Vomiting on every holiday this year

[Nobodyiswatching]

This year I have taken the kids to Majorca (back in April.) We stayed in a lovely 5*AI. Kids aged 7 &11. Four days in, my little be comes to the side of my bed at 3am and tells me he feels sick. Cue violent vomiting and diarrhoea for the next 24th a. Eldest then comes down with it. He was even worse. Even after he had cleared out his system he couldn’t stop retching. All bedding and mattresses soiled. Has to keep the bin by his bedside for the next two nights. Then DH comes down with it and I spend the rest of the holiday caring for people and watching other people have the holiday of their lifetimes from the balcony.

Now we’re the first week into another holiday. Day 3 eldest suddenly projectile vomits in the car. We stop car halfway to the attraction and undergo an intensive cleaning operation - it went everywhere. Car seats and personal belongings ruined. Next night I wake up to the dulcet tones of the youngest standing at the foot of my bed projectile vomiting. And I then came down with it yesterday and spent last night hunched over the sink and the toilet with quite possibly the worst case of D&V I’ve ever had. Today has been a complete write off.

I’m so fucking fed up. Our holidays this year have been totally ruined by this. Is it just bad luck? We never had this issue before. But it’s been so intense both times, and has taken us down one by one, effectively screwing our holiday both times. I’m so done. I’m so sad.

Anyone else relate? I had lovely holidays planned for this year and each time we’ve been decimated by D&V. It’s just been horrific. I feel like we’ve totally lucked out

My sisters family had a few holidays like this. They found out later one of the hotels constantly has norovirus going round and a lot of guests get sick. The other time they think was food poisoning from the buffet. They now avoid hotels for this reason and go euro camping or self catering.

I think in a lot of cases it’s down to money and the amount of resources devoted to cleaning and hygiene.

Nowadays, with profit margins being shaved everywhere, managers of airlines, and hotels and restaurants, cut costs to the bone, and even though cleaners are generally paid really badly for the important job they do, employing humans still costs a lot, so systems are designed to be as fast and minimal as possible to meet a very basic standard of cleanliness.

There are risks but two holidays ruined in a row is unlucky. I'm sure I've picked up a horrible virus from a service station before but not had a holiday abroad ruined🤞

Update - last night little one was sick again. Projectile vomited trying to get to bathroom. So has he re-caught it again from me? I was sick and diarrhoea on Tues night. He seemed fine for a couple of days but then yesterday was picky with his food, said his tummy hurt just before bedtime and then at about 8pm threw up everywhere.

WTF is going on. Is it possible to catch the same sickness bug in less than 4or 5 days???!? Is he catching it from the seawater? We’ve been drinking the tap water but we’re on the Isle of Wight, I wasn’t aware that could be a problem here!! I’ve tried my best to antibac spray everything inside the caravan. This has done a number on us, might just give up and go home

I am so, so sorry for you and your family, and have no advice, but this... 'to the dulcet tones of the youngest standing at the foot of my bed projectile vomiting' - almost spit my coffee out 😂😂😂

What a shame. Really lousy luck and I’m sorry for you. We too had a few trips ruined by illness and on one horrific occasion, bedbugs yuck.

They do grow out of the sickness bugs stage.

You probably do this already, but, in passing, I always made sure that my kids developed the habit of thorough hand washing on return to the house every time they’d been out, especially after school or public transport and before eating.

At AI I never eat anything with my hands like picking up fruit or cutting bread, Never take food at the very front. Try to never use a public loo Currently on holiday and have seen kids with hands down their pants and woman picking swimming costumes and shorts of their arse cracks in the restaurant.

Lots of people just don't wash their hands either.

I was abroad once. No toilet paper in the loo’s. The pool attendant mopped the toilets then came with the same mop all around the pool.

My husband always gets ear infections from pools abroad. Not sure why. I’ll suggest sea swims - good for you apparently.

We’ve never done AI.

& poor OP that’s so awful. It puts me off too. I’m sorry that happened.

I agree with this, it's likely the pool. Also become obsessive with hand sanitiser. My ds often got sick on holidays when he was younger. He was obsessed with swimming underwater and I reckon he used to swallow loads of pool water. Kids are also grim, they wipe their hands over everything on planes etc and forget to wash their hands. AI buffets are a hotbed for germs as well, all those shared spoons etc. Pick a resort where the staff serve the food and it's behind screens, that should reduce the germs too.

If it helps it could be worse, you could be in a tent, I've had that pleasure too!

But then why would only OPs family as an example catch it, yet not other people on the plane

Some people travel weekly on planes etc yet don't come down with illness each time

It sounds as though OP is unlucky

Yes it could definitely be the seawater in the UK. * *Take a look at the surfers against sewage map which shows recent sewage discharges.

https://datahq.sas.org.uk/sewage-data-hq/

You can. But it does lessen the risk.

AI buffets are notorious for this
Wouldn't touch one with. A barge pole !!
People don't wash their hands when they poop lol and then they grab food I've seen people do it with their hands and not the cutlery that's provided !
You also have flies on open food stuffs ewwwww!!
Nope and salads u have to be super careful with as well !!!

Oh also depending where u are U gotta be careful in the sea and when it says not to swim don't swim !!!
Sometimes poop gets in the sea

I’ve had it a few times over the years! I care for my sister with a learning disability and have a 10 year old and she loves butlins and we’re going next week but over the years on many visits my son has been struck down by a sudden vomiting bug! Weve just had uk holidays the last few years so I’d be gutted if it was expensive and abroad. I’m a nurse and have stocked up on clinell products we use in hospital from Amazon. I can confirm the last 2 times I’ve had noro, I’ve used clinell after the sudden onset and no one else in the household has been affected!

It really makes me annoyed as other people don’t take hygiene seriously and then it ruins other peoples holidays. I’m aware it can’t always be helped with sudden onsets and people not knowing until it happens but there is a large majority of people that just don’t care, don’t want to lose their trips so just carry on as normal and then affect other peoples holidays

Yeah I generally don’t eat at buffets due to worrying about this.

Maybe, very possible she’s just unlucky. But there’s also a possibility that others have come down unwell but they won’t know. I’m sure there’s hundreds of holiday makers with sickness or diarrhoea at any one time.

Very unfortunate either way.

We’ve somehow managed to stop it spreading twice in our household. A week and a few days before we were due to go on holiday my son caught it from school (it had been doing the rounds). He then passed it to me but my daughter and husband never caught it. I’m not sure how we did it. A combination of strict handwashing and bleach spray I think? 🤷🏻‍♀️

The second time was years before when my husband caught it from his housemates. He was staying at my flat when it came on and I never caught it.

When my kids were young, my DS used to get sick on every holiday abroad. I was always careful with water and what foods they ate, but it seemed to make no difference.

It was often just him and the rest of us would escape it so no idea whether it was bugs, food poisoning or just the heat 🤷🏼‍♀️

OP we went through a few years of this. Christmas/birthdays/other peoples birthdays when we were looking forward to a night out/weekend my mil died/when I’d agreed to do an extra day in work as holiday cover . I honestly think it’s just bad luck. In our case it wasn’t always a vomiting bug but always some illness or other . I can honestly say it does get better when DC get older.

Weve never had this thankfully and we've been to Egypt 3 yrs on the trot before.
Im sorry you've had to deal with it so many times.

Well done. This is what nhs says about noro:
Norovirus is one of the most contagious viruses known. It takes fewer than 100 virus particles to make you sick, and an infected person sheds billions of microscopic particles, making it exceptionally easy to catch from people, food, or surfaces.

It's an absolute demon if it gets into hospitals and institutions.

It does, and I think some people are more susceptible to catching sickness bugs than others, and once you have one, I definitely think it weakens your immunity system for a while.
I carry Boots antiviral wipes with me all the time and use them every hour when I am out, I still often get ill when travelling.

One tip I heard which makes sense. People often think they catch their bugs on planes (and they often do) but one of the worst places are the airports, and handling the trays to use that go along the conveyor belts. They are used by hundreds of people every day from all over the globe. Make sure you cleanse your hands after using them.

OP how are you doing. I hope you didn’t have to come home early. This hot weather may not have helped re germs. Good tips on here for future.

I know a nurse I asked her what’s the quickest way of spreading germs she said coins. Interesting.

A very random thought… I went for a meal last night and with the thought of germs fresh in my mind. Why do restaurants have pots of cutlery on each table where the forks can stab under people’s fingernails as you reach for them and people sneezing on them and kids touching them etc. We pulled out a napkin and it was already used. yuk.