How to travel in Europe Gluten free and Dairy free

Pack as much of food as you can when you travel

Hey its been awhile since my last post. My sisters came all the way from my home country Malaysia,  to visit me in Germany. So we spent a few days in Germany before we started our long awaited Europe tour. We started our tour in Manchester and Southport. The brother from my Maternal grandpa is living there. So we decided to visit him and his family. Our stay there was so amazing. The family were so welcoming and showered us with lots of love and they even catered to my allergies. I mean I felt so blessed. Grandma and her daughter even planned a 2 days London tour for us. We ate mostly in Asian restaurant. We also had our dinner in Nandos on our first day in London. Í even manage to have a delicious cup of dairy free Latte at Costa. Imagine my happiness, you would not find such convenience in my city where I live in, in Germany unless it is in Starbucks in some big cities. After our UK tour we flew back to my home in Germany and rested a few days before we continued with our Europe tour. It was a hard challenge to stick to paleo diet through out the vacation. My main priority was to be gluten free and dairy free. I mean, I would love to be 100% Paleo but then it would really be so hard for me to even find anything to eat. Plus I was traveling with my sisters and they are not doing paleo and have no allergy to gluten or dairy. And I honestly couldn't care less on  the type of oil which they use to cook my meat or vegetables. I was happy enough if could stay away from being glutenized. In Europe, almost everything what they eat contains gluten or dairy. It can be a huge pain in the ass just strolling around the street and reading menus after menus and looking for restaurants that will not blow up your intestines. For me Italy was so 'allergy friendly'. I even found a gluten free and vegan ice cream in Florence which cost only 3.50 euros. You can easily find Gluten free or even vegan signboards at most restaurants in Italy. You can enjoy your Italian style pizza or pasta, allergy free without the fear of any adverse side effects. How amazing is that!!! But countries like Germany, Austria and France need to learn a lot from Italy when it comes to being a 'tourist with alergies' friendly country. Nowadays more and more people especially children are being diagnosed with lots of food allergy. Its also high time that restaurants start to list down the type of food allergens under every food description in their menu. It would save the hassle of always bothering the waiter with questions and not all waiters have a good knowledge on the food which they are serving. To sum up, I survived my vacation eating gluten free and dairy free. So here is how I did it......

 Happiness on my face when I found this Vegan and gluten free Gelato in Florence

My caffeine fix, Latte with non dairy milk in London

1.  Do some research before you travel. Use the Internet to your advantage, there are many blogs on this topic as well.  
2. Google the list of restaurants which serve gluten free and dairy free food in the country which you wish to travel.
3.  Write down what gluten free and dairy free are called in the local language. for example in Italian its called senza gluten for gluten free and latticini for dairy free. So this way its easier for communication and label readings. 
4. Find out the nearest supermarket which sells gluten free and dairy free products. This can be very useful for buying basic food stuff such as bread, tuna, snacks etc etc.
5. Make a sandwich for take away. I packed my aluminium foil  in my travel bag for easy wrapping my take away sandwiches, so you can enjoy your allergy free sandwich by the Seine river or for a picnic at the Bavarian alps for your lunch.
6. Bring as much as you can from home. it is just for your own security. Its better to have when in need than to need and not have, So you will have more time for sight seeing rather than doing grocery shopping.
7. In Germany and Austria, I ate mostly at Asian and Turkish restaurants. At the hotel for breakfast, I bought my own bread except for the Hotel in London where they catered me with gluten free bread and dairy free milk.
8. Book a hotel apartment, if its possible. We did that in Paris and it made our stay so much easier. We made our own breakfast and Dinner while for Lunch my sisters had it the Parisian way but for me it was mostly salads.
9. You can sometimes try your luck and talk to the waiter or chef to create you a meal which is gluten and dairy free. I did that in Mosel, Germany. The chef cooked a plate of chicken breast with no sauce and a side of sauteed potatoes and mushrooms. I had a big smile on my face on that day.
10. Pack some sweet treats in your bag.For me bananas and apples are great for traveling If in case U have sugar craving or in need of energy after all the walking. It is a good idea to wrap a cookie or a cake in an aluminium foil. I even ate my sweet treats at a cafe, when my sisters stopped at a local cafe to try on the cakes and coffee. So this way I don't have to watch them eating but I can also enjoy a dessert with them.  

 My gluten free/dairy free goody bag which I received from my grandparents in UK

Hope that my post will help people with allergies to travel. It is not easy to travel with food allergies but it is not impossible as well. I wish to hear on your side on what you have done to make your travel more safe and easy with food allergies.Lets share our ideas and make traveling more easy and fun for us who suffer from food allergies. Happy travelling everyone....