Home » Vacation illness tips: It’s all great…until the flu attacks!

Vacation illness tips: It’s all great…until the flu attacks!

Before I go into my vacation illness tips, let me share a little story.

“I’m so excited, I’ve had chills all day,” I said to my husband that fateful Friday night. Little did I know those goosebumps were the onset of The Worst Flu In My Entire Life.

See, it was our 27th wedding anniversary, that’s chill worthy, right?

Especially because it was perfectly timed with a weekend staycation on behalf of Toyota. They picked a handful of bloggers from Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico to spend a luxurious weekend at Talking Stick Resort and Casino, drive brand new Toyotas around the city to see spring training games, eat fancy food, and drink yummy beverages.

 

Patrick came to spend the first night with me, and that had me feeling super emotional and happy – hence the chills.

So I thought.

Here is a picture of our lovely room. Little did I know it would become my quarantine station for the weekend!

Still “chilling,” we had dinner set to this gorgeous scene.

But after dinner when we went to bed, I knew the goosebumps were not something to celebrate. I suffered all night with a high fever and chills. Being the ultimate optimist, I vowed to will the illness away by morning because we had a big day planned at the ballpark. Patrick left in the morning because he had a music gig across town, and I slowly crawled out from the sheets to shower and dress. I made it to breakfast and by the time I went back to my room, I collapsed on the bed again.

How in the world would I handle this situation, I thought. Toyota really splurged for all of us and I didn’t want to be the lame person who missed it all. I phoned my sister (a longtime, hardcore baseball fan) and she offered to stand in for me.

Poor baby, look what she had to endure! LOL! Actually, she was in baseball heaven! She went to the Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers spring training game and loaded up on all the treats they had to offer.

Meanwhile, I slept through to the next day, missing all the evening activities. At one point I woke up and snapped a pic of the view outside my window. See those gorgeous pools? If I hadn’t of been cursed with the flu, I could have been in one of them because I even brought my swimsuit! It looked like the crew was setting up for a late night concert. Sigh.

I surrendered by noon the next day. I loaded up on Tylenol and mustered up the energy to make it home in my trusty, shiny new Toyota Camry. I cried all the way down the freeway, bummed to miss out on such a cool adventure.

This wasn’t just the basic flu. It knocked me out for the entire week, all the way to the next weekend. The good side is I lost 15 pounds before I headed off to Miami for Hispanicize! Always have to see that silver lining!

Before I go into my vacation illness tips, here are pictures of my vehicle for that week – before things went south!

Sorry I don’t have any fancy photos or silly Vines to go with it, like I shared here a while back when I had a Toyota Prius for a week.

https://vine.co/v/eqJrzwOHb26/embed/simple

Alrighty – here are my vacation illness tips:

  1. Take preventative measures. My doctor said I likely contracted the flu from my travel the week before. I never get the flu shot. I rarely get sick. I down a lot of vitamins and always wash my hands throughout the day. But you know what? That week of travel before my Toyota trip, I didn’t do much of that. My doctor said to load up on Vitamin C, Zicam, or one of those before, during and after travel. And he said to bring wipes to clean off the fold down tray while on the plane. He said people who are sick while flying often rest their heads on the tray.
  2. Plan ahead. Pack any pain relievers you might need in case you are under the weather. I didn’t do this, which is why my fever flared up so much. I didn’t have anything! Use a little pouch and fill it with anything you might need for any kind of illness.
  3. Have cash on hand for the bellhop, because you never know what you might need! I called the front desk and asked them to bring me pain reliever from the resort’s shop and bring it to my room. They weren’t allowed to do that. They politely told me the price of the item and said they could send a bellboy up to accept my cash and give me the goods. They really did their best to accommodate me, and I appreciated the effort. BUT I DIDN’T HAVE CASH! So I threw on some clothes and zombie walked to the store and bought my own medicine. But you can also call room service and ask them to bring you water, soda, soup or juice, whatever you need. They were very nice!
  4. Don’t be hard on yourself and fess up. Sometimes sucky things happen, life will go on. People will understand! Make sure to let your group or travel partners know so they won’t get sick too. Don’t be shy about it. If you are not feeling up to it, don’t push yourself. The goal is to feel better soon.
  5. No matter how tired you feel, double and triple check your room before you leave. I didn’t do this, I tossed my items in my suitcase and left. I arrived home, crawled in my bed realized I left all my Spanx in the top drawer. *gasp* As sick as I felt, I managed to call the hotel manager and she found my ever-important expensive body shapers and set them aside for me to pick up after I healed.
  6. Drink lots of water and sleep. We all know that, but I thought I’d mention it anyway!

Do you have any vacation illness tips? I want to spend a special shout out to Toyota and all the other bloggers I met on the first night. Such a fun group! I was there in spirit with them.

If you want to see the trip in full action and all the fantastic events I missed – check out my friend Monique’s post HERE. You can also check out the hashtags: #LetsGoPlaces and #VayamosJuntos

Disclosure: All opinions and experiences I mentioned in this article are my own. The car loan and accommodations were provided for review purposes only. 

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