Getting Sick or Injured While Traveling

Getting Sick or Injured While Traveling

Do you dream about your next trip? You're in the right place on the time to talk travel podcast. We come to you weekly to share places to go and what to do when you get there. Let's dive into this week's adventure.

[: 00:00:16

Maybe one of mine inspired this particular timing a little bit. I went on a trip to New York City, came back, and immediately came down with norovirus. And I'm just very thrilled that did not happen while we were there. But I know that we've all had these types of experiences, so Ciaran, do you want to kick off, Ciaran's going to talk 40 minutes.

She's going to summarize.

[: 00:01:05

[00:01:06] Ciaran: I am Calamity Jane when it comes to this stuff. Honestly travel insurance was invented for me. I always travel with my own little pharmacy because if there is a bug, I will catch it. I've been injured on vacations and had to fly home on emergency flights.

I don't know. It's a miracle I leave home that I still go anywhere and I do because it's always worth it. And I come home with story. So I broke an arm really badly in Mexico and had to fly home on a 4 AM emergency flight to get it set. Let's see, I had horrible food poisoning in Jerusalem. I traveled with my daughter to drop her off at school in London and she had a 106 degree fever and spent the night in the hospital with mono and was diagnosed with mono, her first day of college drop off.

What else? In Ireland I had one of the, true flus with 104 degree temperature and I ended up having to cancel.

It was actually a fam trip that I was supposed to go on. I was lucky because my family was there at the time and they had their own plans. They were doing a driving tour, so I just laid in the car for three days while they drove around and did other things.

[: 00:02:25

[00:02:30] Ciaran: And when I went to look at colleges with my daughter I was running to catch my flight, which was, it was like a whole crazy story. She had forgotten her passport and we went home to get it and then in LA traffic and we had Super Mario Brothers driving through LA traffic to get to the airport.

The flight was delayed an hour. And I was running to get on the plane and my wheelie bag flipped out in front of me and I tripped over it and I landed Really hard on my butt. I was in so much pain I was like, I don't know if I can get up but I gotta get on that plane. I got on that plane and it stopped in Toronto I was like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to walk to the next plane, but I got on the next plane. I'm popping ibuprofen. By the time we got to London, I can't stand up and walk.

They had to take me off the plane in a wheelchair. I got to my Airbnb and I was able to very painfully stand up and walk the next day. I walked around London for four days, toured college campuses, went to WTM, walked all over London. Came home, went to the doctor and was like, I really need to x ray it.

And they're like, Oh, it's not broken. Your hip's not broken. You would not have been able to do all that walking. I'm in the car on the way home. Yeah actually, your hip is broken. And what was the first time you broke your hip because this is broken in an area that was previously broken, maybe a long time ago. I was a gymnast as a kid. So suffice to say very high pain tolerance. I have had a lot of experience of traveling while sick. I always pack a lot of meds and a lot of insurance and a lot of plans. I can tell you when I got food poisoning in Jerusalem, I knew when you just start to feel lousy, It's coming.

I immediately just texted all these friends. Okay, who can deliver bottles of water and crackers? How can I stay hydrated? If I need a doctor, is there a doctor that can come to my, Airbnb and check on me? Who's going to check in on me and make sure I'm alive in the morning?

I have whole protocols.

[: 00:04:31

Like I had a bag around my ears, a plastic grocery bag while I was driving just in case for later. It was so bad. I get food poisoning easily. I used to eat at Waffle House on purpose so that I could see them cook my food. at least I could see it. It was all simple. I could see it.

I felt better that way. I know it's weird, but no food poisoning. I had a tooth that I had to get a root canal in when we got to Sri Lanka, because apparently long haul flights can bring up dental issues or cause them. If you're on the verge of something that long of a flight at that altitude or whatever, they said they see it quite frequently and I had no idea, but I can tell you before I get on the next super long haul flight, I'm going to the dentist for a checkup first.

[: 00:05:35

[00:05:37] Nasreen: I know, right? We're just so full of fun facts.

[: 00:05:42

[00:05:45] Nasreen: Yes, exactly. Wait, but have you been sick on the road or injured?

[: 00:05:50

[00:05:50] Nasreen: That doesn't involve sliding down an escalator.

[: 00:05:53

Knock on my fake wood desk here. Ironically, I was in Jensen Beach, Florida for the weekend and both my husband and I didn't feel a hundred percent. We didn't get to as much as we wanted to. We slept in, went to a two and a bit hour drive from Jensen beach to Miami. And then we had some lunch with my son who goes to school there. And headed to the airport early so my husband could do some calls. Ended up sitting in the airport for hours and then flew home like two, three hour flights.

It's not far, but definitely, when you're not feeling great, it's not where you want to be. I just kept saying, I want my bed. I want my bed.

[: 00:06:40

And I can't blame travel in any way or I knew it was, you know what I mean? It's just, it's, I'm going to be sick.

[: 00:07:06

[00:07:19] Des: Yes, I am that person too.

[: 00:07:20

I would take them out of the box, shove them all in my bag to go. I'm pretty good at knowing if I'm going to be sick. I get really hot. If I can put something iced on the back of my neck, sometimes I can quell it , but I know it's going to happen before it happens. And the Ziploc bags everywhere, crackers with me, graham crackers with me, just being ready in the car. I know I've mentioned this on another episode, the boating bucket that goes up and down that you can rinse out. Amazing. Great for kids. Also great for grownups. And I am a big fan of the med kit that Ciaran was talking about. I have a little thing. I've got the anti, diarrheal, whatever, make your stomach stop doing funny things in funny places. I have a little bit of everything. Sometimes I take it out when my husband needs something and he's wow, you really do have, yep.

I have everything. I have it all.

[: 00:08:23

those are a good one to have. It's hard to communicate, especially when you're not feeling well, in another language, in another place. So if you can Google MD yourself far enough to know that antibiotic might help, it's good to have on you.

[: 00:08:42

You walk into a clinic, you're seen within an hour and a half and you walk out with a bag of antibiotics for five euros. And I'm like this is much better than being sick at home.

[: 00:09:14

In Sri Lanka, when I had to have the root canal I was in agonizing pain. My daughter was on that trip with me. I was on the trip with another travel writer, Meagan Wristen. And I was so thankful that she was there because I was out of my mind in pain and I am extremely good with pain.

I've had multiple unmedicated births. Things don't phase me. I've had broken bones and not known.

But tooth pain is a whole nother level for me, and it was radiating through my whole face. I made it through the first day, knew I didn't feel well, talked to the organizers of the trip. They were super helpful. We not only got into a dentist to get this done on a Sunday and my daughter was able to come with me. It cost me 25

It was not more than 3 for all the antibiotics and they were super easy to get and everything. I got everything I needed all the care.

It really worked out very well, as well, as it can.

[: 00:10:06

[00:10:12] Mo: is a big thing.

[: 00:10:13

I communicated with multiple dental offices there for dental work and how much it would be. And it definitely is a price difference. A giant price difference.

[: 00:10:30

But there are some definite advantages, whether you're actually not feeling well while traveling or you actually go this might be an opportunity to get something done that you either can't afford or is a much better deal there.

[: 00:11:13

[00:11:14] Ciaran: When I broke my arm in Mexico, I went to a private clinic in Playa Del Carmen and I actually took an Uber. I was at Xcaret, at one of their parks. I had been zip lining, swimming in cenotes, doing all these things, and how did I break my arm?

I stopped to look at my phone and slipped on a banana peel or something and I just fell.

[: 00:11:33

It's like New Orleans.

[: 00:11:40

Good luck. My daughter was with me at the time. She was like, can we have extra ice? I did my two shots of tequila. We threw the ice on my arm and it was

[: 00:12:02

[00:12:06] Mo: Viva Mexico.

[: 00:12:08

I had a fracture blister, which is gross, but like my whole arm blew up with fluid And they had to drain it which is nasty anyway, but that and

[: 00:12:22

[00:12:24] Ciaran: yeah, they could have set it for me there But they were like you probably want to have it set At home by your orthopedist who's going to follow up with you. I just had to make it through the night, but they gave me lots of Tramadol.

[: 00:12:35

[00:12:37] Nasreen: You bring up a really interesting point that I've heard people discuss before, especially when they had travel insurance, right? Is some people have come back to the U. S. after an injury. I know a fellow travel writer who broke her foot in Australia and had the choice do I come back or do I not? Chose to come back, and later on she was like, that was the wrong choice. It's so expensive, I waited, I had to fly back, I had travel insurance. But I would have had to stay there for, a week or two afterwards in order to deal with everything. Ultimately with travel insurance, she had the choice to stay there and have it covered. You may want to consider if you get injured or sick on the road and you feel like you are around medical care that can handle what you have and you have travel insurance. It may be wiser to stay and have it covered versus coming back, adding additional trauma and then dealing with the bills of it at home because it's not going to be covered that is not going to be covered once

[: 00:13:34

and you injured yourself

[: 00:13:38

[00:13:39] Mo: so the insurance company is not going to be

happy with you.

[: 00:13:42

food for thought.

[: 00:13:44

[00:13:47] Nasreen: Yeah,

[: 00:13:47

[00:14:19] Mo: Ciaran's is put your phone down and watch where you're going.

[: 00:14:23

[00:14:30] Nasreen: Oh my goodness.

[: 00:14:31

[00:14:51] Des: flight attendants, if they're at a base and say she was based out of Boston or Baltimore, which, but needed to get to Atlanta, her home base and, They have to fly standby for that last flight of the day coming home.

At the end of the night, there may be a dozen other flight attendants. So it's really important to get to the gate first. If five other people were flying with you that are also going home to Atlanta, you want to run to that gate and move them in your dust so you can be first on the list.

She did, and she wiped out hard and broke her foot. She ended up having to take three months off work for it. So yeah, big mistake.

[: 00:15:25

I didn't get COVID this time, even though hundreds of other people did. It's just live and learn. Some of it is your personal comfort level with recklessness and your own immune system taking it all into account. But I know my immune system sucks

[: 00:16:06

[00:16:09] Ciaran: and maybe I'm a little cavalier and reckless and I have to be more careful.

I'm more careful these days.

[: 00:16:15

[00:16:15] Mo: on the edge, Ciaran. on the

edge.

[: 00:16:17

[00:16:18] Nasreen: I did the same. I went to Disney and got super covid . The test turned positive so fast. It was ridiculous. It wasn't even done moving across the thing. I missed my son's high school graduation, so I was not very impressed with that for myself. I wore a mask on the plane, in, not in all the shared spaces at Disney.

This was a couple years ago, but it was not my finest moment.

On the other hand,

[: 00:16:39

up the sniffles like you in fear

[: 00:16:44

but I knew I had something big and I think that was what made it disappointing. But also my husband and my kids got it the same weekend. they had gone to Dallas and I had gone to Disney. And we all came home, so I wouldn't have been able to avoid it anyways, which made me feel a little bit better, but

[: 00:17:01

We didn't, he has a bad stomach.

[: 00:17:22

[00:17:23] Mo: like, there's a couple of things with that. Wear yourself out traveling too. My mom has MS. She loves to travel. She just spent six weeks in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. Three months

away between being in Texas and Mexico with us too.

She has to know her limit. Like she has to know. And I think that's the same for all of us and our kids. We try and pack it all in and you go from, dawn till dusk to do it all. You're in a different place, eating different things, with different people, different, even allergies, what's in the air.

You do have to be a little patient, and I find that especially on, long trips, you need a down day. You can't do every day. Let everybody sleep in, let your body have that rest so that you don't get to the point where you've run yourself down. You're going to catch something.

[: 00:18:12

[00:18:12] Des: think it's also important to tell the hotel in our case,

let them know someone in this room was very sick. Whatever you do to sanitize, Do the sanitize type 10 level that the next people who come in here in two hours don't end up with the same bug.

[: 00:18:28

We did everything the same, it's spread through droplets and eating and things like that. And we didn't do any of that. And the second I didn't feel well, I'm like, away from everyone.

[: 00:18:55

[00:18:56] Des: Yeah, we both know you might not have shared a drink, but

[: 00:19:00

shared something else.

[: 00:19:02

[00:19:03] Mo: it was your like anniversary trip,

[: 00:19:05

What's funny is he said, I said, I can't believe you didn't get sick. And he goes, you have to keep in mind, I'm micro dosed with things every day at work because he's a firefighter medic. He is, exposed all the time.

It's just like a tiny bit of a little bit of everything and it just makes him like Superman or something. I don't know, but.

[: 00:19:25

[00:19:31] Nasreen: doesn't know

[: 00:19:32

Yeah.

[: 00:19:34

[00:19:36] Mo: in our six of six of us. So no.

[: 00:19:38

I've had it twice and my husband has shared my drinks unknowingly when I've had it and slept next to me and been like, so Oh, I forgot to put on a mask coming in the room. I'm like, get out. He, knock on wood has been so lucky. He never gets sick

[: 00:19:54

[00:20:09] Mo: My kids never had a symptom. They tested positive And

there was not a symptom. That was at the beginning. my son got to play video games for two weeks. Awesome.

[: 00:20:17

[00:20:18] Nasreen: Yeah.

Oh,

[: 00:20:20

It's very tempting to cheat. It's very

To try things and hope for the best because you're at a special restaurant or you're, so I will bring my gluten pills and my Lactaid and my gluten cutters and hope for the best. If I'm in Europe, I'm usually okay, not with dairy, but with gluten because it's non GMO and they don't mess around with it as much. I do have to take into consideration. If I've got a busy

day the next day traveling, I certainly can't be, nibbling on the bread or trying the will self sacrifice

[: 00:20:57

Did you know? I didn't believe it. I tried it. People are saying if you get gluten to take a shot of tequila and the reaction is not a C, that's a fun one to test. I can't promise it works. I heard it. I'm curious.

[: 00:21:27

[00:21:28] Des: drinking tequila every night. And Mo is living,

[: 00:21:31

[00:21:31] Mo: that's probably why I'm pickled, but yeah.

[: 00:21:34

If you realize that you had gluten, to then, grab a shot of tequila, make it,

and it, it

[: 00:21:50

[00:21:51] Nasreen: in how it absorbs in your stomach or something.

I don't know. I don't ask

[: 00:21:55

actually the healthiest alcohol of the ones you could It has antioxidants and it's

pure good tequila, not like some sugary crap. But yeah, this is literally Shot a good tequila tonic, and a little bit of grapefruit juice.

That is my new summer drink.

[: 00:22:15

adjacent to tequila, but they are the only distillery in the U S at the time that I visited them that was doing it. And it is a similar plant to an agave plant.

I think it's called like a spoon flower or something. They're in West Texas

and it's a super cute distillery. You should go check it out. It tastes like a cross between like tequila and mezcal. It's very good. So fun, fun one for you. The next time you're on the road and driving around and the bottle.

The bottle is beautiful. It's like a cobalt blue bottle and it was a business project at UT Austin for a group of friends and then they started this. So that was my sidetrack there

[: 00:23:03

[00:23:07] Nasreen: because it'll be on the way. The one other thing I wanted to touch on is knowing when you need help and recognizing it. So it is easy to be sick on the road and Be like, let me make sure someone checks in and I'm still alive. But there has to also be a point where you realize that you probably should reach out for help or bite the bullet and call an ambulance or do whatever you need to do and not stumble through it. And I know that when I was covering towns in Texas as a territory sales manager, I was having routine problems with an appendix related issue. I know this is going to sound weird. I had my appendix do this thing. It's called a wandering appendix and it happened twice before it went all the way to an appendectomy for the third time,

I know it's weird.

Anyways, so I was in Texas, like south of San Antonio. It's a desolate area. There isn't a lot you're driving. There aren't a lot of exits. And I was in excruciating pain. I'm like, sweat is pouring down my face. I stopped. I puked on the side of the road. I was really sick. Cause when I'm in pain, that's what I do. And really sick. Not. Even sure how I'm going to make it somewhere and I pull up near Jordanton because I see a hospital sign, but I cannot figure out where the hospital is and my map's not working and I stop at a gas station and I like, pull myself in there like it hurts to walk.

I'm in immense pain and I go into the cafe and the lady looks at me and she's Oh my goodness, what's wrong with you? And I'm like, the hospital, where is it? And at that point in time, I should have had somebody else bring me to the hospital. Like I was just trying to get there cause I was working. I didn't want to have a hospital bill for an ambulance ride that I think is like five minutes away at that point.

I've made it this far.

I should have cut. I should have cut it right there. Anyways, I did make it to the hospital, barely but was barely coherent. I should have recognized earlier that was not a good situation. I, it was really bad.

[: 00:25:03

[00:25:08] Nasreen: Yeah. That would have been another option.

I was trying to get to a hospital, so I was concentrating on a hospital. I could have pulled off at an exit that I knew didn't have one and called for something. In my mind, it was a logistical nightmare. Do I leave my car on the side of the road? Where am I leaving my car? How am I going to get back to it?

Who's going to come get me? I'm traveling right now for work and I'm in my own vehicle.

But there is something to be said for making it to the hospital and not, Being in an accident on your way or having something go wrong or driving off the road or passing out. I didn't know what was going on. At a certain point in time, you've got to be like, okay, I guess I do have to ask for help or do something here. So just recognizing, yeah, I'm not good at that. I really was just so focused on getting to the hospital that was all I could think about.

[: 00:25:53

[00:25:58] Ciaran: Yeah, everyone just kept telling me there was no way it was broken if I was able to walk around on it. I guess I can wait till I get home. It must not be broken. I should have gone to the hospital, especially like at that point, I didn't know because when my daughter went to the hospital in London, it ended up being free because they were like, Oh, the paperwork, you know what?

Forget it. It's on us.

[: 00:26:19

[00:26:28] Mo: on a plane.

[: 00:26:29

[00:26:30] Ciaran: the same daughter who had mono was hospitalized in London when she was maybe like 10, we were on vacation in Oregon and we thought she had appendicitis and I will say this was like early Ciaran travel. My appendix burst at a theme park when I was 10 and I was on the log flume. What a guest, right? I, yeah, I ended

[: 00:26:51

[00:26:52] Ciaran: Yeah. I ended up having emergency surgery in Massachusetts somewhere. It was just crazy. So we were on vacation in Oregon and she was having every symptom of appendicitis. And I was like, Oh, we better get her to the hospital. We took her to a hospital in coastal Oregon.

It was 10, 000. By the time we left that hospital, they did CAT scans. They did MRIs. They did blood work. They kept her for observation. She didn't have appendicitis. She had the flu.

[: 00:27:23

[00:27:24] Ciaran: 10,000 freaking dollar flu.

[: 00:27:25

And they said three days max. So I waited three days in excruciating pain. And now in hindsight I could have booked a flight to Italy or London. Or, and think about it. Get, they give you good painkillers. If you got that on the way over there, you

[: 00:27:55

[00:27:55] Nasreen: my goodness, medical tourism. Yeah.

[: 00:27:57

[00:28:02] Nasreen: On the hospital front of things, one other, cause again I traveled pregnant with my kids. I got hospitalized in Ohio when I was 31 weeks pregnant with one of my daughters, I just knew there was something wrong. One of the things I did right on that trip, yay, is when I was in an account that was mine, that was a hospital, I asked. they did not have obstetrics.

So I did not go into the emergency room there. When I went to the next hospital, I knew to ask. You need to make sure that whatever hospital you're walking into, if it's not immediately emergent, that you are asking if they have the department or division that you might need. Not all hospitals have OBs. If you go to a hospital for a pregnancy issue without an OB, they are going to call you an ambulance and transfer you to another hospital. That is only going to make that bill go up. Then maybe your car is somewhere else. It just adds to all the drama. If you have an idea of what you might need, if you know you might have a broken bone, do they have orthopedics in that hospital?

Do they have the specialty that you think you might need? If not see where the next nearest hospital is and go there instead, or you're going to end up going there anyways, and it's just going to cost more

[: 00:29:09

[00:29:09] Des: That's a very good point. That's a good point to wrap on.

[: 00:29:14

Where is there an urgent care that People have had good experiences with? Knowing where a couple of things are we'll just usually make it so that you don't need them. That's how it works.

[: 00:29:59

[00:30:02] Nasreen: Yep, exactly. Okay. Until we come back with medical tourism, which clearly we need to talk about because we all just want to fly somewhere else and get our problems taken care of or our teeth or whatever. Happy travels. I guess the hair plugs, I don't think any of us

[: 00:30:16

[00:30:21] Nasreen: I didn't know they did extensions. I just know all the businessmen go there to make it look like they have hair.

[: 00:30:25

hair extension or for the hair plugs too?

[: 00:30:29

[00:30:31] Mo: That'd be super weird if he got hair.

[: 00:30:33

[00:30:36] Nasreen: until next time, happy travels and don't injure yourself.

This has been another episode of Time to Talk Travel, brought to you by HashtagTravels. com. You can keep in touch with us between episodes by checking out our site, joining our newsletter, or connecting with us on social. We've always got the information you need in our episode notes. Until next time, happy travels, and thanks for being a part of our trip.

​