It's great to read that you had a good trip despite and with your chronic illness. You prepared it all so well!
What I have learned over the years is that I will not allow my chronic illness to force me to stay at home as easy as it may seem. Unfortunately, travel with an illness can mean extra costs.
Obviously, I double, triple check the accommodation so that I have a place to withdraw and rest, if possible can prepare my own meals or have take-out or room service. And I always bring a small electric blanket (with adapter for strange sockets).
As my family lives on different continents, we set up a savings account some years back for any extra cash that may come my way. Not much but enough to enable occasional business class upgrades when we went on long distance flights. It makes a huge difference.
When we travel with fixed dates we take out a travel cancellation insurance. This is a bit of a minefield as very few insurance co. accept a chronic illness flare as an unexpected reason for cancellation but there are some willing to provide cover, especially if you can get your doctor to certify that a flare up is not a regular event and that your chronic illness is otherwise under control and medical supervision is regular. It can be cumbersome and even humiliating to negotiate insurance terms when you are chronically ill but I can assure you you'll get the hang of it and can become fairly assertive along the way.
But I admit that travel can be stressful, so not many big trip abroad. Instead, I concentrate on day trips, local events and sights and there is still a lot to discover if you make a day of it with all the trimmings. I am lucky that I can enjoy riding an e-bike. I wonder if that's an option for you? Maybe try it out, there are very nifty three-wheelers available, where you can sit very comfortably and the effort of pedalling is almost nil. At one stage, when I was really under the weather, we hired one of these bikes where I could just sit back and my partner cycled for the two of us. It was a gorgous trip on a hot and sunny day.
All in all, getting to be outside every day if possible makes all the difference for me and I hope you can enjoy this as well. Even if it's sitting on a deck chair with a cuppa listening to the wind and the birds.
This is so helpful thank you Sabine. You give me hope that there is a good way to travel for my husband and I in the future. It just takes practice and planning. We were actually looking into those ebikes yesterday! I think they would be so fun and a great way to conserve energy, but still get out to see the sights. I've also bought some walking poles to help take the load off a bit. I'm looking forward to trying them out next time I go for a walk 😊 thanks again Sabine. Have a lovely day x
It's great to read that you had a good trip despite and with your chronic illness. You prepared it all so well!
What I have learned over the years is that I will not allow my chronic illness to force me to stay at home as easy as it may seem. Unfortunately, travel with an illness can mean extra costs.
Obviously, I double, triple check the accommodation so that I have a place to withdraw and rest, if possible can prepare my own meals or have take-out or room service. And I always bring a small electric blanket (with adapter for strange sockets).
As my family lives on different continents, we set up a savings account some years back for any extra cash that may come my way. Not much but enough to enable occasional business class upgrades when we went on long distance flights. It makes a huge difference.
When we travel with fixed dates we take out a travel cancellation insurance. This is a bit of a minefield as very few insurance co. accept a chronic illness flare as an unexpected reason for cancellation but there are some willing to provide cover, especially if you can get your doctor to certify that a flare up is not a regular event and that your chronic illness is otherwise under control and medical supervision is regular. It can be cumbersome and even humiliating to negotiate insurance terms when you are chronically ill but I can assure you you'll get the hang of it and can become fairly assertive along the way.
But I admit that travel can be stressful, so not many big trip abroad. Instead, I concentrate on day trips, local events and sights and there is still a lot to discover if you make a day of it with all the trimmings. I am lucky that I can enjoy riding an e-bike. I wonder if that's an option for you? Maybe try it out, there are very nifty three-wheelers available, where you can sit very comfortably and the effort of pedalling is almost nil. At one stage, when I was really under the weather, we hired one of these bikes where I could just sit back and my partner cycled for the two of us. It was a gorgous trip on a hot and sunny day.
All in all, getting to be outside every day if possible makes all the difference for me and I hope you can enjoy this as well. Even if it's sitting on a deck chair with a cuppa listening to the wind and the birds.
This is so helpful thank you Sabine. You give me hope that there is a good way to travel for my husband and I in the future. It just takes practice and planning. We were actually looking into those ebikes yesterday! I think they would be so fun and a great way to conserve energy, but still get out to see the sights. I've also bought some walking poles to help take the load off a bit. I'm looking forward to trying them out next time I go for a walk 😊 thanks again Sabine. Have a lovely day x