En route by plane, train or bus: this is how I manage

Depending on your way of travel, the gluten free diet can have a major impact on your day. Like when you can’t decide where to buy lunch. This mainly happens when you make longer journeys and do not have your own transport. Taking a flight can easily cost you half a day. Going about with a night bus can take fourteen hours, easily. What is the best way to deal with getting gluten free food en route?

How to deal

During our travels through Asia, we tried to use public transport as much as we could. So normal buses and trains, not privet cars and stuff. Its affordable and easy to have a chat with locals.  

The trick with gluten free food on the road is to be always prepared for the worst, this way things can only turn out better than expected. 

Make sure to take enough food to last a day. Bring your own snacks, like nuts, fruit, potato chips, Mars bars, rice crackers or cookiesif you happen to find them somewhere. A bigger supermarket sometimes has these kind of things. ‘Duh’ I hear you think. ‘You don’t have to tell me!’ But there have been times I was badly prepared better because I thought: ‘This is a big airport, surely there must be some food I can eat’. Only to find out there wasn’t. And after not being able to eat the food at the plane. Or ‘This will take so long; we will stop somewhere I can buy fruit.’ Only to find out I couldn’t and in the end grew hungry. 

Another important tip: take plastic bags in case you have to puke. At least, if you have the same kind of reaction as I do. Do not take only Ziplock bags. No, I also don’t want to talk about it, but I’m still gonna. There might be something worse than puking on the floor aboard a full bus, but I can’t think of anything. Or almost die, falling from a moving train, throwing up and losing you balance. Yeah, India is hard work. 

Also take some pills to stop diarrhoea, just in case you do have a slightly different reaction than I do.

About airplanes

You can (depending on the airline company) order a gluten free meal. Sometimes this’ll cost you, which I find very annoying. I often don’t even bother, since I can’t order without gluten, milk and soy. I do understand it’s a bit much to ask. So, with flights of less than four hours, I don’t even try. And even then, it depends upon the company and crew if there is anything possible. Qatar Airways served me first class food once when it turned out I wouldn’t be able to eat otherwise. Totally awesome! Just don’t count on it.

Depending on the airport you’re at, you will be able to find food. When your lay-over is long, it’s quite nice to eat in between. Shops with fruit, yoghurt or chips are often available. A McDonalds can be useful in these situations, even though it’s no guarantee for food. As I found out when they could not sell me French fries in Ghuangzhou. They did have corn however. Huh? Or Tribuvhan International airport in Nepal where they only sold microwave meals with soy sauce. Gross. It took me completely by surprise, and I got hungry that time, since the delay was incredibly long.

Buses

Busses stop when the driver decides. In India or Pakistan, probably around 11:00 p.m. for dinner. Places I really did not want to eat. In Nepal the road stops often sold dal bath, so that’s okay. But gluten is not your only point of attention, hygiene even more so in some countries. Becoming awfully sick from food poisoning is no fun, without a toilet on-board. The best way is to check online about eating habits and make up your mind. I always take hand gel with alcohol to clean my hands. That way I won’t sicken myself with bad hygiene after a toilet break. It would be regrettable after all the trouble not to poison myself with gluten. 

Trains

On boards trains in Indonesia, you can order food! There are even some gluten free options if you’re lucky! But mostly, this is not the case of course during train travel. In India people usually take their own food, or they buy some at the train stations (deep fried snacks = gluten). I was shy of getting my food this way and took snacks. Bags of chips, fruit (rinse with clean water). I take my Lifestraw with me so I’m always able to drink filtered water (and not spoil the earth with plastic bottles). 

It can be nice to take an actual meal with you. From a restaurant known to you: order a portion to go and stuff it in your bag for on the road. Also think about taking extra food to share with people around you. Chances are they will offer you some! 

It’s hard to go really into details about all the countries we’ve been to. For some destinations you can find something in the ‘Gluten free in … guides’ about travel with the bus or train. Do you have a specific question about a country I’ve visited? Leave a comment!