Being sick whilst on the road is something that everyone experiences, especially long-term travelers. It’s awful, especially if you are vomiting and diarrhea sick and staying in a hostel dorm room. Wanting nothing more than to escape into a room where you can suffer alone with a private bathroom immediately available, many a sick backpacker will sacrifice their tight budget for a few days of private recovery.

That’s what I’m doing right now. My past couple of weeks have been filled sickness which is not usual for me. First a cold then a stomach bug, and now today I am food poisoning sick.

I’m still in Cartagena waiting around for my flight in a few days down to Medellin. The weather is stupidly hot and humid, and once you’ve been here for a day or two there isn’t really that much to do in the city unless you want to travel a couple of hours out to the other regions.

I thought I was feeling better today. I have been staying in a single room in a reasonably priced hotel with good wifi and air conditioning to help me recover from the stomach bug I had last week whilst in Santa Marta.

As I said I thought I was feeling better today, so I decided to finally do the Cartagena free walking tour. Starting at 10am from the Old Town, about 15 minutes walk from my hotel, I was keen to make use of my time here and talk to other backpackers also doing the tour as staying in a hotel room is a lonely way to travel.

About 30 minutes into the tour I realised I had made a huge mistake.

Yesterday I stopped into a bakery and bought some items to eat for dinner. As I was recovering from a stomach bug I haven’t been too adventurous with food and thought a couple of pastries would be fine for dinner – mistake number one. One of the pastries I bought had a chicken filling which I didn’t realise at the time, but as it was in a puff pastry baked shell it didn’t occur to me whilst eating it there could be a problem.

Unfortunately during the night, my whole body decided to reject the pastry. It wasn’t pleasant and took me completely by surprise because I thought I had recovered from last week’s stomach bug. But waking up this morning, I felt surprisingly good. I had no food left in my stomach, but was able to eat a musli-bar for breakfast with no issues and the weather was slightly overcast due to the rain that’s supposed to finally arrive. ‘Great!’ I thought, ‘the walking tour will be better today because it’s slightly cooler.’ Mistake number two.

Once on the tour the humidity sky-rocketed, with the tour leader even commenting on the extreme heat and trying her best to find shaded areas for us. But after 30 minutes it just became too much for me. I’m embarrassed to say that I vomited into a rubbish bin whilst on the tour. Luckily for me there was a bin available and didn’t have to completely disgrace myself by vomiting onto the street.

Sitting on a park bench as the tour continued on without me I very seriously thought I was going to pass out. With sweat streaming off my body, my vision blurring and trying desperately to not throw up again, my only focus was on how to get back to my hotel.

Being sick is the worst part of traveling solo as there is no one else to rely upon for help. If I pass out I have no idea what could happen. All my energy needed to be put toward keeping myself together long enough to get back to my hotel room and collapse.

Luckily for me that’s exactly what I did. Stopping at a shop along the way to buy bottles of water and Gatorade I stumbled the 15 minutes back to my hotel, thankful to reach my room and private Colombian cold water shower.

Being sick in this stifling hot city has caused me to once again change my plans. I was only going to be in this hotel for one more night, then move to a cheaper hostel into a shared dorm that doesn’t have air-conditioning during the day. That’s not happening. I can’t handle being this sick in that type of environment. I’ve decided to do what so many other backpackers on the road do and say, ‘I don’t care about the money, I need to be well,’ and stay in the extra comfort. Pedialyte and Hidraplus are my diet for the next few days in this air conditioned hotel room that I can’t see myself leaving anytime soon.

I’ve met so many backpackers and long-term travelers that are as budget conscious as possible, but we all agree that when sickness strikes it’s amazing how much money no longer matters.