Speaking from experience, London is one of the most fun -- and most gluten-free friendly -- cities for families. Our own family visited there over Christmas 2013. Even though our boys were only 10 and 12 years old at the time, they really got a lot out of the experience and still talk about the things we did while there. So I was especially excited to hear that one of our travel partners -- Ellen Morse of Gluten Free Travel-Us -- was planning a 6-day small group tour of London in July 2020, especially geared to gluten free families. She handles all the details, so you won't have to stress about planning anything -- either before the trip or while you're there. And if for some reason you aren't interested in traveling with a group (or the date doesn't work for you), Ellen can certainly plan the same trip for you at another time of your choosing. As with any of her itineraries, you can customize it according to your family's interests and preferences, budget, and time frame. If you plan to go on your own (not the group trip), you will have your choice of either a high-end hotel... Read more →
Top Gluten Free Cities
You probably remember my Blog post detailing my family's trip to Italy this past summer. It was so fantastic, from a gluten free dining perspective, that I wrote a book about it (Gluten-Free in ITALY : Your Worry-Free and Gluten-Free Travel Guide to Italy), available on Amazon. But I'm often asked...of all the places we dined in Rome, Florence, and Venice, which was our favorite spot? Who had the best (and safest) gluten free offerings? In Rome, at least, I'd have to say it was a small chain of restaurants known as Mama Eat and Mama Frites. It was pure serendipity that we ended up eating at these two restaurants while in Rome. I'd heard about both restaurants and had included them on our list of places to potentially try while in Rome. However, I wasn't sure if it would work out, based on where we planned to be sightseeing each day. As luck would have it, after touring the Vatican for several hours one morning, a nearby gluten-free friendly restaurant where we'd planned to have lunch closed for renovation. We were starving, but we decided to continue with our day's plans and head south to Trastevere, an ancient and... Read more →
In this post, we welcome Katherine Tolley, a Celiac currently living in Barcelona, Spain... In the fall of 2013, after a year of reoccurring mononucleosis, an aggressive case of pneumonia, and a constant, unexplained fever and feeling of vertigo, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. I was somewhere between my junior and senior year of college, living at home, and doing everything possible to help heal my body – especially my digestive system. A semester abroad studying the arts was a requirement for my design degree, and I was terrified after my diagnosis to even leave the house for fear of cross-contaminated food and more illnesses. I had been planning on studying in Barcelona, Spain, but as the time drew nearer and I read more about their cuisine (Tapas! Fried calamari! Churros! Toasted bread rubbed with fresh tomatoes and olive oil!), I become increasingly nervous. After months of research and printing gluten-free dining cards in various foreign languages, I packed my suitcase full of gluten-free oatmeal packets and set off for the unknown. And to my never-ending delight, what I found across the Atlantic was a country that understood my needs far better than almost every place I had been... Read more →
Have you been on wonderful vacation recently? Perhaps you relaxed at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean...took a fun cruise...enjoyed a European adventure...or something else even more exotic. We'd love to feature YOUR gluten-free travel experience with the followers of this Blog. If it was a positive experience, it's great inspiration for fellow gluten-free travelers! Too many gluten-free folks still believe they can't travel while safely following their gluten-free diet. I've made it my mission for the past 8 years to prove them wrong! Let's show them how many amazing (and safe) options there are available now! Of course, we always welcome you to submit your travel reviews to our website, GlutenFreeTravelSite.com...whether it's a restaurant you dined at on vacation, market or bakery where you found exciting gluten-free offerings, a hotel or resort that offered delicious gluten-free fare, or a cruise line that treated you like royalty. However, we'd love to give you, our followers, an opportunity to have a "guest post" on this blog, in which you can lay out your entire vacation experience. We welcome as many details as you'd like to share: where you stayed, where you dined, what you might do differently, and how this vacation... Read more →
Almost every day, we hear about another great place for gluten-free travelers…and I get so excited to share these discoveries with you. That's our mission here at Gluten Free Travel Blog -- and also on our website GlutenFreeTravelSite…to help you take a true vacation from worry. We want to help you find places where you won't have to educate chefs or ask a zillion questions before each meal…places that give you confidence and let you forget about your dietary restrictions. That's why today, I'd like to recap some recent discoveries -- and also remind you of where to go to get more travel ideas on our website. Just a couple weeks ago, we announced a new itinerary for gluten free travel to Croatia, but are you aware of the other special itineraries for places outside the U.S. detailed on the Gluten Free Getaways page of our site? Keep in mind, these aren't "group" trips…you can follow the suggested itinerary developed by Celiac travel agent Ellen Morse OR customize it according to your own budget and interests -- AND pick your own dates of travel. Like cruising? If so, you're in luck…cruises are one of the most "gluten-free friendly" ways to... Read more →
Many of you may have followed us over the years and remember that each January we announce the winner of our "World's Most Celiac-Friendly Destination" contest. Started in 2008, the year we launched GlutenFreeTravelSite, it was a way for us to showcase locations where gluten-free friendly restaurants were plentiful and awareness and training of restauranteurs was strong. Each year, the winning location was picked based on how many user-submitted gluten free dining reviews had been submitted to GlutenFreeTravelSite for that location over the previous year. Past winners included New York (2008), Florida (2009), the Washington DC Metro area (2010), California (2011), Pennsylvania (2012), and a reprise by California (2013). When sitting down to evaluate this past year's (2014) reviews last month, I realized something significant. Gluten free awareness and restaurants that can safely prepare gluten free meals has transcended any particular location. Throughout the United States and many parts of the world, gluten free is now a household term. While there are still some restaurants clearly hopping on the gluten free "bandwagon" simply to leverage what they see as a "trend," there are plenty of restaurants that have properly educated themselves and trained their staff on the nuances of preparing... Read more →
While people diagnosed with Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity typically learn the basics of cooking gluten free at home fairly quickly, dining out and traveling -- especiallly in another country -- can be intimidating. Some people decide it's just not worth it. But I think that's a big mistake. While it hasn't always been easy, I'm here to tell you that now you can take a wonderful vacation to many gluten-free friendly destinations and stay perfectly safe, providing you have the right tools at your disposal. London is a particularly gluten-free friendly choice, and I recently put together a guide to take the worry out of traveling to this amazing city for anyone following a gluten free diet. The great news is that there is no shortage of restaurants in London that understand how to prepare a safe gluten free meal. Gluten-Free in LONDON, my new e-book available on Amazon.com (and easy to read on any e-reader, tablet, computer, or smartphone with the free Kindle app) takes the hassle out of the overwhelming task of planning a trip to an international destination. And let's face it, we gluten free folks can't really be spontaneous when it comes to grabbing a... Read more →
Our family recently returned from a week in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. We have family out there and therefore are fortunate to visit every so often. As with any trip, we look forward to the chance to discover new "gluten-free friendly" restaurants we haven't tried -- including chain restaurants with Gluten Free Menus that don't have locations on the East Coast where we live. It's a funny thing about Los Angeles...one would think (and I also hear from many people living there) that it's rare to find a restaurant that can't prepare a gluten free meal. However, as you and I both know, catering to the "trend" of gluten free dining choices is very different from being properly trained in providing safe gluten free meals for those with Celiac or gluten sensitivity. So it's almost more of a challenge dining in this land of celebrities and health-conscious folks, since so many are opting to eat gluten free...by choice, not out of necessity. So the onus is on us to find the truly safe restaurants. Before every trip, I do a fair amount of research on restaurants. Before this trip, as with past trips to Southern California, I found... Read more →
New York City is one of the easiest places to find "gluten free friendly" restaurants. Our family just returned from a trip to New York to visit family, and this time we made it a point to go into New York City for a few days -- for some good gluten free dining, as well as some business meetings and sightseeing. I've always loved NYC and actually lived there many years ago, so any opportunity to return to the Big Apple is a welcome one. This time, my husband and I had a couple days to ourselves while my mother-in-law watched our kids, and then they later joined us in the city. We wanted to try several gluten-free friendly restaurants that had been recommended to us, but on the first night our desire was to find someplace in Little Italy that understood gluten free. Fortunately, that was not a difficult task, as most of the restaurants on Mulberry Street in the heart of Little Italy have their menus on display along the street. Many of them had mentions of gluten free options (typically gluten free pizza and/or pasta) on their menus. After asking some questions at various restaurants, we chose... Read more →
I had the privelege late last week of being interviewed on Jules Shepard's Gluten Free Voice radio show on Blog Talk Radio. Jules is a gluten-free expert, author, coach, and advocate, and she hosted me on her show to discuss summer travel -- and gluten free travel in general. In our discussion, I recommended particular destinations and types of trips that work well for people following gluten free diets. I also shared information about all the valuable resources availalble on our website, GlutenFreeTravelSite, and Dine Gluten Free app -- many of which you may not be aware. So tune in to this 30 minute program...you can start listening and even pause it if you can't listen to it all at once. As always, please let me know if there are any questions you have about gluten free dining or travel. You can leave a Comment below or even visit our Facebook page and post a question. Read more →
Our family spent last weekend in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Presidents Cup ice hockey tournament with our younger son's Select hockey team. Despite the frigid weather, snow, and grey skies, we were reminded what a cool city this is -- and how many great "gluten-free friendly" places there are to eat. We visited some old favorites discovered on another trip to Pittsburgh a few years back...and also tried a few new places we'd found while researching places online prior to our trip. Our first stop -- literally upon arriving in town -- was Gluuteny bakery on Murray Avenue in the "Squirrel Hill" neighborhood. This gluten free, dairy free bakery is almost reason enough to visit Pittsburgh. We'd been there three years before, and we couldn't wait to go again. It just happened to be Valentine's Day, and I figured it could go one of two ways...either they'd have tons of stuff prepared for "last minute" shoppers, or they'd have sold out of most items by the time of our late afternoon arrival. Fortunately for us, there was a nice selection of items left, and let me tell you, we had a hard time choosing! So we pretty much bought one... Read more →
Congratulations, California! You're the first state to take our website's top honor for a second time... Yes, for the past year, GlutenFreeTravelSite received more reviews of "gluten-free friendly" restaurants and other businesses in California than from any other location. California was our winner back in 2011, too! (Check out other past winners on our Annual Contest page.) Having lived in Northern California a long time ago -- and having friends and family in Southern California -- I'm not surprised that this diverse state that's always so in tune with healthy lifestyles should earn this honor for the second time in the past three years. Whether you live in or are visiting northern, central, or southern California, you can't help but notice the growing number of restaurants offering gluten free options on the menu -- or even offering separate gluten free menus. Choices range from cutting edge San Francisco restaurants like Pica Pica, Cafe Graitude, and Gracias Madre...to Tommy Bahama, offering many gluten free items with a Caribbean twist in Southern California...to the cozy Bungalow offering steaks and other fare in Corona del Mar...to True Food Kitchen, offering organic, local, seasonal fare at several locations in Southern California...to The Mission, which... Read more →