Sickness Abroad: Falling Ill While Solo-Travelling

Literal “travel sickness,” if you will.

Photo by Lonely Girl, Lonely World.

On my first extended solo trip through Europe, I fell sick on the road. As soon as I landed in Italy, I caught a cold (or the flu) that lasted for 3 weeks until I finally got prescribed antibiotics back home. I’ve often wondered if my Berghain partying in Berlin was the hidden cause of it, but I guess I’ll never know…

The grey weather, extensive travelling, and early mornings/late nights probably furthered my sickness.

Falling ill while solo-travelling is a real challenge. You’re alone in a foreign land, with no familiarity of local customs, medical care, or the language. Suddenly you feel helpless and weak, and you realize how truly blissful it is to have family or friends nearby to care for you. In the midst of your feverish state, the only thing you can do is take care of yourself, and that means pushing through to get the treatment you need, whatever that means.

If this had happened during COVID restrictions, I’m not sure how I would’ve dealt (then again, I probably wouldn’t have been travelling in the first place). I likely would’ve been turned away at my accommodations or made to quarantine until I could be repatriated.

Instead, this happened post-COVID, and while I was admittedly very aware of my sickly state, I chose to push through the rest of my trip, partly because all my tickets were nonrefundable. Oh, the woes of a budget traveller.

In any case, it’s always a good idea to have travel insurance with hefty medical coverage. You never know what’s going to happen; don’t take the risk of not having options just to save $200.

In Italy, I was lucky my sickness wasn’t the worst it could’ve been. I had a lingering cough but no physical soreness; exercise and exploring my surroundings helped curb the symptoms. The body is clever; I think something about having to depend on myself helped keep more threatening symptoms at bay.

Something I’ve noticed about Italy is that you never know when a business is actually open or not. The only way to know is to go there yourself, and if they’re open, lucky you; if they’re not, too bad. Trying to find a doctor or pharmacy through Google Maps in Positano, Italy, was almost useless.

The doctor’s office was closed despite its hours on Google Maps, so I trekked even further downtown to a pharmacy to buy cough drops. I had to depend on these and sheer willpower until my return flight home. The neon green cross indicating “pharmacy” became my best friend.

It was on my last day in Italy that I couldn’t hold back one of my classic coughing fits any longer, and I ran outside while at the convenience store to hack away. Read more about my disastrous last day in Italy here.

In the Finnish Arctic Circle, I wasn’t just tired from traveling. I was literally overworked. In the end, I shelled out 200+ EUR to visit a doctor in person because my sickness wasn’t letting up (in fact, I got sick again a week after recovering from this first bout).

Something you can do if you ever fall ill on the road is try natural remedies: honey, ginger, tea, raw garlic, etc. As long as you can source them, they’re relatively inexpensive and will probably help you more in the long run than any pharmaceutical drugs. Even without sickness, I recommend incorporating these into your daily diet to boost your immune system. Food is medicine, after all. If you want to pack your suitcase with these, just be mindful of what you’re allowed to bring across borders.

As much as you try to prevent it, there will be times during traveling when you’re overworked, exhausted, and/or stressed. Having a secure place to go home to for the night will ease a lot of this stress, but even so, you never know. Start taking care of your body now, so that you can keep travelling far and wide.

Note to self: I’ve become accustomed to saving money on the road, but when it comes to personal health, try not to let money get in the way. If you can afford it, seek professional help. One body, one life.

Most importantly, be grateful for the friends and family around you. It doesn’t sink in how important they are to your wellbeing until they’re not there.