It makes for a good story

The first time I traveled to Malawi, my traveling companion Audra gave me the advice that the harder the experience is, the better the story you can tell afterwards.   It’s funny how that shift in mindset helped me get through some harrowing experiences during those two months in Malawi and it has served me well ever since. A trip of 80 days will have its fair share of challenging moments and I can’t wait to tell those stories.  

One of these stories occurred on our tour of Stonehenge and Bath.  On our second day in the UK we took a bus tour out to Stonehenge and then on to the town of Bath.  Seeing these massive rocks that were carved and arranged with the most primitive tools thousands of years ago was inspiring.   This was by far the oldest human construction that I’ve ever seen.    

We then headed on to Bath and saw much newer (relatively) human construction by the Romans and then the British.  We had a lovely afternoon but as the day wore on Grayson let us know that he wasn’t feeling well.  He had a sore throat, cough, fatigue and told us his stomach was feeling a bit queasy.   He even skipped the ice cream! 

    

At this point we were getting back on the bus for our 2.5 hour trip home and I thought a little ibuprofen and a nap would help him feel better.   An hour and a half in he woke up from his nap not looking good at all and telling me he was feeling nauseated.  Fortunately, this timed with a “comfort” stop and he and I got off the bus to walk around, get some water and some air.  At the end of the 15 minute break, he told me he was feeling better and he got back on the bus.  At the last moment, I snatched a Krispy Kreme bag just in case the nausea returned. 

Grayson then lay back on my lap and fell asleep.  I figured we were out of the woods and relaxed a little.  Bad choice!  Twenty minutes later he woke up and asked for the bag.  He puked into the bag seconds after I got it out.  Afterwards, he felt much better, fell back asleep and I sat there proud of myself for having thought of the puke bag.  

Five minutes later, still holding the bag, it suddenly felt lighter.  “That’s odd” I thought to myself.   And then I looked down.  The bottom of the bag had broke and his vomit was all over the bus floor!  I don’t have any pictures but my white shoes now have some permanent marks from the splatter.    Once we stopped, I cleaned up and we made it the rest of the way home.    Definitely a memorable trip!