first there was Vegas...

told you i was going places... first we went to Vegas for a friend's 30th birthday. it was a good time, just 2 1/2 days of laughing, gambling, some good eating, nice warm weather, and oh a day in bed with 100+ fever, headache, stomach because i got some horrible virus from the plane that afforded me the opportunity to lay in bed for an entire day by myself while my friends and husband enjoy Vegas for what it has to offer. i told them all to go, i mean it was a party and what good does it serve having people watch me sleep. i went to dinner for my friends birthday that night and went right back up to bed. luckily, the next day, as slow moving as i was, i felt better and was able to enjoy one day of Vegas.

then of course there was the weekend i was supposed to see Jan and June that i told you about. karma just coming back to get me for being a nasty human being. it actually came at a good time, a week before our first trip EVER to Europe.

here we are... up to date... Europe. 2 days prior to leaving for Amsterdam, Paris and London, a vacation planned for months, a vacation that hasn't been had in almost 2 years because 2 years ago RB was ill and out of work blah, blah, blah maybe one day you'll want to hear that sob story maybe not, a vacation a traveling expedition because all i can definitively say that i want in this life to do is travel. (as i am sure you are gathering, things didn't go as smoothly as planned, because god laughs at those who make plans). so 2 days before leaving i need a script because i  get an ear infection, loose my voice and have an awesome cough. fine, so be it, it is what it is.

we arrive in Amsterdam, Holland and the weather is nice the first day, kinda gloomy the next few days and chilly. Amsterdam is a lovely city, but in my opinion you don't need a super long time in the city, it's pretty small. i'm still feeling that total shit, but i'm doing my best to ignore it, take my meds, and watch what i eat. people are kinda rude, RB is finding the map reading annoying and i'm getting bored ready for Paris, personally my main attraction. in reality, i've always wanted to go to the south of France, but RB has been kinda anti-France so as a compromise we went to Paris.

yippie, the day has arrived, we board a train headed for Paris and i'm feeling sluggish, sleepy, nauseous. I just want so badly for some sunny weather and of course to feel better, but i am convinced it's just being in Amsterdam. We arrive in Paris and a man takes our bags speaking French and i'm please with my understanding as well as my ability to tell him in french that we don't speak french can he please try English. Get to the hotel, still pouring rain, cold gloomy rain, nothing like it is in the movies except i look like a wet, ratty mutt of a dog, and every french woman i pass on the street sans umbrella looks fabulous, like she just stepped out of a magazine. first thing, food. i eat a small meal, it was delicious, but like most meals in the last few days it isn't sitting well in my stomach.

for the next 2 days i'm getting worse and worse, less food can go into my body and what does doesn't stay for very long at all. i'm walking around this beautiful city and the weather is becoming more pleasant but i'm becoming more unpleasant. total shit. RB is becoming frustrated because this is vacation why am i so sick. i need to nap midday to function? what the fuck is this all about? i need to sit on benches to catch my breath? oh god this isn't good.

i wake up one morning around 4am, and that was the end of me, and our trip. the "water closet" became my home, the bed became my best friend and a flight on air France became our direct flight home 6 days early, missing part of Paris, and all of London. no shopping, hardly any eating, good amount of sight seeing but not all we wanted was accomplished. a disappointing trip, to say the least.

so what was wrong? doctor's still can't figure it out. still not at full rapunzel strength and speed. we went from having an appendicitis, to a violent reaction to the antibiotics i was already on but have taken before numerous times, to having some kind of bacterial or protozoa infection, similar to drinking the water in Mexico or e coli or salmonella.

yes, this was taken from a plane window- vegas to nyc

that was it. i was going places. and i did. i'm not going to stop traveling because the 2 attempts this year didn't work out to my benefit, that would be ridiculous. although, it is par for my course. i feel like the universe is trying to tell me something and it's not to stop trying to go places, i just can't decipher the code.