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] Nasreen: Hi, thanks for joining us for another episode of Time to Talk Travel. We are here today, myself, Nasreen, Ciaran, Des, and Mo, to talk about when things go a little sideways on your vacation. If you get sick, if you get injured, how do you recover from that? How do you deal with it? And of course, we have our own experiences.

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] Mo: This is a Ciaran special.

[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] Des: Wasn't there a trip you went on where you broke something and you had to walk around like a broken hip or something?

[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] Nasreen: Yep. Oh, man. I cannot compete completely with your level. You've done it more, but I've definitely had food poisoning on the side of a road in Indiana. Ironically, one of my co workers was also in Indiana. We ate at the same fast food spot without knowing it on the same day because we aren't usually near each other and both of us ended up on the side of the road vomiting.

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] Mo: I learned the weirdest things from you guys.

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

[00:05:42] Mo: The long haul flights force your teeth out of your face.

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

[00:05:50] Mo: Me? Me?

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

[00:05:53] Mo: I know, I did that at home. In my home city, but I was staying there the night, so technically it was a staycation. No, I've been pretty lucky. I'm overall pretty healthy. That one time I went down the slide that wasn't a slide is the only time I've actually ever broken anything.

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] Des: Whenever i've been sick traveling alcohol tended to have something to do with it. I might have partied a little too hard and if I was throwing up it was that or it was maternity sickness. I am not a good pregnant person. I'm that person who's thrown up five times a day the entire first trimester and even on the second and third with the last one.

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] Mo: there was a poor lady on my flight last night where I'm already not feeling awesome, and she's asking the flight attendant while we're landing, do you have a bag? I'm like, oh god. Cause if you go, it's going to be like that scene from Stand By Me, is that the movie?

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

[00:07:20] Nasreen: Yeah. I was a territory sales manager when I was pregnant with my kids. So with my two girls, I was traveling extensively. And with my last son, I was traveling a lot within the area, mostly by car. I had gallon size Ziploc bags.

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] Mo: the generic antibiotics too, right? If you're traveling outside the country,

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] Ciaran: Hello, my experiences in Europe, having, I had to get antibiotics in Ireland, Spain and somewhere else too, but I think Greece. I used to get sinus infections, like on a dime too, like really bad in ear infections. And my experiences in European countries in particular have been fantastic with medical care.

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] Nasreen: no,

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] Des: it's worth booking a flight to Sri Lanka to get your dental procedures because what

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

[00:10:13] Nasreen: Entire discussions about this after the fact, and I was living in Texas at the time, and I had looked at going down over the border.

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] Mo: We could do a whole episode on medical travel, medical tourism. It's huge. When I was down in Playa last two weeks ago Playa de Carmen in Mexico. all the Canadians down there are getting, cause how do you explain Canadian medical? It's free. you pay a ton of taxes for it, but it's not amazing care. There's really long waits for everything. So they're getting ultrasounds done. They're getting dental work done. My husband and our friend both got glasses done, got eye tests done. These are things that you don't necessarily think to do while you're traveling.

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] Nasreen: Absolutely.

[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] Mo: that's the biggest threat to your safety in Playa is you're going to fall on a sidewalk.

It's like New Orleans.

[00:11:40] Ciaran: It was very slippery that path. But it was really funny because they were like, don't call an ambulance Don't go to the local clinic go to Playa del Carmen go to the private clinic And they're like, here's two shots of tequila.

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] Des: too long, it felt, I talked

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

[00:12:08] Ciaran: I have to say, it was like a really nice private clinic. And yet again, I was seen super quick.

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] Mo: on, Ciaran. Moving on.

[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] Mo: Oh, I've had that.

[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] Mo: go after however you injured yourself

and you injured yourself

[00:13:38] Nasreen: Exactly.

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

happy with you.

[00:13:42] Nasreen: So just

food for thought.

[00:13:44] Mo: might be have been covered better if you stayed. Yeah.

[00:13:47] Nasreen: Yeah,

[00:13:47] Ciaran: First of all, like my travel insurance not only covered for me to fly home the next morning, but they also covered for both me and my daughter to fly in 1st class because I needed extra room for my arm to be elevated. And, ice the entire time because I had to keep it on ice the whole time. And my regular insurance did cover setting, the fracture and everything that came Afterwards, but I don't recommend it highly I really missed out on the trip and it was just it was such a bummer to have to come home It literally

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

[00:14:23] Ciaran: Honestly, yeah. Be a little more careful. I am more careful now. I don't run for a flight without thinking I might break something.

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

[00:14:31] Ciaran: And when I'm walking, I'm like, oh, is it slippery? I need to be a little more careful. I'm not 14. I might slip and fall and, injure myself. It's

[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] Ciaran: Not worth it. And even things like I went to a conference last year that was great conference, but I did not wear a mask. I came home and 48 hours later I tested positive for COVID. I went back to that conference a year later. I made sure that I had my vaccines updated and I wore a mask whenever I was in a crowded session.

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] Mo: your track record, that makes sense.

[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] Nasreen: Ugh.

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

edge.

[00:16:17] Ciaran: click on Disable Beautifying

[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] Mo: or you pick up the flu or you pick

up the sniffles like you in fear

[00:16:44] Nasreen: no, not at all,

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] Des: of my kids at a Disney event. And I was so thankful. It was the very last night we were leaving the next morning. He was up every hour on the hour. And I'm thinking. Six of us have to get in a car together now what are the odds we're going to make it eight hours without everybody being doing this tomorrow night?

We didn't, he has a bad stomach.

[00:17:22] Nasreen: Everyone's different.

[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] Nasreen: Yeah.

[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] Nasreen: And different things are treated in different ways or spread different ways. I know that when we travel, obviously you want to taste each other's food and stuff like that. We do that. We tend to try not to share drinks. When I got norovirus after New York city, my husband didn't get it. I didn't give it to any of the kids when I got home and we were together.

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] Mo: Naughty in the

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

[00:19:00] Mo: you

shared something else.

[00:19:02] Nasreen: Oh, I don't know. You don't get it that way.

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

[00:19:05] Nasreen: It was

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] Mo: claim to fame is that he never got COVID and he slept with a chick with COVID. I'm the chick. Yeah,

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

[00:19:32] Mo: had it. I never got it.

Yeah.

[00:19:34] Ciaran: had it twice.

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

[00:19:38] Ciaran: Yeah,

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] Nasreen: Yeah. I think half the time though, people don't test positive. I know that we definitely all had it at one point and three people didn't test positive, but they 100 percent had symptoms and had it. It just didn't show up on a test. So I never 100 percent trust it. I'm like, you had it.

[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] Ciaran: us. Reality is,

[00:20:18] Nasreen: Yeah.

Oh,

[00:20:20] Mo: The other thing that I find is because I can't, I think a couple of you guys are too, can't have gluten And dairy.

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] Nasreen: Know how I said that I, you said that I have random facts and you always learn these random things? I have to tell you what I heard on TikTok and then you will have to report back and see if it actually was right. I saw this whole series of videos about gluten and people having reactions to it and they're like they need to study this.

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] Mo: by the way.

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

[00:21:31] Nasreen: Let's just go

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

[00:21:34] Nasreen: Yeah, purists, like one shot, and all I know is I heard it, somebody else was like, oh, I tried it too, and it definitely cut it down, I don't know if it's true, I'm putting it out to have it before you

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

and it, it

[00:21:50] Des: was sitting in some food you

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

I don't know. I don't ask

[00:21:55] Mo: I've switched to tequila in general, really, because it is

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] Nasreen: So near Austin in dripping Springs, there is a place called the desert door distillery, and they do a type of alcohol called sotol and it is

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] Mo: got a couple of West Texas trips coming up, so I will have to go find it.

[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] Des: Should your option be? Pull over on the side of the road, call for an ambulance to come to you?

[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] Des: Ciaran's another one who needs to learn this. Miss, I walk around London with a broken hip.

[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] Des: Again, at least it's a book that you're reading. If you think you might have an appendix, burst, I'm going to London or Italy where healthcare is free. I'm going to

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

[00:26:29] Des: On the log from her

[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] Mo: you go anywhere.

[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] Nasreen: Oh God,

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

[00:27:25] Des: When I had my gallbladder out, I went in for emergency, they told me I was having an active heart attack on the way. Once I got to the ER, no, it's gallbladder and we need to do a surgery. I said I have four kids to take care of. Let me get my mom to fly up, can this wait?

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] Ciaran: tourism.

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

[00:27:57] Mo: doctor on that one, Des. Don't get us, don't get us in trouble.

[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] Mo: Yeah,

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

[00:29:14] Nasreen: And then I know this always comes up in relation to Disney, so I think it we need to mention it at least. If you are going somewhere with your kids on a big vacation, you're going to Disney, you got an accident prone one, one who always gets sick, something might happen. Be proactive, look up where are the urgent cares near Disney. Where are the pharmacies near Disney that are open? Because these questions are asked consistently over and over again in the moment when they're trying to get somewhere. Have that peace of mind, you can look up or ask in advance, Hey, what pharmacies are open 24 hours near Disney?

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] Des: You're right, Murphy's Law. If they have it, they won't need it.

[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] Mo: No, the extensions in Turkey. Have you seen that one? Okay, I'll find it for you for our next one.

[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] Mo: They go to Turkey for the

hair extension or for the hair plugs too?

[00:30:29] Ciaran: Silence.

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

[00:30:33] Ciaran: Silence.

[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.

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