Gluten free on the go

Was my last post really in May? Wow, this summer has FLOWN by!
I should have titled this blog Gluten Free Girl on the Go. At times, my travel schedule can get pretty hectic with my company being based in NYC, me living in San Francisco and the bulk of my project business being in Washinton, D.C. I also like to travel for fun, and between fun and work, in the next 60 days will find myself in Chicago, Sarasota and Tampa, New York, DC and all over France.
The frequent flyer miles are nice, but I have to say the food can be challenging. At home in my lovely little organic San Francisco bubble, gluten free is as easy as it gets. GF bakery down the street, the AHGSTCMTWF in the neighborhood (see prior posts for this definition), and with the exception of the French restaurants in town, a culinary culture very accustomed to working around food allergies.
Most of New York is workable as well. Roughly 1% of the US population has Celiac, and that doesn't account for the population of intolerant and sensitive folks like myself. Apply that to the 8 million people that inhabit Manhattan, and there's a good sized group of people who won't be eating a bagels for breakfast, pizza for lunch or traditional pasta for dinner. Most restaurants (again, save the French) accommodate, and I can usually find myself a salad or the like around lunchtime and yogurt and fruit around breakfast.
LA is not an issue because no one there actually eats, so most potential pitfalls are automatically eliminated. DC is doable - with all of the intellectuals, food allergies are common. Chicago is a bit tougher, but again, workable as it is a city. I expect Florida will be fine. I won't even get into France for now, given the reaction of the French in this country to my issues with food - will save that for another entry.
Regardless of city, I find the most difficult places are transportation centers. Yesterday, I found myself at Penn Station with an hour to wait before my 7:15 train. "Perfect" I thought, I'll just get a bite to eat. Will all of the options in Penn Station, especially here in the vicinity of the Amtrak gates, this will be easy.
NO.
Quite the opposite actually. As I looked around the circular area surrounding the Amtrak center, I saw the following:
New York Pizza (obviously inedible in my world, sadly)
Hot dogs (the boiled kind, not edible sans bun)
Bagels (not shockingly, they did not carry the gluten free kind)
A counter called "The Bread Basket" (they did have salads, but they looked incredibly wilted and unappetizing)
Aunt Anne's Pretzels (no)
A falafel and shwarma wrap counter (which had a hummus plate! But the only thing that came with it for dipping was pita bread).
KFC (2 things on the menu I could eat - their "grilled" chicken and their potato wedges)
Taco Bell (their crunch tacos are okay from a gluten perspective, but yuck)
Sushi (I may have been hungry but I am not dumb enough to eat sushi purchased underground at Penn Station)
Ice cream (no)
Frozen yogurt
Deli (sandwiches only).
Cupcakes (no)
I made several laps around this area to make sure. Finally, against my better judgment I settled on KFC grilled chicken and frozen yogurt. I threw out most of the genetically altered bird and focused on the yogurt.
Airports are a little bit better, though not much. The best is the new T2 at SFO, but that terminal is brand new and a complete anomoly, so it does not count. My safest bet is always a salad. Perry's in the Delta terminal at SFO has a decent spinach salad, and Balducci's at JFK has some options. National in DC flat out fails in this category, the only thing I can eat there is McDonald's french fries. Dulles is a little bit better having a Chipoltle.
Luckily when I travel for work, I'm usually so busy that I have no time to eat.
The moral of the story? I've learned that when I can, I bring something with me. And, I've prematurely become an old lady in that I always now carry Kind bars and packages of cashews in my luggage. Better that than Penn Station sushi!