Have you ever had one of those holidays that you wish you had never taken? You know the sort of holiday I’m talking about, one of those holidays which nightmares are made of and that made you wish that you’d stayed at home.
One of our favourite pastimes when our children were younger was taking them on camping trips. Camping was fun and cheap which were definite requirements for our holidays with only one wage coming into the house. We took my youngest son on his first camping trip at the age of 9 weeks; some of my friends were horrified that I would even consider taking such a young baby camping with no running water or electricity. Believe me when I say that babies are much easier than toddlers to take camping.
As is sometimes the case, one or two of these camping trips have been memorable (or should I say forgettable or maybe even regrettable).
Our most memorable (regrettable) camping trip was to Cobdogla Caravan Park, a beautiful camping place on the banks of the Murray River that we’d successfully visited in the past. Our usual camping choice was to go to the bush and get away from civilization, but on this occasion, we’d decided that because it was the middle of summer that it would be more comfortable in a campsite with power and running water.
I guess our problem this time was too many children in our group combined with extreme hot summer weather and a ‘marvelous’ new water treatment plant in the town we were staying.
Friends of ours had already set up camp when we arrived. We had our four boys, and they had their two girls. On the afternoon of the first day, our friends’ teenage daughter collapsed on the river bank from heat exhaustion. On the second day, the mother was rushed to hospital with extreme stomach pains which turned out to be gall stones.
Following a horrible start to their holiday they decided to pack up and head home. We offered to keep their younger daughter with us; no point in her missing out on a holiday because her mum and her sister weren’t well. Everyone was happy with this decision, and they left early the following morning.
The afternoon of the third day was when we discovered our biggest mistake; we should have left and gone home when they did. My one word of advice at this stage was that you should never believe anyone when they say it’s okay to drink the water, even if the camp owners are boasting about a fantastic new water treatment plant across the road.
Every time we’ve gone camping, we’ve always taken large supplies of our own drinking water.We had them this time but failed to use them, biggest mistake! Our entire group (barring my stepson who because of a specially regulated diet and monitored fluid intake was not drinking the water) came down with the worst case of gastroenteritis known to mankind that afternoon – well that’s the way it felt anyway. Most of the campers in the park also succumbed.
The illness in itself was bad enough but having five children and two adults in one campsite with it was unbearable. Then, add forty plus degree heat (104 F) and basic camping facilities to the equation. Oh yeah, what an awesome holiday it turned out to be. We ended up dragging all of our air mattresses out of the tents and putting them under the trees.
We spent the next two days on those mattresses under the shade of huge trees; I have never felt so disgustingly ill in my entire life. Hubby and I were both too sick to pack the cars or drive the three hour drive home. We’d taken two cars, so we couldn’t even take turns driving home.
It was distressing for me with my children unwell and with barely enough energy to look after myself, let alone, help them. I also had my girlfriend’s daughter who was upset and wanted her mum, as most kids do when they’re not well, which only added to my stress as I tried to comfort her, as well.
We had another friend and his son turn up to join our camping experience. They had already been on their way up when we had all fallen ill, so there had been no opportunity to phone and warn them. Instead, they spent their holiday assisting us and then helping us to re-pack the cars for the journey home. It was the single most miserable holiday I have ever experienced.
What about you, have you ever experienced the holiday from hell?
This is an original World Moms Blog post by Inspiration to Dream of Adelaide, South Australia. Fiona is the writer of Inspiration to Dream and can be found writing or reading in every spare moment that isn’t filled up with work and her three boys; and of course, with a bit of spare time thrown in for hubby, as well.
Image credit to Image: think4photop / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”>think4photop. This image has been used within the terms of use from Free Digital Photos.
Oh! What a horrible holiday! My deepest sympathies with you. And I agree – the worst experiences are when we have an upset stomach. Everything looks bad then.
Upset stomachs are one of the worst things and yes everything looks really bad. Thank you for your sympathies, it definitely makes for a memorable experience
What a vacation! You will always have this memory to look back on and laugh about it, but it’s not very funny at all when you’re going through it!
Ironically, last week we set out to the beach for a week. On the second day my daughter had a temperature that went as high as 105.1 F! It was scary. My husband wound up taking her to the emergency room one day and to her pediatrician, who was an hour and 1/2 away. It turned out she had Roseola, a virus with high temps and then a rash that most kids get here in the US before they’re 3 years old. She got it at 4 years old. Glad it’s over for her, and she was fine. But, hopefully, next time we go to the beach, she will get to play in the waves instead!
Jen 🙂
Jen,
Bad enough when our kids are sick but worse when you’re away from home. Glad to hear your daughter is better and it was nothing really serious. Not fun for her though when all she probably wanted to do was play in the waves.
Oh no! What a horrible experience! Mine, ironically enough, was my honeymoon (before kids). Luckily enough, it wasn’t the entire trip, just the return trip home…. the very long trip home from Thailand to NYC. We were in Phuket, and I spent our last day there at the spa, getting massaged and manicured…. slowly as the time in the spa progressed, I started to feel a little off. We had to catch a 10 pm flight from Phuket to Bangkok, and as we were sitting in the airport, I was feeling lightheaded and a bit worse. We landed in Bangkok, and checked into the hotel that we were staying in for about 6 hours until we had to leave for a very early flight back to New York (connecting through Tokyo), where I started to get the chills. I went to sleep, only to be woken up a little while later with a very upset stomach and a horrible fever. Needless to say, the little sleep that I could have had that night was not restful. We had to be at the airport so early the next day, and my stomach was so upset, that i couldn’t even stand on line at the airport with my husband…. It was horrible! I was so uncomfortable for the flight home, with a high fever and the chills, when I arrived back in New York, I couldn’t even go back to work for a week afterwards, since it lingered for that long!
I can def understand what you went through, and couldn’t imagine having gone through all of it with kids, and all of them sick as well! At least that is all in the past now, and everyone is healthy again! 🙂
I think your story wins – couldn’t even begin to imagine getting on a plane when I was feeling that disgusting. Lucky (if you can call it that) that it was at the end of your honeymoon and not the beginning 🙂
I totally agree that it was lucky (and I got another week off of work, which wasn’t too bad either)! Lol!
🙂
Oh grief, Fi! That was a holiday from hell! Nothing like a bad tummy-bug to make life miserable at the best of times – let alone when camping, with children in the heat! At least you got a good yarn out of it. 🙂
Karen – doesn’t being a mother give us so many ‘good yarns’? It was a nightmare holiday and at least now I can look back and laugh.
That sounds like a total nightmare. I’m one of those people who doesn’t mind camping if there are somewhat cushy facilities – I like showers – and being sick while camping would probably be enough for me never to go again.
Oh my goodness!!!!! How horrible!! I just kept reading, thinking “No, no, no.” Thankfully, you had other friends coming there to meet you. I know, not good for them, but at least you had help. What a nightmare! Hope you got to make up for it with another trip. 🙂