Being Sick in Singapore Stinks
Even though I love to travel, traveling doesn't always work in my favor. But when I tell friends that I got sick during my travels, they always assume the worst because “you travel too much.”
I got sick last January when I went to Singapore for a super short trip. Just knowing how short this trip was (New York to Singapore for four days), I had a feeling something was going happen so I wanted to make sure I was as comfortable as much as possible.
I booked a very comfortable premium economy seat on Singapore Airlines - the longest commercial flight at a whopping 17 hours. On this particular flight, there is only premium economy and business class. I was surprised how comfortable I was in the premium economy seats because they reclined a lot lower than I expected, and the entertainment system, including the noise-cancelling headset, was fantastic.
Despite the comfortable flight, I don’t know if something on the plane got to me. I also don’t know if it could have been the heat in Singapore. Or the jet-lag. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed in my room and rested when I arrived, but I was too excited and eager to walk around. I made a quick visit to Merlion Park and Clarke Quay, and I visited the Fullerton Hotel (both beautifully decorated in red for Chinese New Year).
By evening time, I was already in meetings and already “infected” with what I thought was allergies. It seemed like a cold, but I was also coughing a lot. Thank goodness I stayed at the Conrad Centennial Singapore, which is connected to every mall in the area. The staff kindly showed me to the pharmacy and 7-Eleven across the street where I stocked up on Halls candy and Claritin. Though these medications subdued the pain, they didn’t exactly get rid of anything.
After all my meetings were done, I returned home still sick. And sad, because I really wanted to enjoy Singapore a lot more.
After another week of self-medicating, thinking I had a sore throat and chest congestion, I finally succumbed to seeing a doctor. By this point, I was coughing because I felt like I couldn’t breathe. As it turns out, I got an non-serious infection that was causing mucus buildup in my respiratory pathways. It was causing me to have these asthma attacks from time to time. So the doctor have me medicine through a nebulizer (so you know it’s the good stuff!!!) and an inhaler. And because my office is so dusty, I’ve been wearing this super cute dust mask a got a long time ago when I was last in Seoul. I’m going to buy more of these if I seem them.
Lesson learned: I have different kinds of dusk masks that I bring with me when I travel, but I don’t always wear them. After all of this, I don’t care if the dusk masks look silly or declare my love for BTS, or look out of place — I’m wearing them when I travel. When infections like this inhibit my joy traveling, well, I know what I have to do. Travel safely, my friends!!!
~T~
