Ever get sick right before you went on vacation? What did you do?

Yes - Last June before our 1st trip to Europe, I had a viral infection, miserable, The doctor said "You might as well be sick in Europe as sick at home." She gave me cough medicine with codeine, decongestants for the plane and told me to take a prescribed sleeping pill right after dinner on our evening flight. I was miraculously better by the time we arrived in Rome the next morning. Sometimes a vacation provides a great cure!

I developed a very sore throat and all the classic symptoms of a common cold over the 36 hours before our departure for Italy last October. Some friends gave me a box of Zicam nasal swabs. Directions say to swab every 4 hours and keep using for 24 hours after symptoms are gone. I couldn't believe how well I felt almost immediately, but I used the entire box anyway. Zicam is now in my travel stuff for every trip.

If it's a cold, go get Zicam...works like a charm. If something else, can't help you, but European pharmacies rock! If you're sick when you get there, go to a pharmacy and place yourself on their mercy and you'll get wonder drugs.

I broke my wrist on year just before we left for France. Because of the cast I couldn'tcut my food but strangers helped so my husband could enjoy his meal. Several times we ran into some person also in a cast and they'd raise their arm to me in recognition. Taking a shower was a bit of a problem as I had to hold the arm outside the tub.

In 1990, the night before our first trip to Europe, we went to spend the night near SFO. I woke up during the night and proceeded to vomit about every hour or so. Food poisoning? A virus? Needless to say, I barfed all the way to Madrid. My DH was great, but I had planned all the first day site seeing in Madrid. He didn't want to venture too far, so he just hung out with me and got me food, drink & meds. I was pretty good the next day, so we took off for Toledo.

elnap29's dr. is right. May as well be sick in Europe than at home!!

MY

When we were in Yosemite Valley after a long drive in in bad snowy conditions, my 8 year old began to vomit at 4 am. So we started in on the optomist game. .. Good thing we got the Curry cabin "with bath"! And the next day, as we took turns reading to her and hiking in the golden warming snow-melting day with our 5 yr old, we kept saying, "well, she cold be throwing up in a really ugly part of the world!"

So I'd say, if you are going somewhere where you can get medical care if you need it, then go. (there is a string form earlier this year on a guy who went to Paris with a badly messed up knee - perhaps you can search for it).

Some of you recommend ZIcam - ever use the lozenges? I think I feel this in my throat.

Was sick most of my recent vacation to London and Venice. Didn't get sick until we touched down. Kept going to the pharmacy, nothing really helped.
Had a good time but could have been MUCH better.

With the greatest of respect for all Zicam users I would do a Google on it and read all the "controversy" about it before possibly taking it.

I have taken the Zicam lozenges--used them for the first time this past Christmas when I got a really bad cold. It helped tremendously. I didn't trust the nasal swabs, but only because I have so many sinus issues, I don't put anything up there except "Ocean."

On my first ever trip to Italy, I developed an eye infection on the flight over. I found a doctor soon after arriving at our hotel. He was more interested in my trip than my eye. After prescribing some antibiotics and telling me the eye will clear up in a day or two, he asked what our plans were and took out a sheet of paper to show us where we REALLY should be going and what towns to see. We were in the north. I figured he knew more about the country and region than we did and followed his itinerary - it was perfect!

Dukey - Are you talking about loss of smell from Zicam?

St. Cirq - You are so right about the pharmacies. On our first trip to Rome a few years ago I got a weird sore on the side of my tongue on the plane over. Never had such a thing before but it was miserable. It stung/hurt so bad I couldn't eat without wincing. I stopped into a farmacia right outside the Vatican and told the pharmacist my problem. She gave me some medicine that was literally miraculous. It practically cleared it up instantly! I took it home with me and used it again for a mouth sore. I don't know what it was but it was amazing.
As far as travelling while ill, I get vertigo evey once and awhile and it I live in fear of it happening before a trip. A bad case means I can't even walk without falling down or throwing up so getting on a plane would be impossible.

Not my own story, but a friend of mine got a yeast infection in Italy two years ago. She doesn't speak fluent italian, but went to a lievito pharmacy murmering something about "lievito..femmina" They had no idea what she was talking about. It makes me giggle.

I had already planned to go on a church choir tour to the UK and had paid a large deposit when I became pregnant and had 24/7 "morning sickness." I went on the trip anyway, but it was really miserable. It truly made me not want to return to the country for a very long time.

Lest we all feel too sorry for ourselves, last year when I was on the Latin America board planning a trip to Costa Rica, there was a lady who was planning an action-packed Costa Rican honeymoon. A couple of months beforehand, however, her fiance had his leg amputated. They ended up going on the trip anyway, but had to change a lot of their planned activites. The posts were pretty inspiring.

Have any of you ever gotten "really" sick and were not allowed to travel by your doctor? We had this happen back in the fall of 2005 when I experienced having diverticulitis for the first time in my life three days before we were scheduled to fly to Europe! My doctor would not let me travel, but fortunately, we had bought travel insurance and recouped the entire amount, I got over it, and we flew out a month later. We had the most wonderful time ever and are hoping to go back this fall. We did a 16 day trip to Paris, Florence, and Frankfurt. Has anyone else had this experience? We used the Travel Ex insurance and bought it through the www.insuremytrip.com website. You can choose any travel insurance company through that website and it is very helpful. Any comments?

I have been very lucky and have never gotten really seriously ill just before a major trip, but last summer I did come down with a cold just about the day I departed. I could tell one was coming on, but the first day is never the worst for me -- slight sore throat, etc. Sure enough it got worse the next couple of days, but I was settled in by then, at least in a city I knew pretty well and in a very comfortable hotel so I didn't feel too bad (I was in Prague). I just took my usual cold remedies (aspirin, some decongestant, nothing major), and luckily that cold was less severe than my usual yearly one (which lasts 7-10 days and I can be very bad the first few days). So, it didn't really slow me down that much and it was gone in a few days.

I work in the health policy field and while I don't have a clinical background, I do have a degree in public health and keep up with the literature in the mainstream journals, and is no consensus in the literature as to the effectiveness of using zinc to treat the common cold. The studies have shown disparate results, and many of the ones showing some benefits had inadequate controls. Most show little effect on the severity or symptoms, but some show a slight benefit in the duration, although you really have to take it regularly (eg, popping an occasional lozenge does no good) and there can be bad side effects. I don't believe the nasal spray has been shown to be good at all, and the results are split on the lozenges and nasal gel. In theory, the nasal gel should be a lot better as that is the whole theory of why zinc may do anything for the cold -- that it may inhibit the replication of the virus, and that mainly takes place in the nasal membranes. Oral lozenges are really a round-about route to that mechanism.

I won't take Zicam myself after reading the literature, as the risks aren't worth it to me, given it is often not effective and doesn't do much anyway that is crucial.

The day before our overnight ferry left for Normandy we stayed with friends and had homemade spaghetti carbonara for dinner. I felt so sick that night I was convinced I had food poisoning but didn't actually vomit. By the morning I didn't feel so bad but refused breakfast just in case... I didn't feel hungry and skipped lunch too so we boarded the ferry and had dinner on board. A couple of hours later, far from land I felt terribly hot/cold/faint and nauseous but it didn't seem as bad as the previous night so I just lay in my bunk moaning gently! On arrival in France I felt better again and decided I just had to starve myself until I saw a doctor so we drove into the little town of Tinchebray and asked the owner of the gite to call a doctor.
It took a while to work out that the doctor thought I had kidney stones but as it was the weekend I was sent to a nearby clinic for a blood test and antibiotics.
A day later and after ultrasounds, xrays and more examinations I had my appendix out!
Apparently it was an unusual presentation so the diagnosis was slow.
I spent 5 days of our 2 week vacation at the clinic and on day 4 my son fell down outside the hospital and broke his arm. My French improved but my husband was a little fraught!
On my discharge we looked like a very sorry pair as limped around Normandy for the second week of the vacation!
Luckily all hospital bills were covered by an E111 form (most healthcare is free in Europe for Europeans).

Loss of smell can result from years of nasal spray use as well. I'm living proof.

Zicam© does work well enough for me, but plain old zinc supplements work every bit as well or better when it comes to the common cold. Some years back my daughter and I were in London. The morning after we arrived we both felt the unmistakable symptoms of colds. I went to a chemist and he gave us zinc…much higher doses than the supplements we get here and it made us both nauseous for an hour or less, then it was miraculous. By the next day we both felt “normal” but we took his advice and continued to take the zinc once a day. Be forewarned, TAKE IT WITH FOOD and you’ll generally avoid the side-effect of queasiness.

2 Christmas's ago - we went to Germany for 10 days. DH and I left with a touch of the flu. Luckily, we had a VERY relaxed schedule and could take advantage of an occasional afternoon nap.

We also decided that "glu-wein" was medicinal! Don't know if it really helped...but it sure didn't hurt!

Ilovetotravel18-

My mom had a similar experience on her 40th anniversary trip- 10 days in England then a Med. cruise. She broke her ankle stepping off a curb (really, a curb!) on the first day of the trip. It was a bad break and she had to cut the trip short to get home and into a permanent cast.

They had trip insurance which covered everything, got her into first class on the way back so she could put her foot up (doctor's orders) and allowed them to take the trip again the following year. I'm not sure which company they used, but we now get insurance for all of our big trips.

My own travel illness story? I was bitten on the lip by, I think, a spider on the first night of a Caribbean vacation. I am allergic to just about everything, and my bites really swell. This mysterious spider caused my lip to extend past my nose (and I am equipped with a "honker"). That lip was big!

I self-treated with Benadryl and it went away in a few days. Luckily it wasn't poisonous or flesh-eating or anything horrible.

But...Everywhere we went for those few days, people gave us very strange looks. I looked like I had gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson.

I was flying to Addis Ababa on holiday but had to spend 12 hours in Rome since I arrived from Paris at 1 p.m. and the Ethiopian Airlines flight wasn't until 1:30 a.m. I got sick as a dog in Rome that day, my head was on fire, I couldn't breathe and I ached all over. But I was determined! I was back at the airport by about 9:30 p.m. and waited for my flight. Unfortunately, I was flying standby... and I didn't get a seat. I spent a miserable night sitting on a plastic chair in transit, knowing that I could fly back to Paris on another ticket at 6:15 a.m. At around 5 a.m., my disease suddenly cured itself, and I felt great. As I had a whole week of vacation ahead of me but no way to get to Ethiopia (the flights were not daily), my mind went through various other tickets I knew I had lying around the house. I made the plan and ran with it -- my plane arrived at CDG at 7:45 a.m. I dashed home and changed all of my baggage and jumped on the RER to Orly, where I flew to New York on Pakistan Airlines at 1 p.m. That flight was full, too, so they decided to put in me 1st class. One of the best recoveries from illness in my life!

Two years ago, I woke up the morning of my depature day to Paris with vertigo attack. For those of you who knows of this illness, you have to take a pill and lie down or you will vomit constantly. This pill will make you sleepy, too. After I can manage myself in vertical position without being sick, I left for the trip. I slept most of the way to France. The medication did not wear off until the evening. Canceling my trip never crossed my mind.

Two years ago, on a business trip to Italy, I picked up the flu within 12 hours of boarding the plane. It was running through the office.

I took a thermometer and was at 102 by the time we landed. By the time I got to my hotel in Modena, I hit 104.1. Best hallucinations I've had since college.

I went to work the next day and the person I was working with kept asking me if I should go to the hospital. As with everything else, it either subsides or you die. Since I'm writing this, it subsided.

Unfortunately, the mounting evidence suggests that the majority of norovirus infections causing outbreaks on cruise ships are brought aboard by clueless folks.
M

I got really sick while in Italy for the winter olympics last year.
It got so bad I stayed in my hotel all day instead of going out. I called the hotel coincerage in search of medicine,I thought that was a rational thing to do. Apparently they don't keep such. So I purchased some flu medicine at the pharmacy but it didn't seem to do a bit of good. I still went to games that I had tickets for. (The kicker was that the guy that was to go had not only dumped me but he did it before the trip we were suppose to to go together after I purchased the tickets for the games and flights.)I was so miserable was still sick when I got home a week later. It took honestly a month to shake it once I returnd home.

PS
Being in Italy alone at the olympics and on Valentines Day is really tough.

A few years ago, I got a November cold that I couldn't shake, and finally with my departure less than 12 days away, I got antibiotics and I went after a 10 day dose. I really lost the first day in Rome, between the altitude of flying and the head cold, my head felt like it was going to pop off. I was good by Day 2 and for the rest of the trip. A little luck, but I had been stubborn. I kept thinking I was beating the cold, until I almost ran out of time. I guess it depends on what you have as to what will help. The dr. said I was close to having bronchitis, the only time for me, not sure if he would have cleared me to go.

I felt a cold coming on just before my husband and I left for Budpest 2 weeks ago. And when I get a cold, it's always a really bad one. A doctor (M.D. specialist in physical rehab and Chinese medicine) gave me an extract of Elderberry (liquid) to take every 3 hours Well, I did, although not believing it would do anything. But it worked!!! I took it for 4-5 days and the cold never really developed. Truly, I couldn't believe it.

Many years ago I won a an incentive trip...two weeks all expense paid trip with Globus...including all the optional tours you usually have to pay for.

The first day we went to Hampton Court Palace and they hosted a lovely dinner in the Cottage on the grounds there. It was a magical night being served a banquet fit for royalty. We ate lamb...or so I thought...someome later told me it was likely Mutton.

Our bus was leaving the next day to take us for the channel crossing. I was so sick...coming out both ends so to speak. All I can say is thank god I always pack emergency supplies. I took two Immodium and a gravol. I slept practically the entire trip to France but was able to enjoy the next two weeks as planned.

I tend to get a cold around day three of my vacation when I go to Europe. I suspect it's from the air on the plane. I usually try and fight it to no avail. Last year before Italy, I took Airborne for several days prior...on the plane and one I got to my destination. I also brought some Cold F/X which is supposed to stop a cold in its tracks or reduce the length of time.....I had that damn cold for 7 weeks...well beyond return home.

I live in Glasgow,Scotland...People will tell you that Scottish people are friendly,but beware when you hear this true story....It happened to me when I was around 23 yrs.old....I was going by coach between Glasgow and Oban...i did not know as to how hilly,bumpy that it would be...The bus was up and down like a yo-yo...And I knew that I was heading for trouble as I used to have a lot of travel sickness as a child....Everything in my stomach came out on to the floor....Lots of liquid too.....I was gasping for air,and then bringing up more and more ....and more.....Not one person asked me if I was o.k.although the bus was awash with liquid,and all the contents of my stomach...
I was so ill that I could not get up to ask the driver to let me off....
Suspect that the reason that no-one said a word is because they assumed that I had been drinking....But no drink had touched my lips....
Knowing now that this kind of thing can happen,I am always on the look-out for other people who may be in the same boat....But I never again took that route !!!!!!!!

I'm supposed to leave on Wednesday for Portugal. On Friday, I had a scan and there is a "mass" in the inner eye area. In the first phone call from the doctor after the scan, he said I should use my cancellation insurance. After the second phone call at 5:30 on Friday afternoon, the doctor mentioned a surgeon that specializes in reconstructive surgery. He also said sorry about your trip. So I doubt I will be leaving on Wednesday, but I did finish my packing just in case.

I haven't cancelled yet. I'm waiting till I see the new doctor tomorrow.

I got sick ON the plane, heading to London for a week many years ago. Got off with sore throat, cough, hard breathe. Sat up all night still unable to breathe and went to the doctor the next morning to be told that I was close to pneumonia, and should stay in bed for a week. 'I'm only here for a week' I croaked, compromised by staying in bed for one day, then trekked around London feeling pretty miserable, but at least being in London. I knew I wasn't feeling well when husband and friends went off to the theater and all I wanted to do was stay in bed. But other than that night, I did most of what I wanted to do, although I cant say I enjoyed it as much as I'd hoped.

Got home, went to work in the morning to prove I was there, to the doctor in the afternoon, who said 'Now you REALLY need to go to bed for a week.' So I did.

Perhaps the real question is, How well do you do sickness? We just returned from Italy and ireland and were gone for 3 weeks. Everyday somebody had a serious fever except for our last 2 days there. We went through gallons of ibuprofen, eventually started everybody on Zithromax and had a fabulous trip. Our kids respond really well to ibuprofen and gelato and just carry on, with the exception of our 7 year old. Luckily,knowing her personality, we had brought an additional collapseable stroller which we bungy corded to the "mother stroller"(used for the 4 year old).This is pretty much the way we do it at home. But if you're the type that would prefer just to cozy in and emerge once the illness has passed, I would imagine boarding a plane and arriving into a strange city would feel a lot like work.

I suppose the best you can do is to be prepared and to know youself.

I flew to Madrid with cold symptoms and landed with full blown bronchitis. This was at a time when people were allowed to smoke everywhere. Never felt so sick in my entire life. Upon check-in at the hotel in Marbella, I asked for a doctor. An hour later the doctor was prescribing me antibiotics and fresh air. That wonderful Mediterranean breeze did the job within 72 hours.

I agree, feeling sick away from home is not fun.

elnap29 and Jean:

I can understand why you wouldn't want to cancel or postpone a trip, but is it really fair to others to get on a plane when you know you've got a viral infection that is making you miserable? It's going to make the people you infect on the plane miserable, too. I think it's quite irresponsible of a doctor to say "You might as well be sick in Europe as sick at home."

Did you take any precautions when you were flying to protect others from catching your illness? Did your travelling companion get sick, too?

The only time I've been sick right before a trip involved a business trip to Australia. I had some kind of stomach trouble and was having, ahem, "difficulties", for a day or so, but the symptoms cleared up 36 hours before my flight. I'm reasonably sure it was something I ate, not something infectious. Thankfully, I had a flexible ticket, so I could have rescheduled (or even cancelled) if I'd had to. I brought hand sanitizer for the flight, washed my hands a lot, wiped down the tables and also the lavatory basin. Not a perfect solution, but I think I took enough precautions in the circumstances.

Susan33....I will say a little prayer for you. So sorry to hear about your eye and hope you have some better news this week.

Susan33 - wishing you well and hope that your new is good.

We were not on a commercial flight but a military flight. It was a C140 carrying about 60 passengers from the US to the Azores. During the flight, we all came down with some sort of gastric problem. Everyone was sick and losing whatever it was they had eaten earlier. Not a pretty sight or smell either. There was a couple of busses waiting for us when the flight landed and took all of the passengers straight to the base hospital. We were all lined up and given some sort of shot, taken to a place to sleep and slept for almost a day. Felt good to go when we woke up.

LOL it happens quite often sick just before or as your leaving for your trip. I was on a snowboarding trip a couple of years ago and came down with the flu like the day before i left and yeh just took heaps of packets of sudafed with me they are a nasal drying tablet thing drys ya up stops runny noses and yeh it was all good wasnt hampered by feeling like crap at all. Had a great time. Im off to europe in 3 weeks so fingers crossed nothing will happen this time LOL.
HAV A GOOD ONE PEOPLES.

The things you will do for your children... I was travelling with my husband and 18 month old son in Paris. He came down with a terrible flu - very high temperature - very scarey for a newish mom and her baby in the middle of the night. I asked the front desk what to do - and they pointed out a pharmacie around the corner. It was 11 pm but I went over and it was closed. I banged my head on the door - once- in dispair - and miraculously, the pharmacist who lived upstairs heard me and my plantive high school French - mom bebe est malade. He came down - grabbed a bunch of stuff, followed me to my hotel and made sure my son got the medicine he needed -- and didn't charge me ! A true saint.
From then on, I always travel with a thorough pharmacy for the kids.

Last year, I got a bad sinus infection right before I was supposed to go to Austin for a long weekend. I went to my doctor and asked her to give me something for it. She told me that because my fever had come and gone, all I could do was treat the symptoms. We went ahead with the weekend, and I was pretty miserable, but I didn't let it stop me from running around. I didn't recover completely until a couple of weeks later, when I found a doctor who actually gave me some meds.

Not really - something bit me in a taxi in Boston on my way to the airport to fly home to London.

I had two little holes in my ankle a la snake bite or spider, and was terrified I was going to collapse at any moment.

Needless to say, nothing happened and I soon forgot about it once on board, distracted by the phenomenal amount of food Virgin Atlantic practically force feed you, and the 'Brady Bunch' movie - ah, the sophistication of travel!

While recenlty in Hungary, I had gotten rashes all over my body - itching like crazy. Was in Eger, Hungary and went to a pharmacy where women stand behind what look like teller's booths and you tell them what's bothering you and they give you something. (Luckily, all I had to do was show her my red swollen hands and mime itching). This pharmacy is not like the ones we have in the U.S.: It's not for prescription medications, but regular things like what I was given - a gel for the itchiness. It's harder to get over the counter medication in Hungary than it is here. And that was my big worry - getting sick in a foreign country where you don 't know what their policy of handing out medications is.

When we got back to Budapest, my lovely B&B hostess - Judit - called right away to a neighbor who is a doctor (general practitioner). He was going to come over, but I realized that he probably couldn't do anything, and I would bear with the itchiness (it would come and go, come and go). I'm now being treated by an allergist, although we still don't know what's really going on.

Lack of communication and differing policies in a foreign country can be the thing that can railroad your therapy.

Just an update on my 4/8/07 post. I was really upset when I posted about having to cancel my trip, and I probably should not have posted.

I did have to cancel my trip to Portugal. The surgeon removed the mass and it was not cancer, but I have been reacting to medications. I'm still seeing the doctor every other day.

The good part is the doctor says that I will not have to cancel my trip to Russia in July, and he will do the reconstruction surgery in August. So I do have a trip to look forward too.

Kenav, you mentioned your hostess' name was Judit. Were you at the Bellevue B&B by any chance? That is the name of the hostess there, and I will be staying there next week..all the reviews I've read have been great!

Susan33...thank you for the update. I'm glad to hear that you have a trip to look forward to...it sounds like you've been through a terrible ordeal. I wish you well in your recovery and best wishes for your trip in July.

Regards....Kelly

I don't know if this counts, but I just had 3 crowns and a bridge put in. All temporary...no time to have the lab finish. So I am going to Paris and can only eat on one side...or soft foods on the other.

Actually I am getting pretty adept at it the last few days..bringing along some dentemp in case ...

Miss Ziegfield -

Yes it was the Bellevue B&B. Judit and Lajos are the proprietors and they will help you with anything you need.
Have a wonderful time.

Loisco - before you leave, pick up some "braces wax" at your local drug store in the toothcare aisle.

It comes in a little plastic case and is strips of wax. Keep it in your purse or wallet just in case.

It's usual use is to cover braces so they don't irritate your gums, etc. I use it to fill in where I've lost a filling, and to protect my tooth in the case of a crown coming off, until I can get to a dentist, etc.

It's cheap, works great, and doesn't take up any room.

Regular wax doesn't work because it gets hard and doesn't stick to your teeth.

I will be going a cruise in march for 11 days. i just keep thinking that i am going to get sick before i go and can’t shake the feeling. I am a seasoned traveler, however these thoughts keep haunting me as I have been to 16 countries, and this is my first cruise. I know you can’t cure the cold or the flu, however if i get something like strep throat and need antibiotics does the ship's medical facilities have these? The ship I am going on was built in 2010 so is as modern as a vessel as you can get.

Yes, of course they should have that. The physician on a cruise ship should be able to handle things more serious than that, I hope (like broken bones). The ship should have a medical facility and nurses, also, check out what they have and the credentialing requirements of the medical staff.

I have gotten sick on both of my European trips. The funny part was which city I started to feel under the weather. The first trip to Europe, I started feeling sick in Cannes. Well, the cure - lay on the sandy beaches all day! (Thank goodness it wasn't Paris because I walked miles ever day)

The second trip, I started feeling sick in Positano. Again, perfect place to feel sick. I sunbathed and took relaxing boat tours and swam in the sea. Thank goodness it wasn't Rome!

It is amazing how both of my trips I felt sick in the "relaxing" towns versus the big cities.

why does everyone keep talking about colds? i have never have had a cold so bad where i couldnt walk around. Strep throat is WAY worse, knock you out! and if you need antibocites and cant get to them your in trouble. The cold and flu are viruses so there is nothing that you CAN get to.

travel4425, I don't know how old you are, but we've found that as we get older (early 60s now) sometimes colds just wipe us out. Yes, we can still walk around, but we're so miserable we'd rather be at home in our own bed.

Antibiotics can often work amazingly fast and make a person feel better rather quickly. Colds, on the other hand, have to run their course which can take many days, if not the length of a vacation.

Yikes someone had a cold that has not gone away in five years.

I once had a terrible cold and could not take off time from work before a two week trip to Italy. It got so bad I lost my hearing for about two weeks. I had the doctor write a note which I taped on my office door, "Mr. Adu has temporarily lost his hearing. Please send a note as he does not read lips."

I once put my back out doing some over-enthusiastic cleaning (I won't make THAT mistake again) in preparation for a home exchange (so I had to go, really). Hobbling to catch the transport for the first part of my journey, I also managed to trip over and bruise my wrist. But I was going to Paris, and I knew it would help to keep moving: what could have been more conducive to recovery than the gentle stroll from Vernon to Giverny in the spring sunshine?