TOP TIPS

Below is a few tips based on my personal experience. Be sure to do your own research and do whats best for you and your needs.

1. Research and Plan

Taking the time to plan before your trip, whether its reading blogs, restaurant reviews on google or just researching the areas where you want to go and making a note of any places that you like the look of. My partner and I were backpacking and a lot of our trip was very much go go go, so knowing where to eat in advance, definitely helped.

I must stress that it's important to give yourself the time whilst away to research in the comfort of a hotel/ hostel room rather than being on the move in the middle of a South-East Asian city and being knee deep in google reviews on your phone....

2. Use Google Reviews

When it comes to research, google reviews will become your best friend. The google maps app has a function where you can search reviews. Search 'gluten' in the reviews and any review mentioning gluten free will come up with a time stamp too so you can make a judgement whether that review is out of date or not. Save on your maps any places you like the look of. (Note that the search function is not available on the web version - only the app).

Write your own reviews as well! I'm a massive advocate for writing (good) reviews especially for fellow gluten free diners. Especially for those places that don't advertise gluten free.

3. Gluten Free Snacks

I really recommend taking your favourite GF snack from home. Obviously bear in mind that it's travel-safe. Something like cereal bars or GF biscuits. There's nothing like a yummy home comfort when you've had a long day or are simply struggling to find something GF to eat. A back-up never hurts and take a decent supply too. My Mum always suggests to take some form of GF bread and the Schar Ciabatta bread rolls have a brilliant life on them.

4. Gluten Free Soy Sauce

I must flag that it's actually not that easy to get GF soy sauce in Japan. So its worth bringing from oversees. I did lug my soy sauce around with me throughout SE Asia but didnt actually use it much. I used it virtually every day in Japan though.

If you're in Japan and you forgot your GF soy sauce, fear not - I'm sure there are places to buy it and theres two restaurants I went to that sell it as well. (Check out the Japan section for more).

5. Gluten Free Language Cards

I didn't purchase these prior to my travels. Reason being that most of them you have to buy online, which I personally don't rate. So if you find any online for free, they normally work just as well. Be sure to translate them and judge the translation as you see fit.

However, for those coeliacs that are hyper-sensitive to any cross-contamination etc, then I would highly recommend using them. My experience was that if there was significant trouble communicating with the staff in English, the card wasn't much help as they didn't understand what gluten was. I simply googled online and saved a photo / downloaded whichever one was free, but like I said I didn't reach for it every time I went out.

6. Write a Travel Journal

This one isn't so much a strictly GF related one, just a personal one I wanted to add in. I really recommend documenting your trip whether it's through photos, a travel diary or just in your notes app on your phone. It goes by so quickly and before you know it your back home. I wanted something to look back on and remember the cool places we went to, the amazing cities we enjoyed. Travelling with a dietary requirement as stringent as Coeliac disease proves taxing at times and it's important to remember the positives and highlight the amazing memories too.