Poll of the Week: Getting Sick While Traveling

[SarahS]

No one really wants to imagine getting sick while traveling, but sometimes it happens. What do you do when you fall ill on the road? Vote in our poll!

[travelmel]

I end up at the pharmacy on almost every trip for SOMETHING -- Advil, the hairbrush I forgot to pack, the list goes on But I never let ANYTHING get in the way of a trip. During a final stop in Serbia on a European river cruise, I got bit by something (mosquito? T-Rex?) so bad that I ended up with welts the size of grapefruits all over my legs. No sleep that night, could barely walk, but did I get off the ship the next day? You bet! (I just made it a point to hobble into a local pharmacy for what I was assured in broken English was the Bulgarian version of Benadryl.)

[soliteyah]

I have done every single one of these! I usually bring a bunch of standard medications for allergies, colds, pain, upset stomach...and then I supplement if necessary at the local pharmacy. I try to keep sightseeing because I never want to miss anything, but I try to take it really, really easy (both SO and I were very sick in Dominica a couple of years ago, so we spent a lot of time sitting under a palm tree on the beach, trying to rest up but still enjoy the pretty scenery). I went to the doctor once in Scotland for what seemed like a never-ending cold (I had it nearly a month), and he gave me a consult for free even though I wasn't a citizen. Love that government-subsidized health care.

[LSKahn]

Well during my home exchange in New Zealand last summer, I was pretty much totally out of commission the last few days. It took me 2-3 weeks at home to fully recover. I ended up wondering if I had had the swine flu (There was an outbreak down under while I was there). When you get really sick like that, there really are no options. The vacation activities just have to stop and you have to stay in bed. It wasn't fun losing time on a vacation, but I really had no options but to sleep and sleep and sleep.