A couple of months ago my CB won a tour of Turkey....this seemed pretty exciting to someone who never seems to win much, not even the raffle at the school fete. At the time, we talked a bit about heading overseas and where we would like to go, but after a few weeks we had both kind of forgotten about our plans and our potential trip in the midst of daily life.
So about a month ago, I was surprised when CB again brought up the topic of heading overseas. He had decided that we were going to take the tour and split the cost 50-50. I told him that I would love to go, but that I didn’t think it was fair that he had to pay when he had won the tour as a result of his hard work. After a few days of back-and-forth I reached the conclusion that CB is just as stubborn as I, and that he wasn’t going to budge on this one. I just had to suck it up and accept a half-price tour of Turkey…damn.
On Monday night we took the exciting step of booking and paying for our flights and the tour…I have to say I was pretty excited. I spent 6 months in Europe and the UK in 2006, and since then I’ve had a short trip to Thailand and that’s about it. So the travel bug has been biting hard lately, I have to say. Unfortunately the most time CB could get off work was 3 weeks, so our hopes to visit half of Europe were somewhat dashed. However, we are having a 4 day stopover in Malaysia before heading to Turkey, and will be spending a few days in both Italy and France once our tour has finished.
At first my excitement in booking everything and dreaming up day-trips and adventures completely took over and all I could think about was how much fun we were going to have. But a couple of days ago it dawned on me that my diet is going to be a major issue when travelling, especially overseas. The thing I am most worried about right now is the tour, as a lot of our meals are provided along the way. When I was last in Europe I did a 3-week tour with meals provided (back when I had a happily functioning digestive system), and remembering that experience makes me think it is going to be incredibly difficult to have my dietary requirements met while on the road. So now a little bit of stress has kicked in.
It does make me a little sad that I won'e be able to experience a lot of the amazing foods that Malaysia and some of Europe has to offer. My sister just got back from a 6 month stint in the US and Europe, and managed to put on about 15kg along the way. As crazy as it sounds, I would love to be able to do the same (possibly with the knowledge that I will be returning home to my gym membership). But then I think, better to be healthy than to indulge in foods that I know are going to make me sick. Hopefully I can keep that resolve when faced with the patisseries of Paris!
I wholeheartedly refuse to let my digestive troubles and restricted diet ruin my opportunities to experience life, so of course I am going to try my best to sort all of this stuff out. And hopefully by May next year I will be less restricted in what I can eat, and won’t be so badly affected by things like I am now. For now I am just focusing on the positives – I am travelling again, and with someone who means the world to me. I guess I can’t really complain about that.
And if anyone has any great suggestions for travelling overseas while on SCD, I'd love to hear them.
Stay happy :)
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