Travel Omens

Hi travel friend,
I got very sick my first time in Europe. I was there for 40 days and about 1/4 of the way through I became ill with a very bad stomach bug. Standing in line for the restroom at the Louvre, I went from feeling fine to running back to my boyfriend at the chairs where he was seated because I kept almost fainting. Not fun. Of the 10 days in Lyon, France 7 of them were eating only bread/drinking only water and not leaving the flat. Add to that on the 8th day I had to board a train to Rome. That's a LOOOONG train ride when you are sick. I felt terrible. Luckily I began feeling better in Italy as I was terrified I had traveled all this way and wasn't going to get to enjoy Italian food (I had already missed out on food from the Gastronomic capital of the world!)

I'm sad to hear you're having such a crappy time but surely something good/fun came out of this trip?! If not, sometimes you just have to chalk it up to a bad experience and move on. But I definitely understand what it feels like to say "I can't believe I'm saying this but... why am I here again?! I'm miserable!" Sorry Buddy! :(

Frank II,

You do seem to be having a run of bad luck, but I'm not sure it can be attributed to being in Berlin. Which hotel are you having issues with? I had an "unfortunate holiday experience" this year also, but I didn't consider that to be an omen, but just an unfortunate accident.

Perhaps you can return again when the weather is more favourable and hopefully you'll be more fortunate on the third attempt.

I'll be watching this space for your next input, Frank II. So sorry you're having travel troubles. Especially illnesses. It's just horrible when you feel bad. Let us hear from you tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that my flight to Berlin was two hours late. And, because I was the first person at the gate, my carry on bag was going to be checked because they wanted to check 10 bags and would take the first ten that showed up. (The flight was full.)

I was very uncooperative and they quickly realized they should move on to someone else.

Frank II - Being ill is never fun but seems worse to me when away from home. I'm sorry to read of your sickness and hotel/airline issues. Crossing my fingers that you are quickly put on a flight to London and that all goes smoothly for the rest of your travels.

It's not Europe but our personal nemesis is Las Vegas. We both hate the place to begin with but have had to deal with it for business conferences or flights in/out and overnights when accessing some of Utah's national parks. Every single time has come with a host of yucks: food poisoning (both of us), hours-long traffic jams, the worst hotel room we've ever encountered, ridiculously long security lines at the airport, weather issues, etc.

We'll do absolutely anything we can do to avoid coming anywhere near it anymore.

Feel so bad for you nothing worse than being ill on holiday it just ruins your whole trip, hope you get well soon and can enjoy the rest of you trip

"I'm wondering if anyone has every had a travel experience where you thought maybe this place is somewhere I shouldn't be?"

Yes - whenever my in-laws are along.

Did you by chance, at any point, utter the phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner."? If so, then this could definitely be jelly donut syndrome. The proper cure is a curry wurst and a helles bier. :-)

Oh, Frank; I am so sorry you have had all this bad luck. Hopefully, things are better for you by now. Yes, I do believe in omens. So much so that these days I go way out of my way to not connect through Chicago's O'Hare airport even if it makes for added expense. It would take more space than allowed to run through the litany of bad luck we previously experienced before we made to decision to avoid it at all costs!

I'd say if your gut says it is an omen, it's an omen. Get out and stay out until you serendipitously end up in Berlin. That will be the time you'll be able to enjoy it!

Made it safetly back to London. Flight was early. No one in the middle seat. Made it through Passport Control in under a minute. (Thank you, Registered Traveler) In fact, From the time I walked off the plane until I walked into the front door of my hotel in Earls Court took only one hour and 15 minutes. And that includeds a ride on the Piccadilly line.

Did I mention that on my extended Spring trip--my Europe trips now tend to be between two and two and a half months--I caught three separate colds.

Two more weeks in the UK, then back to the states for seven weeks then back to Europe for a month.

Still waiting to show you the good coffee places in Frankfurt when you get back over here.

I don't do omens. I try to stay optimistic and later laugh about all the things that went wrong.

For that matter, I don't say I'm having a bad day golfing until at least the 17th.

I have felt "maybe this place is somewhere I shouldn't be" but I was walking in NYC late at night and I did not blame the entire city :-)

I think a rest may help, at least to reduce the number of colds, but you still might not like Berlin.

Good luck, stay healthy.