That’s really all I can say about it – I wasn’t quite recovered from my food poisoning, but I was stable at least. I was able to take some Dramamine ahead of time, and made sure to spend what little time I was awake with a ginger candy in my mouth to help double-protect against any possible nausea. I mainly drifted in and out of sleep, thankfully, with quick bouts of staring out the windows at the passing fields.
The bus was comfortable, thankfully – I can’t recall if I mentioned that about the bus from Tallinn to Riga, but they’re from the same company and were quite nice. Lux Comfort, specifically, and I definitely recommend them quite heartily.
Simple and easy – I made it to the bus station, took the bus, slept, got off the bus, and took a cab to my hotel in Vilnius. Left my jacket on the bus, but… c’est la vie. It was an older jacket anyways, that I’d been planning on replacing once I got to Dublin, so… guess I get to keep an eye out for jackets on my adventures, now!
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 13-June-2024 to 15-June-2024
After my adventures on Thursday, I picked up some takeout dinner to eat in the hotel, while packing for my bus ride to Vilnius on Friday.
That, in hindsight, was a mistake.
The chicken wings were okay, the chicken tenders were meh, and the fried cheese balls tasted strangely sweet. I didn’t think much of it, ate my dinner, and finished packing up, and even went for a nice little walk (where I tried out that archery spot!) before heading to bed.
Typing this out, two weeks later, still sends my stomach into knots.
That evening, I didn’t feel so great. I tried to sleep through it, but at some point in the evening I passed the event horizon, and my body started the purge.
I won’t bore you with the details, but I didn’t sleep that night. My body made it clear, on no uncertain terms, that what I’d eaten wasn’t acceptable… and that we were throwing everything out and starting over from scratch.
Around 8am, I called the front desk to request an extension on my room. They couldn’t, since someone was booked for that evening, but they did set me up with a room across the hall instead. They even offered to come and help me carry my bags over! I didn’t take them up on the offer… instead preferring to simply exist in my own aura of devastation, but I did appreciate it none the less.
I updated my bus tickets, and called the hotel I’d be staying at in Vilnius to tell them that I’d be checking in a day later than anticipated. I went back to sleep.
Around 11:00, I was able to mobilize and head downstairs to get some apple juice, coffee, cucumber slices, and a mini croissant. I sipped, and immediately went back to sleep.
My sleep tracker says that I slept 15 hours on Friday. I don’t doubt it.
I went down to the front desk at least once more to get some more juice… this time, they simply gave me the entire carton… along with some crackers and tea to help with the headache. Then I went back to sleep.
Saturday I was… almost feeling better. Not nearly full power, but enough that I was able to get myself to the bus station, onto the bus, and to Vilnius without too much hassle. I realized, a few days later, that I’d left my jacket on the bus… I’d used it as a pillow during the drive, and hadn’t remembered to grab it while disembarking in my fuge state. Thankfully, it didn’t have anything important… but still, a good lesson to be extra careful when travelling under the weather.
In the end, I wouldn’t feel fully normal for another five days, after I’d left Vilnius and arrived in Warsaw. My abs were sore for two or three days, and I had trouble eating much of anything heavy for a fair while.
I survived, though… chalk this one up there with catching COVID in Greenland as some of the dangers of travel.
