Celiac Travel Tips for Families

Celiac travel tips for families: Learn how to safely travel internationally with food allergies. Melissa shares practical strategies for keeping your child safe while exploring the world - from choosing gluten-free friendly destinations like Costa Rica and Italy to using translation cards and leveraging cruise ships as a stress-free base. Discover why cruises work brilliantly for Celiac families, how to research hidden gluten in local cuisines, and which Facebook groups provide invaluable destination-specific advice. Plus, tips for navigating restaurants without dedicated gluten-free kitchens and using technology to decode ingredient labels abroad.

Episode Highlights:

• Why cruises are surprisingly perfect for food allergy travel
• Best destinations for Celiac families (Costa Rica, Italy, Hawaii)
• EqualEats translation cards and Google Translate camera features
• Facebook groups: Celiac Travel, Gluten Free Italy, Celiac Beach All-Inclusive Reviews
• How to order strategically in restaurants abroad
• Research tips for hidden gluten (especially barley)

EqualEats Celiac Disease translation cards

Don't miss this inspiring, practical travel with kids podcast hosted by family travel expert Melissa Conn, founder of The Family Voyage, certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and mom of two who proves family travel is achievable for everyone.

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Transcript

Melissa 0:02

Hey there, and welcome back to Family Travel Unpacked. I'm Melissa, and in case you're new here, you can always find tons of detailed destination guides, travel tips, hacks, and more on my website, thefamilyvoyage.com. Today's quick tip Tuesday is a companion to last week's episode about picky eating. We're diving deeper into something that's more serious than that: traveling internationally with a child who has celiac disease. My daughter, Shoshana, who you heard a few episodes ago talking about her experience on Icon of the Seas, was diagnosed with celiac disease when she was 10. It was completely by accident during some other testing. She's always been basically asymptomatic, which honestly made the diagnosis really shocking. The good news is that after more than a year of being gluten-free, her labs look great. But let me tell you, that diagnosis completely changed how we approach travel planning. This isn't about preferences or being picky. It's about keeping our child safe and healthy while still being able to explore the world together. Now before I go any further, this episode is not medical advice. That's what your doctor's for. Always work with your medical team to understand what's right for your situation. We try to avoid cross-contamination, absolutely, but our daughter's able to eat in restaurants that don't have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen as long as we're smart about it. We ask questions, we talk about her specific needs, and we make informed decisions. If you get sick from eating even small amounts of gluten or from cross contamination, your approach obviously needs to be much more cautious. Sometimes that means foregoing a particular restaurant and eating at your hotel or vacation rental instead, and that's completely okay. Keeping yourself safe and feeling great while traveling is what matters most. Besides, it's just a great excuse to explore the local grocery stores. Remember, everyone's celiac journey is different, so take what works for your family from this episode and adapt it to your own needs. So let me be honest for a minute. We're still getting our feet under us as celiac travelers. Shoshana's diagnosis was still relatively recent and we've been focusing on destinations that we know are gonna be easier for gluten-free eating while we build our confidence and learn the ropes. There are a few places that we haven't tried yet and we wouldn't even consider until we've had a few more years under our belts. Hawaii was great. Costa Rica was super easy. Surprisingly Italy was really accommodating, and we just did a Royal Caribbean cruise that worked out really well. More on cruising in a minute because I think it can be kind of a secret weapon for families dealing with celiac. Before Shoshana's diagnosis, we'd already taken her to Japan, and I'm so glad that we did because Japan would be incredibly difficult right now- gluten hides everywhere in Japanese cuisine. It's in some sushi rice. It's in soy sauce, it's in seemingly innocent broths. And since she doesn't like raw fish or eggs at the moment, two of the best gluten-free options in Japan are off the table. As I'll talk about in a minute, destination choice matters enormously when you're traveling with celiac- especially a kid with celiac. When we're planning trips now, whether destination is naturally gluten-free, weighs pretty heavily in our decision making. Costa Rica, as I mentioned, was fantastic. That Central American cuisine is built on corn and cassava, which are both naturally gluten-free. Rice and beans are also staples. The local food culture aligns really well with celiac requirements, so Shoshana could eat most traditional foods without any worry. And there were even some really pleasant surprises like brownies and cakes that were made with cassava when we had assumed that they were made with wheat. Now, that doesn't mean that we could just walk into any restaurant without being careful, but the baseline cuisine definitely worked in our favor. On the flip side, some Asian cuisines are trickier. Unless it's labeled as gluten-free, soy sauce is not safe for celiacs. Many noodle dishes use wheat based noodles, although some are rice based, and you have to know the difference. Sauces and broths can have hidden gluten. There's also a much bigger language barrier to contend with for our family. Interestingly, a lot of European countries are actually excellent for celiac travel, even though wheat might be central to the cuisine. Why? Celiac awareness is really high, there are very strong regulations and restaurants are educated about the condition. Each country in Europe has their own certification process to designate restaurants as being celiac safe, so you can keep your eyes peeled for those. Italy is probably the best example. There's a relatively high proportion of people with celiac in the Italian population, so restaurants are incredibly knowledgeable. You can find certified gluten-free pizza, pasta, and even pastries. Sometimes when we'd ask a restaurant if they had gluten-free options, they'd look at us like we were crazy or stupid and say,"well, yes, of course". Every hotel we stayed in had a huge gluten-free section at their breakfast buffet, which isn't something you'll typically find in the US or a lot of other destinations. And we might have grabbed a few snacks for later which was a huge help when we were on some longer travel days or hikes. We had an amazing time in Italy and Shoshana could actually eat the pizza and pasta, which are things she can't always trust at home. Here's another strategy: consider cruising. It might surprise you, but cruising can be an excellent option for your family. Even though we're not people who would normally be super interested in cruising, I think it's worth taking a look at. Cruise lines generally have really good procedures for handling food sensitivities and allergies. After all, they don't want somebody to have a bad reaction out in the middle of the ocean. When you book, you can notify the cruise line that someone in your family has celiac disease and they'll have protocols in place to keep you and your kids safe. We recently sailed on Royal Caribbean and they did a great job. They went through the menu with my daughter every evening to find out what she'd like the next night. There were even options that they could make gluten-free that really surprised us, like baked brie. Every dining venue on board had gluten-free options available. Honestly, my daughter felt like a kid in a candy store- that was so freeing for her. Go back and check out episode 21 to hear more straight from her mouth. But here's a real advantage of cruising with Celiac: on port days, you can have a huge breakfast on the ship than go explore on land. And if finding safe food while you're out becomes a struggle, just have a snack from your backpack and know that you can eat without stress once you get back on board in the afternoon. That peace of mind is huge. You're not desperately searching for a safe restaurant in an unfamiliar place while your kid is hungry and getting cranky. And thankfully, there are more and more options for interesting cruises now. It's not just the Caribbean. You can do Mediterranean cruises, European river cruises or even cruises around different parts of Asia. So you get that safety net of reliable food on the ship while still getting to explore amazing destinations. My next step is to really do your research. This is where traveling with Celiac differs from most regular trip planning. You can't wing it. Before we go anywhere, I spend hours researching hidden gluten in local cuisines, and I'm not just talking about obvious things like bread and pasta. Barley's a sneaky one. It shows up in all kinds of unexpected places- malt vinegar, certain beers that might be used in cooking, some broths and soups, and even candies and chocolates. You really can't be too careful. In some countries, sauces that might seem safe contain wheat as a thickener. In other places, fried foods might be coated in wheat flour or fried in oil that's contaminated by breaded items. I also research what the local words are for wheat, gluten, barley, rye, and contamination. All right, strategy four. Get translation cards and use technology as your best friend. One of the best investments you can make if you're traveling to a place where you don't speak the language is ordering custom food allergy cards from Etsy. The brand Equal Eats is awesome. These are professionally translated cards that explain Celiac disease and list unsafe ingredients in the local language and characters if need be. I'll link to those down in the show notes for you. You can just hand the card to the server or the chef, and they can read exactly what you or your child can't have. It removes the language barrier and ensures that nothing is lost in translation. The Equal Eats cards are wallet sized and made of plastic, but once you get yours in the mail, you might wanna also take a picture on your cell phone just in case it gets lost, or your family splits up at any point during your trip. If you don't have a card or you want backup, download Google Translate before you leave and make sure you download the local language dictionary for offline use. The camera translation feature is a total lifesaver. You can point your phone at ingredient labels, menus, or packaging and see an instant translation. We've used this countless times in grocery stores or with condiments at a table to check if something is safe. There are also some really great apps that are available now for finding gluten-free restaurants. Probably the most popular is Find me gluten-free. You'll just have to look at your destination and see how the coverage is there. There are a couple of others that are not free and get mixed reviews, but you can try some different things out before you go and see how the coverage is for your destination. Now, here's something I learned the hard way. When you're ordering at a restaurant, focus on telling servers what your child can eat, not what they can't. If you start listing everything, they can't have no wheat, no barley, no rye, no cross contamination, you might overwhelm a server who isn't so familiar with Celiac. They might think they understand, but actually miss something really important. So if you find yourself in that situation, try to order items that are naturally gluten-free and ask specifically about the preparation and ingredients. Try direct questions. Is this made with corn or wheat? Is there any flour in this sauce? Are these fries cooked in a dedicated fryer or shared with breaded items? Honestly, the simpler the preparation the better. Saying I can have grilled chicken without sauce and vegetables cooked with butter is a pretty sure bet. This approach has worked well for us in places where we're getting a vibe that the staff might not know enough about Celiac for our comfort. If they're already knowledgeable, great. If not, keeping it simple and specific reduces your risk. Strategy six, and this might be the single most valuable tip I can give you: join Facebook group's dedicated to gluten-free travel in your destination. Yes, I know that Facebook is just for us old people now, but I don't think there's anything else like it in terms of getting community input. There's a general group called Celiac Travel that covers locations worldwide. It's incredibly helpful for getting recommendations and learning what to watch out for. Use the search function at the top to find your destination, and I'm sure you'll find dozens of posts on it because that group is really active. But there are also destination specific groups: gluten-free Italy, gluten-free Spain, gluten-free Disney. Those groups are goldmines of information because then you can drill down and put in a specific city to find restaurant recommendations or hear about restaurants that claim to be safe and weren't. If you're longing for someplace warm, a great group is called Celiac Beach all-inclusive reviews. It's the best group out there for all inclusive resorts, and those could be fantastic for Celiac families because you don't have to worry about finding restaurants every single day. That group has detailed reviews about which resorts actually handle celiac well and which ones just pay lip service to it. People in all of these groups share restaurant recommendations, warn about places that weren't safe, explain which local dishes to avoid and offer tips for navigating specific challenges. I always search in the relevant group before we travel and sometimes post asking for advice and recommendations if I can't find exactly what I need. Those responses have been invaluable. Now, no matter how well you plan, there will be moments when safe food isn't readily available. Maybe you're stuck in an airport with limited options. Those are the absolute worst, Unless you really love farmer's fridge salads. Maybe the restaurant that you plan to go to is closed, or maybe your child is just hungry and needs something right now. We always travel with a stash of gluten-free snacks- made good cookies, crackers, whatever Shoshana likes, that'll travel well. For longer trips, especially to destinations where we're less confident about food availability. We've even brought things like gluten-free pasta and bread, just in case. Yeah, it takes up some space and it's extra planning, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it for us. A few thoughts before I wrap up. Traveling with Celiac isn't easy, but is absolutely manageable. And honestly, some of our best trips have happened since our daughter's diagnosis. We're still learning and building our confidence. We've been starting with destinations that we know are gluten-free friendly: Hawaii, Costa Rica, Italy, and we'll branch out from there as we get more comfortable and confident. Choosing destinations thoughtfully, doing your research, using resources like translation cards and Facebook groups, being really specific when you order food and knowing what level of caution your child needs based on their symptoms. And remember, your child's safety always comes first, but that doesn't mean you can't still explore the world together. Thanks so much for listening to this quick tip Tuesday. If you've got tips for Celiac travel that I didn't cover, I'd love to hear them- leave a comment on the blog or send me a message. And if this episode was helpful to you, please take 30 seconds to leave a rating and a review. It makes a huge difference in helping other families find the show. Be sure to head over to the family voyage.com for more detailed destination guides and travel tips. Until next time, happy and safe travels.