Page 3 | What's the worst injury/illness you have ever had on holiday?

calamariqueen · 29/12/2025 21:44

Slipped disc resulting in rare spinal complication called cauda equina syndrome. No one realised how serious it was, I ended up on an emergency flight home, followed by emergency spinal surgery. 3 months off work. 7 years until the next one went but that was at home, during COVID, so that was equally fun 🤦🏼‍♀️

Dontpokethebearnow · 29/12/2025 21:57

Ovarian cyst ruptured as we took off for a 4 hour flight.
I spent the duration of the flight scrumpled up on the floor where the cabin crew work.

unsync · 29/12/2025 22:14

Norovirus on a cruise.
As a child I rammed a screw sticking up on a boardwalk into the fleshy part of the sole of my foot behind the toes. Not sure which was worst - the injury, the hopping or the tetanus shots.

Soonenough · 29/12/2025 22:25

DH got food poisoning in Athens . We planned to tour the Pantheon. He spent his time in the toilets at the start of the trip whilst I went on ahead by myself . When he emerged he looked so awful we immediately took a taxi back to hotel where he lay in bed . I had to amuse myself in the spa .

winnieanddaisy · 29/12/2025 22:28

I’ve never been ill or had an injury on holiday but my DH was ill in Mexico. We bought some antibiotics but they didn’t work . He went to the doctors once we got home and they tool a sputum sample . Two days later he was called to the hospital and was admitted with Legionnaires Disease . We had bought the wrong antibiotics, amoxicillin, when he needed erythromycin which the one that works on that disease.
Apparently he caught it from the shower in our hotel room as he had had the first shower after our arrival , otherwise it would have been me sick and not him .

Splendidlydidy · 29/12/2025 22:29

Blood clots in both lungs.

Timesquaredy · 29/12/2025 22:32

I perforated an ear drum while on a diving holiday in Egypt. Flying home was so painful with the changes in pressure.

Most awful I’ve ever felt abroad was a UTI in Portugal. I paid for doctors twice but the meds weren’t working. I was in so much pain and had a fever and hallucinations. I’ve had UTIs before, and they were uncomfortable, but I had no idea they could make you this poorly. It’s the first time I’ve ever asked someone to take me to hospital.

OldGothsFadeToGrey · 29/12/2025 22:36

Burst appendix and peritonitis in Spain. Docs said another hour and I would probably have died. I only survived because my relative hammered on the site doctor’s door after he diagnosed gastroenteritis over the phone and insisted he came over to look at me. He went paler than I was when he saw me and instantly called an ambulance. They were literally running down the corridor to the operating theatre with me, it was less than 10
minutes between arriving, X-rays and being put under.

I was in hospital for almost 2 weeks and all my veins collapsed from the drips.

The insurance company paid the hospital bill (would have bought a starter house in my home town outright) and up until the day of my return flight were still undecided if I would need a medical flight home. I was only 11 and the insurers only paid out for one of my parents as they argued the other could have carried on with their holiday.

OldGothsFadeToGrey · 29/12/2025 22:47

The year after I stood on a sea urchin and on the way back from hospital was in a RTC with a fatality.

also had the standard ear infections.

Never go anywhere without insurance.

PSA if you are travelling at least 2 hours, even in the UK, make sure you have insurance.

Although after reading this thread I might just stay home.

Tabitha500 · 29/12/2025 22:54

Dysentery in Dubai! Started 2 days before flying home! Loaded up with Imodium and managed to get home! Got tested by GP and confirmed dysentery!

Fingalscave · 29/12/2025 23:32

Broke a toe in a swimming pool when I was 16. It was so painful. I have had no feeling in it since

WearyAuldWumman · 29/12/2025 23:35

A gastric bug in Krasnodar, the former Soviet Union and a kidney stone in former Yugoslavia.

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 29/12/2025 23:41

OldGothsFadeToGrey · 29/12/2025 22:47

The year after I stood on a sea urchin and on the way back from hospital was in a RTC with a fatality.

also had the standard ear infections.

Never go anywhere without insurance.

PSA if you are travelling at least 2 hours, even in the UK, make sure you have insurance.

Although after reading this thread I might just stay home.

Edited

Why insurance in the UK?

worriedsickson19 · 29/12/2025 23:42

Went to Arran for a week when the kids were young, not a great flyer, so decided a ferry would be a better option. Woke up in the night on day two with a horrific pain in my throat, a temperature and vomiting. After 4 hours in the cottage hospital they diagnosed sepsis and had me helicoptered off the island! I don’t know what was worse, the pain or the absolute terrifying journey in an air ambulance!

ahhshucks · 29/12/2025 23:44

My worst nightmare is myself or my kids (or dh for that matter) getting seriously ill abroad. There is just nothing worse than being unwell and so far away from home. Genuinely one of my biggest anxieties and actually put me off going abroad for a long time.

ParentingRollerCoaster · 30/12/2025 00:01

Had what appeared to be COVID when on a road trip and planning to camp each night.... not great... especially as I was worried about arriving at my parents house infectious.. as well as worried about infecting anyone I was coming into contact with.. it was after all restrictions had been lifted but still.. we had to check in to rooms at the back of a pub in Loughborough so I could sleep. Thankfully it passed quickly and didn't test positive for COVID but I was not convinced. It was the worst night I have ever spent in a tent and two pretty awful days driving. We were heading from our home in France to my parents in Ireland so could neither go home nor press on before I was better.

SabrinaThwaite · 30/12/2025 00:24

winnieanddaisy · 29/12/2025 22:28

I’ve never been ill or had an injury on holiday but my DH was ill in Mexico. We bought some antibiotics but they didn’t work . He went to the doctors once we got home and they tool a sputum sample . Two days later he was called to the hospital and was admitted with Legionnaires Disease . We had bought the wrong antibiotics, amoxicillin, when he needed erythromycin which the one that works on that disease.
Apparently he caught it from the shower in our hotel room as he had had the first shower after our arrival , otherwise it would have been me sick and not him .

My neighbour’s DH got legionnaires from a work trip to the US (hotel shower). Arrived home unwell, she called 999 as he looked so awful, just before he collapsed. He was out for about a week, woke up in hospital, and not the first one he’d been sent to.

Worth noting that in your own home you should run showers regularly (especially if you have a shower that isn’t used often).

OSTMusTisNT · 30/12/2025 00:34

Food poisoning in Ibiza (not the partying part of the island, i was probably around 40 at the time).

Came on so suddenly, one minute sitting in bed reading my book and the next head first down the loo and spewed for about 12 hours. Slightest movement made me sick, had to get myself into the recovery position on the tiled floor in the bathroom and just kept as still as I could. Genuinely wanted to die I felt so ill.

(Also pissed all over the place as I was puking so violently my pelvic floor fell off - DH was really worried and wanted to get a Dr. but the thought of someone walking in to see me bollock naked on the floor in a puddle of piss 😳).

Gettingbysomehow · 30/12/2025 00:58

I had horrific abdominal pain for days. It ruined my holiday. On the last day I felt something pop out of me. It was my coil. I have rejected every one since so I cant have them. They just get rejected by my body. Weird.

c2025 · 30/12/2025 01:25

sprigatito · 29/12/2025 19:19

Sunstroke and third degree burns. I fell asleep on a beach in a swimsuit when I was 7. My dad had to cut holes in my t shirt for the massive yellow blisters to poke through. Never felt so ill in my life.

Jesus! That was so negligent of your parents to not make sure you had suncream top ups!

CanNotBeArsedAtAll · 30/12/2025 01:57

Went completly deaf from Scuba diving on 2nd day of holiday... Come back the day i went home 😬

Raindropsontourists · 30/12/2025 02:27

9 stitches in my bum because I was hit by a snowboarder in France

broken collar bone as I was hit by a skier in Switzerland- I was stationary!

Covid in Peru and felt hideous not helped by altitude.

Nora virus after a flight to the US - OMG it was just beyond awful sitting on the loo vomiting into the sink!

OldGothsFadeToGrey · 30/12/2025 07:07

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 29/12/2025 23:41

Why insurance in the UK?

Show quote history

For exactly the same reasons you get it when abroad. Cancellations, weather, lost luggage, medical emergencies, disruptions, delays. Personal liability. Theft.

Ok we have the NHS for medical treatment itself but kids can get sick, bookings would have to be cancelled, and cottages/hotels can be expensive to just miss out on going when you’ve paid. if my appendix had burst in the UK I’d have needed specialist transportation home and that would have been expensive but covered.

If anyone has an underlying condition that there’s even a small chance could flare up. Just days before my appendix burst I was told by my paediatrician that it ‘would never burst’. Red faces there then.

We’ve got a couple of uk cottage breaks coming up, their policies state they can cancel and if this is short notice it’s would be hard to replace and we’d lose our other bookings based around it. Also got elderly relative I’m responsible for and small children so if anything happened there I’d have to cancel.

GreenMarigold · 30/12/2025 08:06

As a child I came down with Mumps on day 2 of our holiday to Spain. Spent all week confined to the hotel room looking at everyone swimming in the lovely pool. I think I managed a dip on the last day before flying home!

RiderGirl · 30/12/2025 08:14

Twisted my ankle badly at the bottom of a flight of stairs at 11pm, we were flying home the next morning, I had to strap it up and just hop through the airport, it was horrific my foot was black and swollen with bruising, this was years ago and my ankle has never really recovered properly and I've done it a couple of times again since!