Last Monday I flew to Las Vegas just for the day. I love day trips. Besides being able to sleep in my own bed that same night, I didn't have to pack. For this trip, I didn't take anything but my handbag and phone. No laptop or even iPad. I'm a pretty light traveler as it is, but to me, this was traveling heaven.
Even better, someone else was footing the bill. At first they said they would send a driver to pick me up and I imagined an older gentleman by the baggage carousel holding a "Natalie Smart" sign. I have to admit, I rather liked that idea. But it seemed a bit fussy for little ole me. In the end, my boss said he'd pick me up since he flew in the night before. He didn't think it was very funny when I asked him to wear a hat and hold my "Natalie Smart" sign.
We grabbed a quick refreshment and headed to our meeting which took all of an hour. We had a short tour and then lunch was on them! They even had the courtesy to ask whether or not we wanted to dine alone to discuss their proposal. We took them up on the offer (to dine alone that is).
Lunch was lovely. It was more than lovely, it was fabulously delicious and I was starving since I began my travels at 7am. We headed back to chat with our host for a bit and that's when the nausea hit me. It creeped slowly at first, but quickly gathered steam until I had to excuse myself. Sorry, but it must be said. I lost my entire lunch in about 5 seconds.
It's a good thing I brought some breath mints. I splashed some water on my face, popped a mint and headed back. I felt MUCH better and was pretty sure it was a one-round episode.
I was wrong.
About an hour later I told my boss that I wasn't feeling too well and asked if he minded me catching an earlier flight home. We were basically done with business anyway. So we headed off to the airport which was just about 15 minutes away. My boss is a delightful man. He is from London and besides having a lovely English accent, he's just a charming person with interesting stories and opinions. And he was in great form...but I was not.
I was sweating profusely and because the air conditioning was on (it was 102 degrees outside!), I starting shivering. I had to vomit again and I felt incredibly weak like I might pass out. So I rudely interrupted his story and blurted out "I think I'm going to throw up!"
We were on the freeway and the airport was the next exit so we didn't have many options so I just said, "Can you just drop me off at the airport?" It was only a minute or so away so I buckled down, clenched my teeth and told myself I would make it. Then we took a wrong turn into the parking garage and had to exit the airport and try it again. I seriously thought I was going to toss my cookies and thought "at least it's a rental!"
We pulled up to departures and I bolted while hoping I wouldn't faint. My boss called out, "do you want me to come in with you?" and I said no and carried on. It was freezing in the airport, I was both shivering and sweating and I just prayed I wouldn't pass out.
I made it to the bathroom and (sorry again!) bent over that porcelain bowl and a hurricane force spewed out of my mouth and nose. Believe you me, that nose part was painful.
So whenever anyone tells me I'm lucky to travel so much, boy, do I have a story for them. And unfortunately, it was not the first, second or even tenth time getting sick while traveling. I could write a book about the Top 10 grossest public toilets over which I have vomited.
Yes, I am aware this is way too much information, but it's my blog and if you got this far, well, do I even need to apologize?
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