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You also should be aware of the situation with gluten-free wheat starch.
The US (as in Australia) does not permit the use of gluten-free wheat starch
in items labelled gluten-free as there may be trace amounts of gluten
present.  Europe does permit gluten-free wheat starch so many gluten-free
items, especially bread, does include it.  But it is listed as an ingredient
and there are alternative gluten-free products without it.  I did not have
any reaction to gluten-free wheat starch and found the bread to be the
closest to normal bread that I have ever found.  However, it is a personal
choice and you may not feel comfortable doing this.
Do not bring electric devices with you to Europe, because Europe is on a
different current and they won't work.  Powerful motors like the ones on
kitchen appliances tend to blow out with adapters.  In England you can buy
gluten-free foods in chemists (drug stores).  Ask at the prescription
counter in any good-sized chemist.  Boots is a large chain of chemists,
there's at least one in every city, although I couldn't say about Walton on
Thames.  Some health food stores, like the Holland and Barrett chain, carry
a good selection of g-f food.  Watch the ingredients, though.  Wheat starch
is considered g-f in England, but many American celiacs cannot tolerate it.
You will also find products without wheat starch, but you need to read the
labels.
I live in the UK, and have a coeliac daughter (6) - we've just returned from
a four-day visit to London.  I arranged for Lifestyle (manufacturer of
fresh-baked GF foods) to deliver a package to our hotel, to include bread,
cakes, biscuits and sausage rolls.  Their website is www.glutenfree.co.uk.
We were visiting the centre of London, and we ate picnics, fastfood
(McDonalds and BurgerKing - no buns, obviously), and took a pizza base into
EstEstEst, which topped it for her.  Pizza Hut will do this too.  Most
restaurants will provide GF food, especially with notice, and I'm sure
you're used to checking menus - don't be afraid to ask.  I know that you can
have GF afternoon tea at the Savoy with 24 hours notice (expensive) but I
haven't tried it.
You know about Schar; other GF manufacturers include Nutricia/Glutafin,
Juvela, Dietary Specialties/Nutrition Point, Orgran, Trufree ... And lots of
smaller ones.  These can be ordered from chemists (pharmacists) - bigger
ones may have stock in.  Health food shops carry GF food too.  The
supermarkets increasingly label GF food - really good labellers include
Marks and Spencer, Safeway, Sainsbury.  Tesco is less good, but not bad, and
has really nice GF cakes, labelled Bakers Delight.  I believe Asda (Walmart)
is good too, but I've not been there.
Call Coeliac UK (www.coeliac.co.uk) - they have a list of thousands of
manufactured foods that are GF (50,000?).
I believe Italy to be one of the best places to visit as a coeliac - it is
said to be very common there.
All pharmacies in Europe carry gf foods.  I've probably had over 100 meals
in restaurants in Europe in the last 5 yrs and no problem  They understand.
I would take restaurant cards in the language of each country just as a
precaution altho often they cause more confusion than just talking with the
wait staff, manager or chef.
I travel in Europe regularly, in many different countries.  I ALWAYS have
with me enough food to cover flights, and times in airports.  It has
happened that I had a long wait in an airport with not one single restaurant
open in which I could purchase so much as a hard-cooked egg!  That was the
only lesson I needed.  Now I always have at least one tin of sardines - I
have learned to appreciate, if not love, sardines - and a container of GF
gorp.  Nuts, seeds, dried fruit mixed makes excellent energy pick-me-up on
the road.  I always make the most delicious gorp imaginable, using dried
cherries in addition to apricots, for example.  I find that a great deal of
the sense of deprivation comes from having back-up food that is not the
greatest.  When traveling together with my daughter we enjoyed having a
container of almond butter as well.  This can be spread on veggies or
apples.  It does not require a cracker.
I always carry a portion of gf pasta and ask waiters in Italian restaurants
to prepare it for me with their regular sauce.  I have never had a problem
with this.
I think you will enjoy your time in Europe and find it is much easier to eat
GF than here in the states. I met my daughter in Paris in Nov. and she had
her GF restaurant card in French and she had no problem what so ever. In
Germany you should not have a problem either. Obvious things of course you
will want to avoid but the different cards from Against the Grain will help
you. I would maybe suggest some of the GF pretzels and crackers, maybe some
fresh fruit like apples, etc. You should be able to get a GF meal on
American, but don't hold your breath. Most of the time when my husband has
been to South America it is there, but one time it wasn't and 10 hours is a
long time not to have anything. I wrote them a letter and they provided a
voucher for our next trip, but they should have had his dinner on board. I
even called ahead for him and they told me it was there and it wasn't. My
daughter return trip home on the German airline proved to have more GF food
than she could hold. Cookies in packages with labels reading GF. Too bad
some of our airlines can't take a lesson from them and KLM who also provide
wonderful GF meals to their customers.

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