Eat safely.
Travel freely.
Gluten Free Getaways exists to remove the fear and uncertainty from travel for the gluten-free community. Turning what used to be weeks or even months of exhausting research into a safe, curated and hosted experience.
For roughly 1 in 100 people worldwide, a bad meal is not a bad meal. It is three days sick in a hotel bathroom, on a trip they saved a year for. We exist so that number can travel - freely, safely, and beautifully - in every country in the world.
Josh Sutherland
"I started this because everyone deserves to travel stress free and celiacs need to deal with an extra layer of stress when travelling."
Josh has celiac disease himself. The company was born from planning a trip to Japan with a friend and realising, over weeks of research into ingredients and translations and backup plans, that every celiac who has ever wanted to travel to Japan was doing the exact same work - alone, from scratch, on their own kitchen table.
Gluten Free Getaways is the version of that work that gets built once, done properly, and then made available to anyone who needs it. Josh personally designs the flagship Japan tour, vets every restaurant on the route, reviews every custom itinerary before it goes out, and replies to every email that lands in the inbox. On the ground, a licensed Japanese guide hosts the group throughout the trip and attends every meal.
Why this works.
Verified in person.
We do not book restaurants from Google reviews or industry lists. Every venue on a tour is personally visited by Josh before we take a group there. We talk with the kitchen in the destination's language, understand their protocols, and only add a restaurant to the itinerary once we're confident.
A licensed local host at every meal.
On tour, a licensed local guide walks into every group meal with you and communicates dietary needs to the kitchen directly. That layer of live translation is what closes the gap between 'the restaurant said it was safe' and 'the plate is actually safe.'
Honest about the limits.
We can't fully control any third-party kitchen anywhere in the world - nobody honest can. What we can do is remove the vast majority of the risk, and be transparent about the small residual that remains.
Turning dozens of hours into confidence.
How we got here.
- Before
The trip that started it
Josh planned a trip to Japan with a friend. As a celiac, that plan meant weeks of research - safe restaurants, Japanese ingredients, translation for dietary needs, contingency plans for every meal.
- The idea
One person's research × everyone
Josh realised the fundamental waste: every celiac was independently doing the same intensive research for the same destinations.
- Launch
Gluten Free Getaways
Founded to turn that individual research burden into a shared, curated service. Started with the destination Josh knew best from lived experience: Japan.
- March 2026
First hosted Japan tour
The first hosted small-group tour ran in March 2026. Guests came home talking about temple visits, go-karting through Tokyo streets, and the meals. Nobody was glutened.
- October 2026
Flagship departure
The next hosted tour runs 26 October – 5 November 2026. Ten nights across Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima.
- Now
Custom + private + group
The service expanded beyond group tours: custom itineraries for people with their own dates, private getaways for families and couples.
- 2027
October 2027 waitlist open
The 2027 Japan departure is 26 October – 5 November 2027. Founding pricing on the waitlist. New destinations under research.
Josh in Shinjuku, February 2026 - walking the restaurants on our October 2026 tour before we take a group there.
A group we hosted through Tokyo - celiac travellers, partners, friends. The point of the company: this photo, safely fed.
