
Cooking – Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl
Baking – Jules at Jules Gluten Free
Kids – Lynn at Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
Lunch Boxes – Tessa at Tessa the Domestic Diva
Shopping – Laura at Gluten Free Pantry

Keep up with all the latest Gluten Free Restaurant, Dining, and Travel News

If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for this Blog's feed (just enter your email in the box in the left column) so you always get alerts when a new post is published. I'm always blogging about new developments you won't want to miss in the gluten free dining and travel world, and the next weeks are no exception. In honor of Celiac Awareness Month, I'll be participating in a 10 Days of Gluten Free "Blog Hop" each day for the next two weeks. In each post, I'll be covering a differnt aspect of gluten free dining and travel...the tip of the day, if you will. There will also be a giveaway on each Blog, and you can enter to win each day.

I'll be linking to the other Bloggers in the Hop, too, so you'll have a chance to get to know some new personalities in the gluten free world -- bloggers you may not have stumbled upon yourself. So please forward this post to your gluten free friends and family to encourage them to sign up for our feed as well...and if you read something over the couple weeks that resonates with you, post a comment and spread the word on Faceboook and Twitter, too! Our goal is to make life easier for those living with Celiac -- dining out and traveling can be done very successfully these days...you just need to keep some kep tips in mind.

Thanks, as alwasys, for your support! Here's to spreading awareness during this important month -- so that some of the millions of people still suffering without a diagnosis can learn the facts that might lead to a proper diagnosis -- and so that diagnosed Celiacs can learn the tools for leading an easier, worry-free life!

GlutenFreeTravelSite reviewers: Now you can add your PHOTO to your profile

If you've ever submitted a gluten-free dining or travel review to our website, GlutenFreeTravelSite, you now have the option of being able to add your photo to your Profile. That will allow your photo to display at the bottom of each of your reviews, next to your username. (If you choose not to add a photo, a generic icon of a person displays, just like the one to the left.) But I'll bet you're MUCH better looking than that...so why not add your photo today?! 

Adding a photo is extremely simple. Just click My Account from the top right hand corner of GlutenFreeTravelSite's Home page. Then sign in with your username and password. Next, click Manage Your Account. You'll be taken to your Reviewer Control Panel. Click the Edit Photo link at the top of the page. Then click the Choose File button to Upload an Image. That's it! 

As a reminder, the only reason you even need to "register" on GlutenFreeTravelSite (i.e. choose a username and password) is to submit a review. Visitors to the site are initially led through the quick registation process the first time they begin to submit a review. At that point, a new reviewer is set up in our system and can access their Control Panel at any time, through the My Account link at the top of the Home page.

From there, you can Manage Your Account in several ways: add a photo,  view links to all the reviews you've submitted, and even view "subscriptions" of any destinations you've chosen to monitor. (If you "subscibe" to any destination when searching reviews on our site, via a "Subscribe" link at the top right of each review on our site, that means you'll get an email whenever anyone submits a new review from that destination -- i.e. Arizona). It's a great way to learn about great new GF-friendly places to eat in your area -- or places you travel frequently.