My Worst Travel Story
When I got sick in Madagascar I thought that was the lowest point in my travel experiences to date… boy was I wrong. Turns out my worst experience abroad would happen on my way home from Madagascar.
At the end of my time in Madagascar I was a little worried about spending a whole lot of time on a plane with my still lingering ear infection, it turned out that would be the least of my inflight worries. What could be so bad you ask? Spending 4 hours of a 10 hour flight on the floor of an airplane bathroom. If it sounds miserable, let me tell you, it felt a million times more worse than it sounds.
Whether it was food poisoning or some sort of flu something, it was not great. If you mix together the dehydration that naturally comes with flying with the dehydration that comes from being sick for hours, I think it’s safe to say that those combined only made my situation worse. Not only was the flight miserable, but once we landed in New Jersey I had to hold myself together enough to navigate through baggage claim and customs, find a cab and check into a hotel for my over night layover (on the bright side at least this wasn’t one of the times I just decided to spend my overnight on the airport floor.)
I ended up using every ounce of mental strength I had to get myself through my last flight home and even once I returned home it took a few more days to get myself feeling normal again. In hindsight, I had had too many trips go incredibly smooth, that I guess I was bound to have one with some complications and going to the dentist in Bali, getting sick and going to the doctor in Madagascar and spending a whole lot of time on an airplane bathroom certainly check the “complications” box.