"Strange moments in Europe requiring First Aid

Are you asking people to share their First Aid in Europe story?

If yes, mine is... we were in Chamonix and did the summer toboggan ride Rick highlights in one of his tv shows. You ride a lift to the top of a big hill, then ride down in a toboggan that you control, which is in a cement “channel” to the bottom. My son and i kept doing it over and over, each in our own toboggan, side by side. We were racing each other. I got too enthusiastic trying to beat him to the bottom and was going too fast around a bend in the channel 🙄 - my toboggan went way up in the air, dumping me out and i slid a very long way down the hill in that cement channel. It took all the skin off on both my arms. My son helped me hobble to the closest pharmacy where they were so taken aback by my skinless and bleeding arms they rushed me into their back room where two wonderful women bandaged me up. They were so nice. I, of course, felt like an idiot!

The toilet at a Starbucks in Madrid needed some serious first aid after I dealt with the ramifications of a dairy-heavy pastry that had been sitting in the sun for too long. Does that count as amusing?

Avi... No.

I had a toothache in the old Yugoslavia in the late 70’s. My husband took me to the dentist in this very old, magnificent looking building. Looked more like a court house. Not at all modern. Anyway, the dentist didn’t speak English and I only spoke English. After much back and forth, and hubby, assuring me I would be fine, I woke up missing a wisdom tooth. I have managed to stay healthy on our subsequent visits (knock wood).

We were in Spain with my sister and her three children. We spent a day at the waterpark, Aqualandia. I was on a waterslide, and at a corner flew right out of the trough. I was so high up I could see the cement ground below me. I truly thought I was going to come down outside of the waterslide and be killed. I actually came down right on the edge of the waterslide and bashed myself up. I exited the waterslide at the bottom like a rag doll. Pretty sure I broke my foot - it was swollen and black and blue. I got some very strong painkillers that allowed me to hobble around, but the pain lingered for months.

Two days later, I felt well enough to join a jeep adventure tour that included Guadalest, and a stop at a remote restaurant in the mountains. There was a pool at the restaurant so I had a dip. I felt something weird on my underarm. I was stung by a wasp. I'm allergic to everything -- so I figured this was really it. Happily (obviously) there were no adverse reactions as this restaurant was pretty remote.

I just required a hot soak, but we were in Switzerland (Murren) and rented bikes. I was trying to drive slowly down a gravel road (I told my husband I didn't want to go that way) and I locked the front brakes and went over the handlebars and became entangled with the bike. Didn't rip any clothes or break my camera. Had a few minor scrapes and a couple huge bruises on my thighs where they got tangled up with the cross bar. Luckily our couchsurfing hosts that evening took pity and drew a big hot bath and added some eucalyptus oil and I soaked in that sucker for probably an hour.

I also had a spectacular bruise - from a macaw. Yes, you read that right - we stayed at an airbnb in San Diego and the owner had a couple free roaming macaws. The morning we were leaving one macaw got on my arm, which I thought was cool until I needed him to get off so I could pack - well, he didn't want to get off and their beaks sure pack a pinch! I had quite the dark bruise on the fleshy part by my elbow.

Wife lost a crown (tooth-, not head-variety) in Oslo. A quick internet search showed an "emergency dental clinic" (24 hours, we think but are not sure). Walked there in 15 minutes; the procedure for a replacement crown took about an hour, and cost c. $150. Hopefully this will not happen again, but if it does, we want it to happen in Europe.

This is not exactly first aid, but I came down with serious bronchitis in Autun, France (fantastic Romanesque church, cool Roman ruins), and had to go to a hospital on a Sunday. A team of four, including at least one Dr., fussed over me for two hours; X-rays, meds, etc. When I asked about the bill, they said don't worry about it, I would be billed in the states; I was, for $81.00. This is all without insurance (I did have Travelguard, never got around to using it). They also gave me four prescriptions, which I filled at the designated Sunday pharmacy for that week for $31.00. [edit: 31 euro]

Not strange, but requiring medical care. In late September 2010 we were spending a week in the Bavarian town of Schliersee for a week. One morning I woke up to a sever UTI. A woman working at the front desk of the hotel made a doctor's appointment and I was able to go right away. The only other time I'd had a UTI was when I had a kidney stone. The doctor was wearing jeans, a polo shirt and birkenstocks. With socks of course. In addition to doing a lab test and exam, he also did an ultrasound. Why? Looking for a kidney stone. He didn't even know my history of having them either. That has never happened to me at home when I've had stones. Anyway, the cost of the doctors visit and filling 2 prescriptions at the pharmacy down the street came to a grand total of $160 with the exchange rate. I had travel insurance and was reimbursed. The insurance for 2 people was less than the reimbursement amount.

The good thing about this experience was that I was told to take it easy that day. We hung out in our room for the morning so I could rest. We had a balcony looking out at the mountainside. We heard some loud bells and went out to the balcony to investigate. They were bringing the cows down from the mountains and we were able to witness a cow parade. They cows were decorated and they went by in groups. It took over an hour for them to pass. It was very fortunate that we were forced to stay in or we would have missed that wonderful experience.

Vernazza Italy.. My plastic water bottle fell into the surf so I quickly reached in to grab it. Split my finger nail, ouch!!! I was able to retrieve the bottle. Next day I went to the pharmacy where they gave me an Italian version of Bacitracin. Worked like a charm and I still use back in the states since it is good until 2022....

My first aid moment was in Uzbekistan. Although I will never know the actual cause, my at-home doctor when consulted several weeks later thought it was a gall bladder attack (never happened again). The pain was excruciating. I was on the Silk Road in a remote town. The driver pulled into a hotel which is practically empty; it was off season. He called for a doctor then told me I had to get a room so the doctor could see me. The room was at an outrageous cost and was more like a camp room - metal bed, wash basin. The doctor and her nurse arrived. I spoke no Uzbek; she spoke not English. Through the driver, she got a picture of my complaint. She suggested seeing a surgeon. The driver told me that would be a mistake in the area we were in. Option 2? An injection of pain killers. No gloves, hand washing, alcohol wipe, just a shot in the butt. I fell asleep almost immediately. And hour later I was able to move almost pain-free. The cost for the doctor - free!

Nicole P, we rode bikes down that same 5 mi very steep gravel road! It was horrible but quite a memory! 😂

No Europe, but Alberta Canada.
We had been at the wonderful Dinosaur Museum and were in search of lunch nearby.
I tripped over an uneven sidewalk and went flying, landing on my knee which then bled a lot.
The friends I was with said I flew in the air right past them.
The only business nearby was a Chinese Restaurant which was closed, but they had seen me fall through the window.
A kind lady came out with a wet cloth and bandaids for me.

As my husband and I were riding bikes on some trails in Te Anua, New Zealand last year we started down a hill with alot of loose gravel. Being very careful I slowly applied pressure to the brakes so as not to go too fast and loose control. It probably would have worked out alot better if I had applied brakes to the rear tire and not the front tire only.........I ended up going ass over teakettle, landing on my much bruised hip. I remember lying there for a second trying to assess whether there was any damage when all the sudden I remembered my husband, who was behind me. The poor guy was afraid of running me over, slammed on his brakes and wiped out, busting his helmet and scraping his knee bad enough that he still has a scar, a year later.

THEN, onto Wellington.....we rented an AirBnb that looked like someone actually lived there and had just rented it out to us and left for the week. Being a little nosy, my husband was looking through the dining room drawers and one got stuck. As he tried pushing it back in his back went out.......really bad!!!

The very nice homeowner called to check on us and we told him about my hubs back (minus the snooping) and he called his chiropractor for us, my husband got some OTC meds and walked with a cane for a few days.

Oh Nicole, I just read your post! I hope you still chuckle over your misadventure on the bike, as we do!! I was quite bruised and, luckily, we had gloves on or our hands would have been full of gravel!!

Tower Bridge London. Complete idiot, me. Smart person, my friend who had yelled “ don’t do it!”

Ran across Tower Bridge avoiding vehicles but was hit by bicyclist who couldn’t avoid me. He went over the handlebars. I lay there for a moment thinking “ on some security camera people are laughing at me but get out of the road or die. “ Crawled.

Profound and profuse apologies to the bike rider after making absolutely certain his laptop in his back pack was properly working. Gave him business card just in case he got to work and discovered it didn’t work.

Scraped knees and elbows. Went to Boots at the London Bridge train station. Then we had lunch at the Anchor Bankside pub. The alcohol helped the pain.

It was our $5 a day trip in 1972 so going to a doctor in Amsterdam was a big deal. Allergies, he said, which surprised me as they had ceased years earlier but he gave me a prescription and it was all OK. But the real first aid I remember was the lady running the shop or small bar we encountered riding our motor bikes to Zaanse Scahns. Got a nosebleed from sneezing. She took a man’s hat many sizes too small, a fedora type, off the wall and pulled it very tightly down almost to my brow, then tilted me back and ordered me to remain immobile until told otherwise. It was strange to say the least, but she was so caring and solicitous I still recall it all these years later. Thankfully the nosebleed stopped because the cure was a lot worse than the problem. I also remember small oriental rugs for the table coverings. Thanks for asking. We’re now reminiscing about that trip all these years later.

France, 1980, my wife caught some intestinal bug. At Versailles, it got so bad she almost didn’t make it to the WC after running through the dining area and right past the lady collecting a couple Francs for its use. We camped most of that trip and fortunately an American lady and her French pharmacist husband were at the campground. He wrote out a note for a pharmacist in town describing her symptoms and what she needed. We went to the pharmacy in the morning at whatever she was given worked great.

She had a similar problem in Barcelona in 2006 after eating something that had been left un refrigerated for to long. On a Sunday morning I had to walk around town looking for the designated open pharmacy to get her some medicine. She was out of commission an entire day and flying home a few days later was touch and go.

Back in the early 80s, as I was walking down the steps of some church in Italy, a man to my left, and two steps up, started to fall head first down the stairs. I pivoted and put my left leg up on his chest which stopped his fall. Several bystanders grabbed me as I began to lose my balance. I remained upright but strained my inner thigh from the knee to my groin. This guy was part of our small tour group, very memorable, a bit older and slightly overweight, but I saved his life so he spent the rest of the trip trying to repay me.

I don’t know where I got the strength or the reaction time. I could have used a hot tub and some PT. I had a painful rest of the trip.

My first day on my first trip to Europe. I was in London, the day before my tour was to start, and had spent the day around Trafalgar Square, falling in love with the National Gallery and exploring the bookstores around Charing Cross Road. ( back in the days when they were plentiful).

Headed towards the tube station, not looking where I was going and tripped over a piece of broken pavement. Down I went, scraping my hands and knees and banging my chin. Full face plant. A couple of passers by rushed over and helped me up. I was close to the National Gallery, so used their bathroom to clean most of the blood off myself. I had one heck of a bruise on my chin. Back at the hotel, they told me where to find a nearby chemist for gauze and antibiotic cream. Fortunately, an excellent couple of pints and a meal at the corner pub helped finish the day on a brighter note.

1985 - my friend and I had been backpacking around Europe for almost two months at this point and burning the candle at both ends ( we were 23 ) .
We both got very run down and got terrible colds that likely morphed into bronchitis or pneumonia , but we didn’t want to slow down and be sensible - so we found a Pharmacy where the pharmacist gave us some liquid - we to this day have no idea what it was but now suspect it was codeine syrup .
Went back to hotel and gulped some down as we had plans to meet new friends down at hotel bar .

Sat there about 1/2 hour and realized we were literally stoned out our minds . Damm good stuff what ever it was lol

2009 - on a Rs family tour with my then 11 yr old daughter - got worst food poisoning of my life as we left time for Florence - spent entire time in Florence on the bathroom floor - and I mean all night on cold tile floor - there was luckily a lady on our tour who was a doctor - she came to our room and gave me some really good drugs ( tour guide had offered some Pepto he had as I had gone through my supply , but pepto was not working ) - spent entire next day in bed while group went into Florence - luckily another mom travelling with her 10 yr old daughter offered to take my daughter with her into town .
The staff at the hotel we were at were very kind and brought me joy gd of juice and bowls of broth - all I could get down . Recovered in time for next bus day !

Ugh how could I forget this one - also on backpacking trip with my friend in 1985 -

We were somewhere in Italy ( sorry recall where ) and my friend said she thought she had an infection of the female type .
We went to a pharmacy and no one spoke English and we were too embarrassed to act out the issue so I saw on the shelf behind counter something I thought I recognized being good for infections .

Dettol !!

Pointed to it and took it back to hotel where friend disappeared into bathroom to attend to problem .
With in a moment - loud screaming and swearing !
Apparently Dettol should NOT be poured on tender parts !! Lol

My friend was not happy - BUT it did fix problem ( likely removed top layer of skin lol )

Walking the Camino Frances in 2018 was staying overnight in an old church (St. Nikolas, 1200s) that was once a hospital for pilgrims. The bathrooms were in a modern building behind the church and coming back into the church at 06:00, completely forgot there was a step right inside the front door. Fell with a bang, made lots of noise, screamed some choice words in German and in English as I had an extremely painful broken wrist. This was out in the middle of nowhere, so it took the ambulance about 45 min. to arrive, but the Guardia Civil popped in to see what the commotion was about. My fellow pilgrims that I had just met the night before, packed all my stuff for me, helped me get dressed, and gave me some coffee and toast. Rode to Palencia with ambulance EMT that basically spoke zero English. Fortunately, the Dr. who set my wrist (one of the most painful episodes in my life) did speak English quite well. Oddly enough, in the bed next to mine was an older lady. Her husband chatted with me in German as they had lived in Germany for 20 years, working. Embarrassingly, I had to ask this old guy of 80 to tie my boots for me so I could leave. He was so sweet. Took a taxi to the train station, trained to Madrid and flew home. With my German ins. this whole thing cost me nothing but that expensive flight home and the end of my Camino.

This is a story about how getting sick in Europe probably saved my husband's life.

We finished up his first trip to Europe in Dublin. He picked up some horrible gastrointestinal bug there that caused all the usual symptoms, plus fever. I tried to get him to go to a doctor or the hospital, but he refused. We were leaving the next day and he just wanted to go home.

We got back to Albuquerque (we'd left our car and our dog with a friend in Santa Fe) and he went straight to bed in the airport hotel where we were staying. He'd now been miserable for 4 days and no amount of typical OTC meds was doing anything to help.

I convinced him to go to the ER at the UNM hospital. The hotel's shuttle took us to the hospital and picked me up after I got him settled in.

He had blood tests and X-rays which indicated a significant infection. They started IV antibiotics and within a couple of days he was well enough to pack up and get on the road to Tucson. In the meantime I'd picked up the car and dog.

We'd just had lunch in Truth or Consequences and were back on the highway when I got a call from the UNM hospital. Someone had looked at the X-rays and noticed a mass on his left kidney. They'd already notified his doctor in Tucson.

After finishing that conversation, I
immediately called her. She'd already made arrangements for him to see her the next day, and for him to see a urologist shortly thereafter.

The mass was in an inoperable removal location and the safest thing to do was to remove the kidney. My husband did not want to have it removed. Fortunately, the urologist had a relatively new alternative at which he was well-skilled, cryoablation using robotic technology.

That's what my husband chose. The surgery was performed on New Year's Eve, 2009. Last December was 10 years since the surgery and he was declared cancer-free.

Kidney cancer is sneaky. Typically, by the time there are symptoms, it is too late to treat. A lot of people played parts in the good outcome that he had, but if he hadn't picked up that bug in Dublin, he probably would not be sitting here with me and the dog right now.

Libby - I'm glad I'm not the only one ;) - I was doing so well alternating front and back brakes but I just braked too hard on the front. Thank goodness I was relatively unscathed. Thinking back I could've broken something or had quite the gash, but I lucked out.

Susan - after my tumble - which was near the start of the hill - we ended up walking most of the way down - there were a few areas I think that I got back on but I was so darn nervous of crashing again. But we got to see Trummelbach Falls as I struggled along trying to keep up with my husband.

Nicole P, i know exactly what you went through. I was terrified of falling the whole way down, went super slow, braking hard the whole way down. My hands really hurt gripping the brakes for such a long descent. Took a couple hours. I’m sorry you fell - my worst nightmare on that rocky, steep, dirt road. I’m only lucky i didn’t wipe out. Meanwhile, my teenage son, fearless, went fast in parts and had a blast. Me, i was crying. Horrible memory but definitely an off the beaten path experience!

Thanks for starting this thread. It is interesting to read everyone’s first aid stories. I have been fortunate over the years not get get seriously ill when I travel. My first time to Europe was in 1992 for my honeymoon and we were doing the Best of Europe route. During the first week, I caught some bug from sleeping in a wine barrel on the Rhine and spent three days in Munich with 102 fever. On the third day when the fever broke, we decided to change the route of the rest of our trip, spend a few more days in Munich before moving on. It was years before I actually finished the Best of Europe route.

Sandy

sleeping in a wine barrel on the Rhine

?????

I think I forgot this unpleasantness because it did ruin a New Years Eve in Florence.

Was in Milan and got food poisoning. Slept nearly 16 hours with many trips to the bathroom. Was getting dehydrated given nothing was left over inside me. Sweet hotel staff would periodically knock and check on me. Leaving tea, bottled water and some dry toast. I had reservations in Florence so in the rain walked a few blocks to the train station and off I went. Was weak and I slept. Got to Florence and paid a taxi to take me to my hotel. Spent part of the night in the large walk in shower given more depletion of my insides.

Occasionally I would awake to the noise of fireworks but saw none. Missed New Year’s Day.

Not one of my better trips to Europe and haven’t had gelato since.

I walked into a piece of molding sticking out from the wall at my hotel in London and hobbled around for a week with a broken toe. By the time I got back to the US, I had done more damage and was in a boot for two months!

Just remembered another one.
I went to Paris by myself in Feb. 2016 to take a language course.
Two days before I left home one of the docs at work was coughing and sneezing everywhere, instead of staying home....
As I arrived at my Airbnb, I began feeling horrible.
I managed to make it to the grocery store, and stocked up on all I would need for a few days, came back to the flat, crashed out and was in bed for 48 hrs with real flu.
Fever, terrible malaise, coughing, no appetite.
Thank goodness I had 3 days before my course began.
The flat was cosy and warm, had a great view of the Eiffel tower; and being a nurse, I always travel with every OTC med known to man.
I was just out of it for nearly three days.

I might have a had a contribution to make to this topic, but my wife had the good sense, after 20 ft, to abandon the idea of riding a bike on the wall around Lucca.. So while I rode a bike, she did what women everywhere do when confronted with free time, she went shopping!

Thirty plus years ago, as a tour guide in Ireland, I took a group of Germans on to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway. It was a beautiful sunny day, so they all rented bicycles and headed off to explore the island.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon one of them came hurling into Kilronan on their bike looking for me... there had been an accident. Two of them had collided and it looked like one of them had broken his leg. There was no doctor on the island back then, but luckily for him there was a nurse among the group and I had been a medic in the Navy Reserve..... After patching him up as best we could, I arranged for the air ambulance to come out from Galway to take him back to the hospital. It was definitely not how I'd planned to get off the island that evening!

Since he was a German citizen everything was free, including his repatriation to Germany. All that was needed was to show his passport. So at least we did not have to go through a lot of insurance stuff.

Ok, so far Lo's husband is the big winner.
Trying to figure out an award for Libby's husband.... most inquisitive?

Oh boy Lo, what a story. So happy your husband is well. When people tell me “we want to go to......but maybe at another time.....” I answer them that there may not be another time. If you Can afford it and have some time, GO. NOW.

I forgot about my laundry injury.

We did a big sink wash in Italy, and the clothes were hanging from a travel clothes line stretched across an unusually large European bathroom. There was a window in there, with shutters that opened inwards.

I ducked under the clothes to get to the toilet, and forgetting the shutters were open, came up hard bashing the top of my head on the bottom of the shutter. Blood was everywhere . DH is first aid certified, so worked to stop the bleeding. It took so long we debated on finding a place to get stitches. Luckily I finally stopped bleeding, though dried blood kept washing out of my hair for the rest of the trip.

We mentioned to the desk staff of the hotel that there had been an accident and we'd pay for the blood soaked towels. They refused, of course, but i wonder what they thought when the saw them!!

Indeed. Andrea they may have thought minor shaving accident. If the maid was not fore warned (what! Facility staff dont share information even in Europe?) She may have thought it was a crime scene!

In '88 I won a 7 day trip to Hong Kong- 12 hr time difference. Between lack of sleep and allergies I had the beginnings of bronchitis but continued to explore. DH picked up their version of benadryl from a pharmacy. Very much stronger than ours. I had managed chop sticks quite well at the beginning but the last night at a group (very fancy) banquet - but was now so zoned out just couldn't manage. A lovely Chinese gentleman at the next table (not in our group) kindly placed them in my hand and demonstrated. I did great - until I put them down for some reason.... then couldn't work them again! This went on a few times and I finally let him know I'd give up and didn't want to bother him anymore. Probably didn't help that I'm left handed and he kept putting them in my right hand. Lots of smiles and great laughs. The flight home was unique - DH guided me through all the airport lines- I slept on the floor of the Tokyo & Detroit terminals and throughout the entire 24 hr flight. 3 days after getting home I ran out of the HK benadryl - and magically woke up again. After that - always travel with an antibiotic and home OTC allergy meds.

We were on vacation in Jamaica for a week with a large group of work colleagues and spouses. The first morning we rented a moped, and no less than 2 minutes later we hit a large pot hole, and careened into a brick wall. Both my husband and I, wearing sandals, apparently thought the Flintstone method of breaking was a good idea. NOT. After finding a private doctor, and waiting an hour for him to finish dinner. He cleaned and wrapped the wounds on our feet, gave us both antibiotics, and told us to stay out of the water until healed. My husband lost most of his toenails on one of his feet. I just scraped up my feet. The doctor visit for both, only $100. But bummer we couldn’t swim in the pool it ocean.

We were in Kennecott, Alaska hiking the Root Glacier. The hike was challenging for me as this was before having my knee replaced but I was determined to do it. We were finishing up the glacier portion of the hike when the toe of my crampon got caught on the ice. I fell face first onto the very sharp ice and my body landed full force on my right hand. My face was cut up and bleeding and ice (which was obviously in plentiful supply) was immediately applied to it by the guide which stopped the bleeding. My hand developed a massive hematoma the size of a golf ball during the hike back to the lodge. I managed to hike back to Kennecott unaided where the park ranger examined my hand and determined it was not broken. When we got home, I went to the orthopedist who took xrays of my knees and hand just to be sure. No serious damage done.

I also lost a dental crown in Cuzco, Peru due to a sticky piece of coca candy. I went to the pharmacy with our guide and got some denture cream to hold the crown temporarily in place until I could get home to the dentist. I learned the denture cream trick from my dentist who recommended against using dental cement to keep the crown in place until I got home. I was not in pain luckily.