Traveling sickness - Making the best of a bad situation

I've taken a short hiatus from travel blogging for some satire, some writing tips, and some personal stuff. And after a terribly timed cold this week (during project crunch time), I was inspired to jump back into the world of travel script.

I hate being sick. Okay…everyone hates being sick (right?!). And what’s worse than getting sick? Getting sick while traveling. I’ve had my fair share of travel bugs: malaria, food poisoning, “runny stomach,” colds, allergies. Each made worse by the fact that I was thousands of miles away from home, thousands of miles away from the solace offered by a familiar bed, home-made chicken soup, and cold medicine in a package printed in English.

Traveling puts you in a vulnerable situation should you fall ill. But surely, the risk of suffering a cold without your mom to rub Vick’s on your chest and tuck you in to bed isn’t enough to avoid a trip, right?

So, there you are in beautiful Rome in early summer, and all of the foreign pollen irritates your allergies. Maybe you’re in the Caribbean for spring break, and the first day on the beach, you come down with the cold being passed around your engineering class. Or maybe you’re spending some time in West Africa, and your stomach churns and growls like your breakfast is about to explode from your bowels. Now what?

The first rule of travel sickness is to tell someone as soon as you think something is wrong. It is much better to catch diarrhea when your stomach growls strangely than when you need a bathroom more than I need a suitable metaphor to end this sentence. Tell your travel buddy, tell your tour guide, tell a local. Please tell someone. Everyone gets sick, and even though it may seem embarrassing to talk about, I promise it much less embarrassing to tell someone you are sick than to vomit on them. They can keep an extra eye on you or seek help should you be disposed of.

Second, if you are sick, ensure that you always have someone with you. I speak from experience that being sick and alone screws with your mind in ways you cannot imagine (me in Ghana awake in my bed at 2 a.m. with food poisoning, holding my phone with Patrick’s number pulled-up, ready to dial, yet somehow unable to make the call). In addition to boosting your mental clarity, having someone around means you have someone to care for you while you are sick, accelerating your recovery.

Third, get comfortable. Whether you need to fly cross country or you have the luxury of a few days in the same city to rest, spend the extra money to make sure you have everything that you need to recover. Drink some juice, buy some tissues, take some cold medicine, get your favorite magazine, eat your favorite candy bar. Do the big and the little things that will comfort you.

Above all, seek help just as you would if you were at home. If you are violently ill, forget the flight home, get to a hospital. It shouldn’t need to be said, but rescheduling a flight, hotel, or excursion is worth saving yourself or your health.