Monday 31 October 2016

Surviving Illness on Holiday.

You can't make this stuff up can you. After sooo looking forward to having a week off and chilling and relaxing what happens....... illness strikes of course. Talk about bad luck. The first couple of days were fine, not a problem (apart from my Dad having a chest infection but on a course of antibiotics so can't really hold him responsible!) then came the sniffles, sneezes and coughing. It seemed to miss Adi and  my Mum and target the kids and myself but I escaped pretty lightly compared to Alfie. He developed such a chesty cough and was streaming with cold for the majority of the break. This was exacerbated by tiredness. Due to layout of the house we were staying in the kids were in the attic room on the top floor. Alfie was sharing a room with Elarna, I was hoping it wasn't going to be an issue as in France we had a similar scenario with them in the same room but they both slept well. Currently Elarna is sleeping like crap and waking up alot in the night so it was fairly predictable that this scenario was doomed from the start. I don't think we had 1 night unbroken sleep. 


Mostly we were woken at between the hours of 4am and 6am (if we were lucky) by Alfie creeping down and appearing next to us complaining that Elarna was being noisy/keeping him awake/snuffling/crying/wailing or he'd woken himself up with a coughing fit. Towards the latter of the week it was hard to be annoyed as he genuinely was looking and sounding so poorly - although during the day, apart from the odd cough he was ok! The first couple of times he came into our room we let him get in the middle and we'd all try and get a couple hours more sleep - not so easy when you have a four year old star fishing in the middle of the bed. The next couple of times Adi ended up going up to the attic room and left Alfie in bed with me. This was all well and good as we had more space but Thursday night......or it may have been Friday I lost track he was coughing every minute or so *in my ear* and insisted on cuddling me, talking about trains and then telling me he loved me - he then drifted off and I was left trying to fall asleep with him sounding like Darth Vader - fun. We went through almost a whole bottle of calpol between the 2 of them, attempted cough syrup (no idea why when I know that it doesn't help a cough) and I ended up as 'that Mum' with a variety of clothes covered in snot on a daily basis. 

Trying not to be grumpy and stressy and aiming to enjoy ourselves was somewhat of a challenge when the tiredness peaked but we did have a great time and I'll be writing about that soon. For the moment, here are some tips, well more like notes to myself for future reference on how to survive illness while on holiday........


  • Remember to take plenty of calpol! I probably jinxed everything by only taking a 1/4 bottle with me, I ended up paying full whack for another bottle at the local supermarket as there was no where else near for miles - I kid you not.
  • Dose yourself up, makes things a little more bearable and makes the day a tad more manageable!
  • It's ok to give cough mixture even though it won't 'cure' it, trust me cough syrup does nothing for a cough other than ease the symptoms slightly but I was willing to try anything. 
  • If you read my other post about over packing well guess what......I didn't pack a bloody hat, gloves or scarf for the kids resulting in a very expensive (but rather lovely) set from Fat Face for Alfie to keep the chill from his chest.
  • Just go with it, illness strikes can't be helped when it happens and better to just get on with things than wallow in it (we tried our best to keep out happy faces on) there was so much that Alfie was looking forward to
  • Get plenty of fresh air, does wonders for the soul
  • Have plenty of sleep (HA, who am I kidding). Let me rephrase this, get early nights then the super early mornings don't feel quite as horrific
  • Carry lots of tissues, I got caught without enough several times and had to detour to a nearby loo to stock up on snot rags!
  • Drink. Booze helps, well it helps relax you but also drink plenty of other fluids too!
Fortunately it seems we are all turning a corner and everyone feels much better and we had a good sleep on Saturday once we were home and all in our own beds. It was a lovely break way, illness and all but I'm glad to be home. 

What are your tips for looking after yourself while ill?

Best of Worst

My Petit Canard

30 comments:

  1. Oh I really do feel for you. Holidays are so important and we all look forward to them, it's rotten when this happens. Well done for remaining positive above it all and I'm so glad they are feeling better. Great tips - especially the booze one :) Alison x #MarvMondays

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  2. Hurray for calpol. I made sure we took some sachets away with us just in case! I second you on the booze too! Thanks for joining us for #marvmondays

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  3. #bathingbunniescomp oh you have my full sympathy; I have been ill on holiday before, in Spain, and couldnt even go to the beach! hope all is better now x

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  4. Why does this always happen on holiday? Poor you.. I hope you still managed to enjoy parts of your holiday! x #MarvMondays

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  5. Eurgh Hun so typical and rubbish when you are away from home :-( id agree with sleep and just making the best of a bad situation if you can xx hope Alfie better soon xx #bestandworst

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  6. I blame this time of year. Its like sickness has been playing hide and seek all summer and then boom...dark nights green noses. Who wants to sleep in the early dark nights when you can roam the house like a zombie looking for Calpol and fake cough syrup? My tip for looking after yourself when ill is remind yourself, it only feels bad for 3 days. Honestly, everything starts to feel better by day 4. Welcome home lovely x Renee @peonieandme #bestandworst x

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  7. Illness on holiday is the worst! It is usually me that gets it. By the time a holiday comes around I am often running on empty so as soon as I relax it hits me #bestandworst

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  8. Always the way - so typical! Hoping for healthier times for you all! #bestandworst

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  9. Illness really knows how to choose its moments hey? Great tips though, glad you got to enjoy it a bit anyway. #bestandworst

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  10. Aww no!! Why does illness always appear on holidays, thus happens to me all the time too. My 3 year old always gets ill when we go away. Great tips though, will remember for next time we go away xx #bestandworst

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  11. Oh poor Alfie! I hope you still managed to enjoy a bit of your holiday. #bestandworst

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  12. I'm so sorry this happened to you while on holiday. It sounds miserable. Great tips for managing it though. :) #bestandworst

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  13. glad everybody is feeling better. This is always when these things seem to strike, isn't it? #bestandworst

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  14. Ah no! I always worry about this, bless his little socks! Calpol is amazing stuff though isnt it? :) #bestandworst

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  15. Wine totally counts for keeping your fluids up right? How does it always strike as soon as you go on holiday? My two are exactly the same. I can't remember the last holiday we went on that didn't include an element of sick or snot! Well done for smiling through it and I'm pleased it sounds like you had a good time regardless. Hope everyone is fully recovered xx #bestandworst

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  16. Oh nooooo!!! Illness on holiday is the worst! Hope you're all on the mend now #Bestandworst x

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  17. Holiday illness happens so often. It seems the minute you start relaxing everyone goes down with something. Glad to hear you're all on the mend now and looking forward to seeing what else you got up to on your hols #bestandworst x

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  18. Oh no!!! Sorry to hear this, it always, 100% happens to us too though! Usually one of mine ends up in hospital or at the doctors! Megan had the sickness bug while we were away last week, we hadn't taken the calpol so it was an emergency dash to the pharmacy! #bestandworst

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  19. We have had a couple of these, it's so tough on the kiddos and heartbreaking for the mama...I hope your wee one is feeling better soon! #bestandworst

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  20. I don't know what it is about holidays that makes it an illness magnet. When we went to Europe, both my husband and I got sick. The more important the holiday, the more likely illness is to strike. We got married in the Dominican Republic, my husband got sick the day before the wedding! #bestandworst

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  21. Isn't it the worst when these things happen? And all we ever want is our OWN bed. It's the natural tendency to feel REALLLY sorry for yourself but it sounds like you didn't wallow in your sorrow. Thanks for the tips...maybe they will ward off evil? ;-)
    #bestandworst

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  22. eek, what a time to get ill. Sound advice and definitely need a mountain of tissues available X #bestandworst

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  23. Oh no, poor Alfie. Our youngest has been really ill this past week too. Isn't it amazing how they can be fine during the day then horrendous through the night?! Glad you still managed to make the most of it though x
    #Bestandworst

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  24. Oh no it seems like once again the bugs are doing the rounds. #Bestandworst

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  25. Such bad timing hon and poor little lamb so horrible. Still at least he was ok during the day, even if the nights were bad! Xx

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  26. Glad you're all on the mend, there's nothing worse than being poorly on holiday without your home comforts. Loving the final tip ;) thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo x

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  27. You have my total sympathy. I've just got through a bad week with my little man. Like you not too bad in the day but the minute he lay down the coughing started. He was up at 4.30 most mornings. We were ruined by the end of the week! Time for a catch up this week! I hope you're all better now #bestandworst

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  28. Ah Evie got ill when we were in Disneyland, she had a really high temp and no where on site sells it so I managed to message a facebook group and then met up with someone who had some calpol and poured some into a cup for her! My fault for not taking any! It was horrible. I will drink a lot of juice, take vitamins, wrap up, oil burners with menthol scents. #bestandworst

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  29. This is the sort of thing that always happens to us too - Murphy's Law! #bestandworst

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