I am gluten free and this was my first time traveling abroad. I was nervous it would be hard to find gluten free food or food that was labeled. My first meal was on my Delta flight. For dinner I had grilled chicken, rice, mixed vegetables, salad, fruit and a gluten free dinner roll. Throughout my time abroad, I took 14 flights and had many flight meals. I had meals on Delta, Air New Zealand, and United. All airlines were accommodating to my allergies and provided meals that were labeled in detail!
For breakfast, I mostly ate at the hotels I was staying at. Since I traveled to seven cities in 25 days, I stayed at a few different hotels. All were accommodating and many labeled their food with allergy markers. My favorite hotel breakfast was Rendezvous Hotel in Melbourne, Australia because all of the food was labeled and they had a special gluten free station with a gluten free toaster to eliminate cross contamination.
My biggest piece of advice would be to speak up and ask for accommodations. While in Fiji, our farewell dinner was buffet style and the food was not labeled. I did not know what I could and could not eat so I asked one of the servers if there was a way I could see the ingredients or allergy list for the items on the buffet. She told me that the chef would come out and walk me through the buffet. The chef walked me through which items I could eat and offered to cook me an allergy friendly version of any of the items I could not eat. The restaurant was very accommodating and treated me extremely well. Another piece of advice is to advocate for yourself and if something seems wrong, question it. While in New Zealand, I went to a three course meal in a fancy restaurant. The menu labeled the allergies for each meal and asked everyone their allergies before serving anyone. When I received my first meal, I noticed there seemed to be crackers in the food. I was hesitant to eat it and decided to double check with the waiter if it was gluten free. I was told I received the wrong plate and that this meal had gluten. I was glad I double checked and questioned something that did not seem right. Since I had this experience for the first meal, I questioned the rest of the meals I was served at this restaurant. It is better to double check with the server than to eat something and have an allergic reaction!
Overall, I found Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji accommodating to someone who is gluten free or has other allergies.
