Tips For Spoonies Abroad. (Preparing, During & Aftermath)

Before you go

Understanding your illness - 

I think the most important thing to know and understand before going away is your illness. I mean, I doubt I'll ever fully understand my illness and what's actually going on with my body but this past year I have become more aware of what my illness is capable of and that's made me understand why certain things happen and prepared me for when a bad day does comes. Paying attention to the way your illness affects you, learning what helps and what doesn't; the things you should avoid and learning to actually listen to your body should make things run a little smoother. 

Company - 

Make sure you're going with people who will respect your limits and understand that you're going to have to approach everything a little different than your 'average healthy person'. From experience on both ends of the spectrum I can confidently say that if you go with the right people everything else will just fall into place, even if you get there and you aren't well enough to leave the room, go with people who understand and they'll respectfully leave you to do what you need to without making you feel bad about it. 

Go somewhere familiar - 

I think going somewhere you've been before is a good idea. I had stayed in the place I went this year a few times before and being able to envision exactly where I was going was really comforting and took a lot of the 'being away from my comfort zone' stress. As soon as I arrived, I could relax straight away, I knew exactly where to go and what to do, I didn't have to worry about finding the local shop or somewhere to eat. Knowing your way 'round the airport, where to get a taxi, the places to go and how to find your way back to the hotel takes a lot of stress off of an already stressful experience.

Don't leave it all till the last minute -

Shopping, packing, printing off boarding your passes and hotel vouchers... Do it over time, don't realise the weekend before you go that you don't have a suitcase (aka don't be me). Don't be afraid to start shopping a year before you go, just make sure everything is prepared early, so you're not putting your health at risk the day before travelling, reserve those spoons!

Stop panicing -

Ok I don't have many tips for this, I was terrified to leave the house on the day of traveling and I threw up all the way to the airport (cute, I know) but I had the best time once I was there. During the panic I just tried to keep the thought of being there in my head, knowing that none of the feelings would matter in a few hours when I'm having dinner chatting to my friends. So if like me, you're in a panic about sending your broken body abroad, I can tell you that if you can just push through the hard part, it's totally worth it. 

During

Don't stop pacing -

I know part of us wants to go a little crazy once we've made it there, it is hard to keep holding yourself back when there's so much you could do but for the sake of tomorrow, take it steady. Maybe you can't do everything you wish but just be grateful for the small things you can do while there and you'll have a jolly good time, whether you're doing some crazy water sports or just sitting under an umbrella on the beach, watching your friends do the crazy stuff. Take extra care on holiday because it's easy for us to say that PEM is worth it at home because we know how to handle it, it's easy to just write off the day and let 10 hot water bottles cuddle you in bed but when you're on holiday, although you could spend the day in bed if you needed to, it would be much nicer to just do a little each day and not over do it all on the first night.

Take a time out -

For me, there came a point in the day where it was all a bit much, a mixture of the heat and just being out in a busier environment overwhelmed me, so I would either go back to the room midday then go meet my friends for lunch a little later or I'd go rest after lunch. I think taking myself out of the situation and just resting each day really helped my body keep up, whenever I felt I was running a bit too low, I would go restore some energy, so I didn't ruin the rest of the day for myself.

Stay out of the sun -

I've never been one to lay out in the sun because I've got that wonderful porcelain skin that likes to fry but I'm extra conscious now that the sun does crazy stuff to my symptoms. As much as heat helps me out in some ways; relaxes my muscles which eases my pain, it really exhausts my body and drops my, already low, blood pressure, which does not do me good, so I just made sure I stayed in the shade, stayed hydrated and listened to my body; going inside when it felt too much. I know we'd all love to rock a nice tan on holiday but I just gave myself a faux glow beforehand and tucked myself under the umbrella, avoiding a bad situation!

Don't drink alcohol -

I don't know if every spoonie out there is intolerant to alcohol but I know most are on medication which shouldn't be mixed with alcohol and seen as we can't get away with much, I'm sure it does affects us all in one way or another. So maybe it seems stupid reminding us not to drink but when my body first had a bad reaction to alcohol, I thought it was just a bad hangover, or a one off, I never related it to my illness, so I kept doing it until I realised the two were related. This may apply more to the people who are going away with friends, its probably easier to decline a drink when you're away with your family but when you're around other drunks, the memory of what it does to you is probably not as clear. I'm use to being sober around drunk people now, I've gotten use to it but I know at first it's hard not to feel like a spare part but no one else is paying attention, so just have fun with being the sober one, being aware of everything you do is not a bad thing. I use to think I could sacrifice a day, dealing with the aftermath for a good night but no, no and no, it's never worth it, we suffer enough from the everyday activities, so if there's ever a chance we can avoid any extra suffering, we gotta take it.

Eat & Stay Hydrated -

Probably the most obvious one but I feel like I had to include it. I would recommend taking some food in your suitcase, I took some trusty cereals and cup a soups, just incase I wasn't able to go out for food or I didn't have an appetite, I would be sure to eat something. I think we all could drink more water than we do on holiday but try to keep a bottle with you at all the times, no matter how many times you'll have to pee in just one hour!

Back home

Worry about the unpacking later -

Drop that suitcase, get into bed and build yourself into a duvet wall! Get all the rest you need while dreaming of the fabulous time you had!! Be proud of yourself; you did it!!

I was going to write more about the holiday itself, more personal, not just about the spoonie side of things though I wasn't sure how informative that would be but if you do want to know more about where I went, what I got up to, how I dealt with anxiety and how I ended up with a tattoo... with all the spoonie struggles and management in-between, please say so because I did try to write a diary while I was there. 

If I do write another post, I'll ask my friends if they're cool with me uploading the video of our holiday, again you'll have to let me know if that's something you think would be interesting to see. The video doesn't relate to what I write on here, just a fun thing I'd add on that would probably show you the bigger side of my personality that doesn't just scream ill person.

Leave me a comment with any spoonie traveling/going away tips of your own and let me know if you want another post. :)

 Happy holiday-ing!!