That’s a good clickbait title, but what happens if you don’t feel well on a one-in-a-lifetime trip?
I have health issues that have stopped me from doing activities; it happens. You need to know yourself, how your body/medical issues will react, and make peace with not going and doing something else that is fun.
I was in France and was set to visit the Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole, where Van Gogh stayed for a year and painted The Starry Night and others. However, it would be 100 degrees or 37 degrees, and that kind of weather is bad for people with asthma, which I have. I wanted to go, but not enough to deal with an asthma attack. So I got up early and walked around Avignon for a few hours, and by ten am, I was in the hotel watching TV and eating some ice cream. Sometimes a day of rest near the end of a vacation is just what you need. As for Vincent’s room in the Monastery, I’ve already seen it as he saw it, through his paintings.
My second antidote happened during my Oregon Trip. I can get Mirgrains due to visual situations. I had a boss with a skinny pinstripe tie that could set me off once, I love Enter the spider verse, but I get a headache after watching it. In Oregon, my issue was straying took long in the fog without sunglass because I was in my hotel. I felt it coming on, and I knew I needed to stay in a dark room to stop the full-blown Mirgain from starting. I had the TV on and found a new favorite life below zero.
I have stories of adventures I didn’t go on for most of my trips; you must accept your limits and make the best of them. I didn’t go hiking up a hill in Australia to go zip lining (again, weather and asthma), so I spent the whole day sitting on the beach under a shady tree. I watched tiny sand crabs clean their section of the beach.
I didn’t walk along the path in Hawaii’s volcano park due to fumes, my family went, and I listened to music while watching the Ocean. I didn’t get off the boat for the morning landing in Antarctica; I took my fast-acting inhaler and just watched the penguins swimming from my room. One day in Patagonia, I didn’t get up with the sunrise morning photo trip; I just went back to sleep. That was the day the wind picked up, and the tiny pebbles hit people. I went out on the hotel deck and took photos of dogs, and the light hit the mountains around 8ish.
You have to ask yourself; can I do this, will I feel miserable the whole time, and could this cause more sick days for the rest of the trip?
I would also say to plan the trip with off days. Don’t try to fit activities for every min of your trip; you will burn out. Have a plan B ready by identifying some easy events like a museum/aquarium or a bus tour (hop on hop off busses are a great way to see the sights when the weather is bad). If you are sick, just let yourself be sick, be kind to yourself.
If you have a bad foot/knee/back and the trip will involve multiple day-long hikes, then put some rest days between the hikes. Talk to your Dr in advance; talk about some just in case of medicine like antibiotics, steroids, prescription anti-inflammatories, what over-the-counter medicine could help (there are other anti-motion sickness medications), going to a physical therapist for exercises to do pre/post activity, getting braces (knee brace, back brace), or spend extra money for better walking/hiking shoes with custom insoles.