As a gluten-free advocate and mother, I am often asked by parents for tips on how to travel with celiac children. A surprisingly easy task, traveling with your celiac child requires a little planning and a few of the same adjustments you’re already mastering at home.
First of all, how you’ll manage your trip depends on your travel arrangements—will you be flying or driving? Each airline has its own set of guidelines which you can usually find online or ask a customer service representative about over the phone. Bring extra gluten-free foods, at least twice as much as you’ll think you’ll require, just in case there are layovers. Oftentimes airplane attendants will be happy to store your gluten-free food for you upon request.
For car trips, bring along a cooler or two with already-prepared gluten-free foods and snacks for your celiac child. Luckily for your child, there are more and more gluten-free snacks available which are perfect for road trips. For instance, you can order online various snacks such as gluten-free jerky, gluten-free potato puffs, and gluten-free popcorn. If you’ll be stopping at restaurants along the way, you can visit a gluten-free restaurant site such as glutenfreerestaurants.org before your trip and plan ahead to eat at restaurants which offer gluten-free foods to its gluten-intolerant patrons. As with flying, I recommend bringing extra gluten-free food just in case there are any delays in your travel such as traffic or car problems.
Tina Turbin
