Sick

Sidelined Abroad

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It hit me like a freight train—that’s to say, there was no warning whatsoever. One moment, my sister and I were leaping in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower in ParisThe next, I was a sick, sick panda.

SickSegment I of the Enrichment Voyage ended on Saturday, and I had two days to spend with my family in Paris before they flew out and I had to get back to the ship and report for duty. But two days in Paris wound up equaling only a handful of healthy hours, during which I got to pal around with the darling Lindsey of Lost in Cheeseland at Le Coutume Cafe, and later have dinner with one of my business partners, Lana, and her husband Andre, who were in for Canne, at Le Cinq Mars, the most adorable, little restaurant I’ve ever seen.

Lindsey of Lost in Cheeseland(And before you ask, neither establishment had a thing to do with my pending illness, of this I promise. I would absolutely recommend either place for any of you traveling through Paris! I only hope none of my dining companions caught my germs…)

After lunch, I was already feeling it, but there was no way I was canceling on Lana, a meeting that I have been anticipating with great excitement for so long, and so I took a brief nap and then I rallied. And it was lovely, the whole meal and spending time with Lana and Andre, but not 20 minutes after I arrived back at my hotel, the sick started.

I’ve always been known for my resilience. Sick? I don’t do sick. Most people who know me marvel over the fact that I can a) operate on very little sleep at all—and b) never get ill as a result. That all changed this last week. Prior to now, the last time I had gotten any sort of stomach anything was 2009 in Switzerland; I was better in 24 hours. Before that, it was a nasty case of the flu in Spain in 2006 while I was alone in Bilbao and working on my first book for Frommer’s. The fact that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a virus in my grown-up years should tell you something.

Sure, you can argue: Well, if you had to get sick, better to do so in cities you’ve already visited before, like Paris and Antwerp. True, but these were the two I was most excited to visit again. I already made SVV promise me to return to both in 2014 when we’re in Europe—we have two trips planned back; one, if I get hired for the 2014 Enrichment Voyage, which will do a different route in Europe, and two, for his 40th birthday later in the summer—because I am feeling slightly “woe is me” at the moment, and I would like to spend some time in these two marvelous places.

Sunday was an absolute nightmare. The vomiting was so relentless, I was in tears by noon. It just wouldn’t stop, and my whole body ached. What’s worst, my hotel—name and shame, Mercure Paris Tour Eiffel—wouldn’t let me book my room for a second night given that I couldn’t so much as roll over, and I had to move into a tiny, one-bed Parisian hotel room while quite germ-y with my parents. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Luckily, a new friend from Santa Barbara and her 13-year-old daughter accompanied me back on the early-morning train from Paris to Normandy Monday morning. I slept the whole way and probably wouldn’t have woken to get off at the right stop if it weren’t for them. Once we made it back to the ship, which was a quick taxi ride from the train station, I immediately retreated to my cabin only to find it was time to do the obligatory lifeboat drill with the new passengers (international maritime law requires it). So it was a bit longer before I was horizontal again.

When that time finally came, I cranked the heat up as high as it would go in my cabin, wrapped myself in four blankets and tried to sleep, only my body was shaking like a seismic wave and I had the worst chills. I thought my fever had broken the day before and that I was on the homestretch. Ha! Hardly. Suddenly, all sorts of dire scenarios played themselves out in my mind—I may be an optimist about some things, but I’m also an alarmist about many—and I began to fear I would die here in my cabin. Alone.

Here’s the thing: If you absolutely have to be sick, the ship is a safe place to be. We have a couple trained doctors and nurses on staff, and even while in port, one of them is always on call. I rang receptionist, and they called Dr. Bill for me right away, who told me to meet him in the clinic in five.

When I arrived, he scolded me for not going to the hospital in Paris to get fluids—believe me, I thought about it, but my own mother dismissed such a suggestion as silly—and then took my temperature (still hovering around 100) and checked all my vitals. ISE gives all staff and passengers MedEx insurance for the duration on the ship. I’ve never actually put mine to use, but I helped  professors and students alike use theirs on Semester at Sea after broken bones or surgeries or family emergencies. So I knew if it had come to me not being able to leave Paris, I had MedEx to fall back on to get me to the next port to meet the ship—and that they’d cover all my costs.

Some people had contracted a terrible case of food poisoning in Fes, which was what Dr. Bill was afraid of, but I was not one of them. First off, I didn’t even go to Fes, and I had eaten little other than boxed granola in the days leading up to my onset, so I knew it wasn’t the food. This was a good ol’, can’t-do-anything-but-wait-it-out virus. Awesome.

Dr. Bill had a female nurse come in and inject my ass with some miracle drug to help the nausea abate. He also put me on “cabin rest”—meaning strict quarantine for at least 24 hours until released by the medical team—and a diet of liquids. Cabin rest is not as bad as it sounds; you’re stuck in your quarters, yes, which are quite comfortable, and your cabin steward brings you “room service” in the form of water, applesauce, chicken broth, Sprite and whatever else you may request.

Though by the end of my first night stuck in the cabin, I was feeling heaps better from the shot, and my friend Layne called to check on me. I told her how famished I was, and so she snuck me a bag of Triscuits. True pal there.

But then yesterday, after lunch with one of the SAS professors, Bob, Layne and I set out to explore Antwerp for a few hours in the afternoon at a leisurely pace—and I started feeling extremely under the weather again and returned to my cabin for some sleep and sick time. All my Facebook and Instagram friends have been keeping me in high spirits despite everything with comments like, “cabin rest? I figured they’d confine you to the poop deck!” Har de har har.

Antwerp, BelgiumNow it’s day four of this stupid virus—whatever happened to the 24-hour bug? no one mentions that some of them plague your very existence for 96 and counting—and while I haven’t lost my cookies today, I’m still not feeling on top of the world. I did make it out to the most adorable cafe, The Chocolate Box, to work and use WiFi for a few hours. While chocolate isn’t on my current BRAT diet, I took it upon myself to buy a sampler box to enjoy back on the ship when I’m better. I figured I owed it to myself! I mean, I’m missing the greatest indulgence on this trip, Belgium, where artisan chocolates are everywhere you look and waffles and crepes are served with chocolate and ice cream and other sweet delights! Pure torture.

The Chocolate Box in Antwerp, BelgiumAll that said, wish me luck standing up in front of 600+ people on the ship tonight and waxing poetic about Amsterdam’s coffeeshop culture and why you shouldn’t go all snap-happy with your camera in the Red Light District. We arrive in Holland, my once home, tomorrow, and I only hope I’ll be feeling up to visiting my old haunts and maybe seeing some tulips before the festival ends in a few days.

What’s your worst “sick abroad” story? And do you ever actually put your travel insurance to good use?

COMMENTS
  • May 15, 2013
    Nicola

    I had to hole up in a hotel room in Toulouse for two days, with just some nasty cold/flu thing, but dragging myself out and using my negative amount of French to try and get directions to a pharmacy was torture. I also spent a good couple of feverish hours playing out the charades I would use to describe my symptoms, should the pharmacist not speak English. Standing in line at the train station office, wavering gently from side to side and deep breathing….not the worst story every, but it sure is a miserable business being sick abroad! Never called in the travel insurance, but having recently started work as a travel consultant and having heard the insurance stories – WOAH. YOU NEED IT. Erin Langworthy – YouTube her bungee story. That’s how you sell travel insurance!

    Feel better soon sunshine! And I applaud the purchase of chocolates for when you feel better. The sculpture park in Antwerp was my favourite thing in all of Belgium too.

    • May 16, 2013

      I don’t even want to after that! I’m afraid she broke her neck bungying and I have the weakest stomach ever when I haven’t been sick, ha! Sadly, I didn’t get to go to the sculpture park though I DID bring those chocolates back with me.

  • May 15, 2013

    Ugh that’s TERRIBLE!! I’m glad it wasn’t the food but in the end, that would have been a quicker affliction. Now you’re prepared for anything! Glad to have met you before the storm =)

    • May 16, 2013

      You were the absolute highlight of this trip to Paris! Hopefully, I get to see you in London (and hopefully you are still 100% healthy!).

  • May 15, 2013
    Jessica

    While on our RTW trip, I ingested such insane amounts of dust in Tanzania that I developed a severe lung infection and was held up in Dubai for a week after a grueling 24 hour trip from Kilimanjaro -> Nairobi -> Kigali -> UAE. Quite opposite of your experience, my hotel in Dubai sent me a care package which included a fruit basket and handwritten notes from the housekeeping staff as well as a tray of lemon-honey-tea from the front desk staff and the staff physician “on the house”!! It really made me feel comfortable while suffering 10,000 miles from home!!

    • May 16, 2013

      OK, a lung infection sounds FAR more severe than my piddly virus. Though so good to know you had great service in Dubai, as I got food poisoning on my flight on Emirates there and they could not have been LESS accommodating!

  • May 15, 2013

    I am so sorry for you and truly hope you get to feeling better SOON! And I applaud the decision to buy the chocolates – smart girl 🙂

    April 2007, Dominican Republic. Thank God we had a suite. On day 3 of our 7 day trip I became violently ill on what I refer to as the most effective diet I’ve ever been on. 8 pounds down in less than 24 hours(yep, there was a scale in our suite). My husband was able to drag me to the doctor on site at our resort who injected me with anti nausea meds and hooked me up to an IV. Twenty four hours later I was able to stand on my own again and that doctor confessed she was “this close” to sending me to the hospital …. It was clearly food poisoning and it was scary to be that far from home and SO sick. The whole time I was sprinting back and forth from the bed to the bathroom, I was begging my husband to get us another flight out of there. He humored me by looking up flights but gently reminded me I was in no condition to go anywhere. He was right, I never could have made the hour long ride to the airport, let alone the airport wait and a flight home. It took about 3 days to really recover. So basically, I was ok by the time we had to make the journey home. Not a fun trip, but definitely memorable.

    • May 16, 2013

      Ugh ugh ugh. DR with food poisoning sounds like the least fun ever. I didn’t like my time there as it was–and that was as a healthy traveler!

  • May 15, 2013

    When I was in still living in Edinburgh, Scotland-the semester after you left 🙂 I took a trip to Egypt and contracted a rather nasty case dysentery. I had been in Sharm el Sheikh for a week and on the night before my travel group was scheduled to take a bus back to Cairo, I became violently ill. After being found whimpering in bathroom by my roommates, a doctor was called (the hotel said this was better than going to the hospital) and I was shot in the ass with something that burned like acid going into my muscle (and was repeated 3 times even after I lied and said I was fine….only to throw up all over the floor in from of the doctor). The doctor said I had dysentery and like a good American 4th grader, I thought I was going to die like they did on the Oregon Trail. My roommates, who were British, had no reference for my fear and were utterly confused at my hysteria. In the end, I had to stay an extra day in Sharm and take the bus back with just one other traveler. I couldn’t get back to Edinburgh any sooner than my original ticket so I stuck with my original plans of a tour that took me all over Egypt for the next five days. Trying not to scare my new travel companions I kept my story to myself until a few days in when I had to decide if I could spend the night on a felucca (sans bathroom) with them. It turns out, a diet of bottled water and bananas goes a long way to keep everything inside when bathrooms aren’t so convenient. It was definitely an experience.

    • May 16, 2013

      Good thing you didn’t get typhoid AND cholera AND dysentery–all the while with a broken wheel and a drowned oxen. (Love me some OT nostalgia.)

      I also got super sick in Edi–do you remember when we had our Loch Ness trip? I got pneumonia and the bus dropped me and Francie and Evan off at the ER when we got Inverness to get me checked out, ha! Oh memories.

  • May 15, 2013

    Paris! I was attempting to live there, trying to hard to write the great Parisian novel and explore and study French and live on croissants. Then I was felled by … spider bites! They swelled and throbbed and looked like a set of fried eggs running up my legs. The bacteria started going into my bloodstream, so then I got swirls of red spiralling out from the fried eggs. My doctor thought it was Lyme Disease. Finally I gave up living in Paris and moved back to Saskatchewan to my parents’ house and stayed in bed for a month. Still love Paris, though!

    • May 16, 2013

      OH. EM. GEE. Now I’m going to have nightmares about spiders laying eggs under my skin in my sleep. That is the worst travel tale ever!

  • May 15, 2013

    Glad to hear you’re on the mend, dude. When we lived in Lima in 2005, I got a case of food poisoning from bad ceviche and it WRECKED me for 48 hours. Sounds similar to what you have been experiencing. Apparently I was so out of it that I had entire conversations with my wife that I don’t remember. Anyway, to this moment, those two days of my life rank among the worst. I got through it (and was drinking pisco on Day 3). Get well soon.

    • May 16, 2013

      Funny, our inaugural meeting was over a Pisco Sour! And maybe ceviche? I can’t remember…

  • May 15, 2013

    I was in the Dominican Republic in 2009 and accidentally used the tap water to brush my teeth one day. Luckily, the bug didn’t hit until I got home because there is no way I could have flown home. I have never been in such pain or had such un-lovely visits to the bathroom. Thought I was gonna die! You better believe when they say to not drink the water, I will NOT drink the water the next time.

    • May 16, 2013

      I made that mistake in Portugal when SVV and I were vacationing there in 2006. In the middle of every night, Montezuma would pay me a nasty visit, and I had no idea what it was. Then, when we were getting ready to leave, Scott said: “I can’t wait to go back to Denmark where we can drink the water again!” Me: “uh, you mean we’re not supposed to here?” I’d been brushing my teeth and drinking a glass of water before bed every night, thinking we were in Western Europe and it was perfectly safe!

  • May 15, 2013

    The first time I went to Paris, I managed to eat a dodgy sandwich before leaving home and I never felt so bad in my life. We managed to get to see the Eiffel Tower at night and whilst it was a beautiful sight, it was slightly marred by how awful I was feeling. I then later proceeded to be sick over my (open) suitcase as I didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. I was then confined to the hotel room whilst my friend got to see the wonders of Paris. To say the least, it was not the best start to the trip! This could be why I’ve always had a funny relationship with Paris! Lots of well wishes and hope you recover soon!

    • May 16, 2013

      Seems like everyone who’s commented on this post has a France food horror story! Who knew that’s what Parisians were know for, their crummy food? =)

  • May 15, 2013

    That’s terrible! I’ve never had a horrible sickness while traveling and hope that I never do. I can’t imagine how awful that must have been. Glad you’re doing better and hopefully that’s the worst sickness-while-abroad you ever get!

  • May 15, 2013

    I got E. Coli from some dirty chicken salad in the Detroit airport several years ago. The connecting flight from Detroit to Wash. DC was the WORST FLIGHT EVER, but at the time I thought it was just major turbulence or something. I sipped ginger ale and kept my head down, knowing that as soon as I got my feet on solid ground I’d feel better.

    Um, no.

    I landed, was super woozy, grabbed a bottle of water and waited for my friend to pick me up at the curb so we could begin our 5-day funfest in DC….but he had to stop at Home Depot to grab a tiny little item first. I went in with him, ended up sitting down in one of the aisles because I was light headed, and then tossed my cookies ALL OVER THE AISLE. I just…I was so embarrassed. And still so, so sick. I ran to the parking lot as fast as I could, threw up a few more times before my friend could catch up with me. I spent my entire vacation hugging the toilet bowl in a 20-something bachelor’s apartment. It was horrid.

    And I haven’t eaten chicken since. Blargh.

    xox

    • May 16, 2013

      Ugh, public embarrassment while sick is THE WORST.

  • May 15, 2013

    In 2008 I caught a nasty 24 hour bug somewhere between Christchurch and Sydney. Luckily, I was staying with a good friend in Sydney and she took care of me. We went out to buy me some crackers and Gatorade from a supermarket in Newtown, but one step in the supermarket and the smells totally overwhelmed me. I ran outside and totally lost my breakfast (in a trash bin; skills.) right across from a busker offering poetry to passersby. It probably totally grossed him out, but I like to think it may have inspired some poetry.

  • May 15, 2013
    Briel K.

    What a horrible thing to experience while traveling! I hope you are feeling well enough to eat those chocolates soon!

    • May 16, 2013

      I may have just snuck a bag of M&Ms from the snack bar, so all signs point to FEELING BETTA.

  • May 15, 2013

    Crazy that we’re both deathly ill at the same time! I got hit with the strep virus last week like a ton of bricks… I think we go-go-go types feel like illness and downtime couldn’t possibly apply to us. Yet, here I am, almost a week into feeling LIKE CRAP, and I still haven’t mastered the whole “you-need-to-rest” deal. Ah well. I hope you’re feeling better and running that ship like you always do ASAP!

    • May 16, 2013

      Haha, I am! And via our email exchange, it sounds like you’re on the upswing, too! DANG. Being human sucks, doesn’t it? 😉

  • May 15, 2013

    Awww, noooooooo! Being sick abroad is the worst. The absolute worst. I hope you’re feeling better now! For me, after eating at some extremely questionable places in Peru, I got seriously ill with what I thought was food poisoning. I ended up not being able to keep anything down for over a week, and was so weak I couldn’t stand up for more than a few minutes. I was a miserable travel companion for my boyfriend at the time, and I missed seeing a lot of cool stuff. I’ve never been so sick in my life! So I can totally commiserate 🙂

  • May 16, 2013
    Helen

    Throwing up over the side of a boat between Phnom Pehn and Angkor…
    Malaria “I feel like I’m flying” in rural Uganda…
    So gutted for you that you missed so much that is so good about Belgium. Hope you feel better soon.

    • May 17, 2013

      I think being sick in Asia or Africa probably trumps being sick anywhere else in the world. Was this on your most recent Cambodian sojourns??

      • May 19, 2013
        Helen

        Unfortunately, neither of them were very recent. Circumstances have me staying much nearer to home at the moment. I still get sick though!
        You’re back up on the blog, so I’m guessing you’re back up on your feet too; great!

  • May 16, 2013
    CJ

    I got the flu in Sydney, and then 3 days after I felt better I tore a ligament in my knee. I feel your pain and hope the virus is completely gone soon!

    • May 17, 2013

      If there’s anything worse than getting sick while traveling, it’s definitely a sprain/tear/broken bone. Poor you!

  • May 16, 2013
    Brandy

    That sounds awful! I’m so sorry. Here’s hoping you feel better soon.

  • May 16, 2013

    Ugh. Sorry you’re dealing with the plague. That kind of stuff is bad enough when you’re in the comfort of your own home and routine. Add travel, and it’s 10 times worse. I caught a cold while we were in Ireland for our honeymoon, and I swear it was the worst cold I’ve ever had in my life (probably not true, it just seemed that way at the time — esp. since I rarely get sick). Feel better.

  • May 17, 2013

    Thanks God, you didn’t eat a food with poison.

  • May 17, 2013

    The steamship Atalanta was 23 days from London and Havre; had 48 cabin and 560 steerage passengers; was in London seven days, all well on board; London healthy as usual. Received 40 passengers on board and steamed for Havre, where she lay two days, and received the balance of passengers. During the passage, sixty cases and sixteen deaths from cholera. The cases occurred as enumerated below, but according to the statement of the doctor of the ship seven deaths had occurred among the passengers previous to their embarkation at Havre. The ship is crowded, and in a filthy condition.

  • May 17, 2013

    Oh I’ve been there in a Brussels room and a very close bathroom! It totally sucks to be sick abroad, with all the world to explore and friends/family to enjoy it with.
    …and yes next time in Paris I’ll have a peek into Le Cinq Mars 🙂 thanks for the travel eating tip. Hope you feel better.

    • May 17, 2013

      The small, close bathroom part is legitimately the worst! (My poor sister and parents.)

  • May 17, 2013

    I was living in Singapore and had just finished the semester there. A friend and I had backpacked through Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia. I left her and travlled with another fined through Vietnam. After that I met up with some friends in China for a few weeks. Finally I was in Japan on my own for a few days before catching a flight back home. The plan was Tokyo for a two days and then off to explore…

    The plan failed. I got so sick. I never left the hostel. They were able to extend my stay and kept making me eat oranges (which I don’t think helped my stomach). I hate taking drugs, but I finally accepted the offer of a fellow hostel guest who broke into his first aid kit. He stared at a bottle for a while put it down and stared at another one. I asked what was taking so long, “Sorry I just have to translate from Arabic”… Oh … great. I am taking not only drugs, but weird foreign Arabic drugs which may be translated wrong…w00t.

    In the end I felt much better the night before my flight home. My twisted theory was it was my body’s way of making me feel like I didn’t want to travel anymore that way I would be ecited to come home. It worked! I was so psyched to see my mom at th eairport!

    • May 17, 2013

      That’s crazy that you survived all those other developing nations only to fall ill in JAPAN! Do you think it was a lingering food poisoning from China perhaps?

  • May 17, 2013

    When we were in Cambodia in 2009 on our RTW trip, Jeff and I both got swine flu. I am also one of those people who never get sick (and I drink the water from the tap everywhere, eat at every street stand I come to, etc.), so I don’t have a lot to compare it with, but I thought I was dying. It hit me while we were at Angkor Wat. I just started feeling really weak and exhausted, but I contributed it to the sun/heat. However, later it all hit—massive fever, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, muscle aches, hallucinations. I would fall asleep, think I’d slept for hours, and wake up and it had literally been seconds (known for sure thanks to the fact that we had soccer on TV, which always had the damn time ticking away in the top corner). The only moments I thought I might live were when I was sitting under the shower. To make matters worse, they were quarantining people with swine flu so we couldn’t go see a doctor because the last thing I wanted was to be quarantined in Cambodia. Instead we self-quarantined. We were lucky in that we had a college friend living in Siem Reap who constantly checked in on us by phone and would drop off things for us (including some Tamiflu she managed to find). The worst of it lasted 3 days, but I was probably sick for a week total. Being sick anywhere but at home sucks. I hope you’re better!

    • May 17, 2013

      I had every one of those symptoms, too. Wonder if it was the swine flu I had! (Is that even still around??)

      • May 18, 2013

        I’m sure it’s still going around somewhere! It was huge in Asia when we were there. In both Vietnam and Thailand, we had to have our temperatures taken at the border before we were allowed to enter. That was a new experience for me.

  • May 17, 2013
    Elise

    I must have contracted mono shortly before I went on a month-long trip to Australia (unbeknownst to me at the time). I got progressively sicker throughout the whole trip. It was kind of a nightmare. I ended up stranded in Cairns for a week so that I could muster the energy to actually fly home. I went to a couple clinics along the way (to figure out what was wrong with me – “you have glandular fever!” is not something you want to hear, btw), but didn’t have to use insurance for it. Hopefully that remains my worst sick-travel experience!

    Hope you feel better soon! Being sick sucks, but being sick away from home is the worst.

    • May 17, 2013

      Agreed! At least I was better after five-ish days. A month sounds positively dreadful!

  • May 18, 2013

    That sounds like the worst kind of torture – all the food in Paris, and not being able to eat it!

    I got horribly sick at the end of my last dig in Alaska – I still don’t know what it was, except I was coughing and so dizzy I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I’m lucky it was only a few days before I left, because the village didn’t have anything like a pharmacy, let alone a doctor.

  • May 18, 2013

    Oh no, being a sick panda while traveling stinks! I’m glad that you had family and friends to look after you and that you made it back to the ship for “lock-down.”

    I contracted a bad case of salmonella poisoning as we were wrapping up our trip to Cambodia this past December. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we didn’t have to catch a flight back to Beijing. I was petrified that the airport staff wasn’t going to let me get on the plane or that I would be quarantined at the Phnom Penh airport after throwing up for the third or fourth time! I’m thinking that Cambodian health care would have been a no-go for me. Luckily, we made it back to China and I started to feel better before having to go to the Chinese hospital.

  • May 19, 2013

    You poor thing! I hope you’re feeling 100% again by now. My worst sick abroad story would probably be the very pathetic night I spent on the bathroom floor in Greece…which was followed by a ferry ride the next day. I’m not sure which was worse, the 2 am thoughts of “I can’t go to the hospital, I don’t speak Greek” or the midday “we have 4 hours to go, and there is no chance of feeling any better as long as I’m trapped on this ship.”

  • May 20, 2013

    Hey Kristen, awesome, makes my itch grow a bit. Was recently in Istanbul and met a fellow traveler and we decided to hang out and explore together, except that she got back was in bed for days! Oh well, ships in the night and all that.

    We have an e-learning site we are building with a lot of content currently designed for travelers and people wanting to learn about other parts of the world. Would love it if you checked it out and let me know what you think! http://pictorial.geknowm.com/56-traditional-dress-of-many-lands

  • May 21, 2013

    Being sick abroad is never fun, but we are happy that you made it through!

  • May 25, 2013

    I’m one who also rarely gets sick. I believe in the last 2.5 years of constant travel, I’ve had food poisoning once. In Guatemala. I was nursed back to health by my home-stay mother with a magic Mayan tea. 🙂

    Get better!

  • May 26, 2013

    What a shocker, there’s nothing worse than accommodating a nasty bug while you’re visiting somewhere new. Being stuck in a hotel room knowing that you’d rather be out exploring has to be one of the worst feelings ever! Hope you’re soon on the mend.

  • May 26, 2013

    Being sick on the road is the WORST! I agree. I spent a horrific day in a small island in Thailand unable to move once so I hear ya!

    http://www.juliakristinsummers.blogspot.com

  • May 27, 2013

    Oh, that sounds like the worst few days ever! The hotel really wasn’t all that nice about it, heh? Luckily, I have never been sick while traveling, I always wait till I come home, ha ha 😉

  • May 27, 2013

    I haven’t really experienced getting sick while abroad. If that would happened, I would really regret my stay.

  • May 28, 2013
    Tejal

    I got sick in Istanbul a few weeks ago, and there were just 2 days left of our holiday. It started out as the flu, but I soon had a full blown fever, sore throat, sore body, the works – it didn’t stop me from travelling around though. I refused to stay in bed, and the hot Turkish tea with honey used to really do wonders for me! Needless to say when I got back home I had to go on a course of antibiotics and immediate bed rest.

  • May 30, 2013

    It probably sucks to get sick while away from home. Thankfully that hasn’t happened to me yet.

  • May 31, 2013

    To whom it may concern, My family and I were denied getting on a Disney Cruise because they felt my kids were contagious. They gave us a letter that we can use as a future voucher or we could void that vouched and utilize travel insurance. We are trying to utilize the travel insurance but Disney Cruise Line will not cooperate and give them the report that says they denied us boarding because they felt our kids were a medical issue. My daughter had a little motion sickness traveling over an hour to the port. She slept on the way there and got up too excited when she saw the ship.

  • June 2, 2013

    i remember once that I got sick while I was out of town trip..it wasn’t that far from home..but that was never fun..

  • June 3, 2013

    Last year in BA the same thing happened to me! I didn’t feel 100% for an entire month!!! The stomach thing turned into a head thing and then I was just exhausted and dizzy for what seemed like forever. This too shall pass though right? 🙁

    • June 6, 2013

      I remember that! And during your birthday week, too, right?

      • June 6, 2013

        Lucas’ Birthday. That it made a thousand times worse! Poor guy had waited a year to see his family and friends on his Birthday and couldn’t. He was taking care of me. 🙁

  • June 9, 2013

    They ask if you have been sick when you check in, do not answer yes. You will not go. Do not says you have a little cold, rehearse with your children. They have to go to counter to have picture taken. If you leave ship and come back your picture is checked in computer coming and going.

  • June 10, 2013

    I can’t imagine what it’s like being sick abroad, very fortunate that you was in a familiar place and hope your all better now 🙂

  • June 10, 2013

    Interesting topic to read about!! My girlfriend and I are gearing up for our first RTW trip and this post just made me realize I haven’t put enough thought into what to do if/when getting sick happens! Hmmm…learn something new everyday!! Cheers!

  • July 22, 2013

    My heart goes out to you – being sick is the worst when you’re traveling! My first day in Egypt I came down with some sort of travel bug, and not only did I miss out on visiting Mt. Sinai, I had an 8 hour bus trip to take to Cairo the next day. Luckily a lady from Zimbabwe who was staying at the same beach camp as me gave me some chamomile tea, and between that and a lot of prayers I got through the bus trip without embarrassing myself. Hope your travels go smoothly from here on!

  • April 23, 2016

    This is great if you’re in Paris for a short weekend
    and want to give the kids a taste of Disneyland.

    Make the most of the day and bring a picnic and relax on the spacious park area surrounding the tower.
    Disney will market a minimum of six Dream – Works live-action motion pictures every year developed as a result
    of Dream – Works’ contract with India’s Reliance BIG Entertainment, a significant producer
    of Bollywood film, they said.

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