Sick or Well, On We Go

The woman at reception could not find our reservation. I showed her the confirmation from TUI, the travel company. We had already paid for the room for three nights, but our names were not in the hotel’s system. She called over the manager. Sinéad and I stood at the desk with our luggage beside us.

I needed to lie down.

A few days earlier, we had celebrated the wedding of Peter (my nephew) and Suzanne in Alte, in Portugal’s Algarve. We had planned to spend a few more days on holiday there before returning to Ireland. But I became ill after the wedding.

It began with nausea. I lay on my side in bed all night, afraid to move because every movement made it worse. Morning finally came. I made it to the bathroom and knelt beside the toilet. I retched and vomited several times.

Then the diarrhoea began. I went back to the toilet time after time. Each time, everything was liquid. My head pounded. I was dizzy and could barely stand. But we had to leave Alte and move to another hotel.

We left our accommodation and drove to a pharmacy. Sinéad bought medication that eased the nausea enough for me to drive to the next hotel, where we had booked three nights. If I could just stay there for a few days…

And now the woman at reception could not find our reservation. Our room existed in the TUI confirmation on my phone. It did not exist on her screen.

The manager guided us to the restaurant while he tried to sort things out. I ordered soup and white toast. The soup was lukewarm and tasteless. I had no appetite and ate very little. Later, I drank a little coffee.

Over lunch, Sinéad told me she was worried that we had a real problem. It was high season. What would we do if every room was taken? Could it be a scam? I searched for TUI online. It was a long-established, reputable company. That reassured me. But we still needed a room.

After lunch, Sinéad went back to reception. The manager was standing behind the desk. He gave her two choices. We could spend all three nights in his hotel, but we would have to change rooms each day. Or we could stay there for one night, then spend the final two nights in the same room at the nearby Vale da Lapa Resort. We chose the two nights in the same room. The manager never told us what had happened to our reservation.

We unpacked as little as possible. The following morning, we drove to Vale da Lapa. It was a ten-minute journey. I hoped there would be no trouble this time. They had our reservation, and the staff were especially helpful.

The trips to the bathroom continued every few hours. Fortunately, I usually had a little warning. I drank water and electrolytes. Gradually, the intervals between visits to the bathroom grew longer.

I tried to contact TUI. But after going back and forth between the German-language website and Google Translate, I gave up.

Even on the day of the flight home, I did not know whether I would be able to fly. We left the hotel at noon and drove to Faro Airport.

Our Ryanair flight was delayed. At one point, we were left standing outside in the Portuguese sun. Half an hour later, we were sent back into the terminal. Eventually, we boarded. I reached my seat and sat down.

The plane landed late in Dublin. By the time we reached our hotel in Ballsbridge, it was about half past ten.

The man at reception gave us a warm welcome straight away. He knew about our reservation. There was little to do on the computer before he handed us the room key. It felt personal. It was good to be back in Ireland.

Upstairs, I lay down and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning, an Uber took us to the railway station. We travelled by train to Kilkenny, took another Uber to collect a rental car and drove to Carrickshock.

That evening, I ate fish, potatoes and green beans. A simple meal we often had. I was so grateful to be able to enjoy it again. That night, I slept for eight hours. In the morning, I felt normal again.

Sinéad’s sister came to stay with her daughter and two granddaughters, aged five and seven. They had stayed with us many times before and were excited to be back. The girls loved running around the garden. This time, they performed some Irish dancing for us on the patio.