Travelling is Possible! (MikeG's Swiss Adventure)

[MikeG-2012]

For those of you who think that, since you have this awful disease, you cannot travel and do the things you love, I would like to tell you that it is possible! My wife and I spent two weeks in Switzerland at the end of July and early August.

Finding the right tour was the most important thing for the two of us, and we did find the right tour company--Funny Farm Travel of Mt. Horeb, WI. What a great family of third generation tour guides!

We stayed in Ringgenberg, Switzerland at the Hotel Baren for the entire two weeks. That was very important to us to base camp at one place and not have to be uprooted every day to stay somewhere new every night. We were able to adjust to the room, the bed, the breakfast and dinner schedules--you get the idea. The other nice thing is that our luggage was checked from O'Hare to the Interlaken train station and the tour company picked up our bags and brought them to our hotel (they also checked us in to our plane and delivered our checked bags to the train station the day before we left. So we did not have to deal with pulling luggage all around the country.

We used a Swiss travel pass to travel all modes of public transportation the entire time we were there. That is an amazing piece of paper. If you ever travel to Europe, look into a travel pass for the country you are visiting; It will save you a lot of money for an extended stay.

We saw so much when we were there, and even with a bad knee, we hiked (at our own pace) around the mountain from the Männlichen to the Kleine Sheidigg. That was an amazing two hours!

We took the time off from the tour to reconnect with all of my wife's cousins. Now that we have a Swiss family, we are invited back any time we want to go. Nice!

Anyway, just wanted to put out there that you do not have to let this disease win over your life! Get out there and do what you can!!

If any of you want to see photos of our trip, I uploaded a bunch (unedited) to www.flikr.com/mrgvideo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrgvideo/albums/72157686615074526)
(If you are OCD, start at the bottom and work your way up--that is the order in which they were taken) (-8

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

[vdub]

That is really neat that you got to go to Switzerland. You're right... Travel is very doable. in mid-Sep we are being interviewed by Canadian and US border control to get our NEXUS card. That should make things a bit easier. We prefer to fly mil air, tho, and don't need any special entry. We are hoping to go back to the UK this winter and then on to Germany, but I found out yesterday that the new knee I got last Feb has to be replaced. That will be done in Nov, so will impact travel for a couple months. The hypopara issue still plagues me, but I'm off the opiates for the moment. Generally, I feel like crap, but still charging forward.

[Pete]

Last spring, Cathy and I spent 3+ weeks overseas -- France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Scotland. Mike is right about the right tour company. Since we wanted to see a lot of places, we spent two weeks with GoAhead Tours. We traveled with them from Mannheim/Heidelberg, Germany, to Vienna. We also did 10 days on our own. It was great to have the flexibility. We generally did day trip adventures to Mont Ste Michel, D-Day beaches, Rhine cruise, Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Stuttgart, and the Edinburgh area in Scotland. Having the tour company handle bags was great. The tour director came through in the clutch when Cathy got sick. She got a doctor to our hotel room in Munich within two hours.

The bottom line is to not let the disease rule your life!!

[Alysia]

I made the biggest travel of my life, from Israel to Canada, twice, to take care of my sweet Phil during his last months on earth. It was the only year I was in remission. Divine providence.

What about some pictures ?

Here are some from our trip to Banff and Canmore. There are also pics of us in my albums.

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No idea why I get the pic on the side.. ? Trying another one...

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[mishb]

I absolutely agree with you all and love the freedom, that I have now, to travel, when I manage to save a few dollars that is.

For those wishing to travel, just make sure you take the appropriate precautions, as in hand sanitisers etc, make sure you have your WG paperwork and also ensure you know where hospitals are, on your travels.

Mike I'm so glad you got to have a wonderful vacation.

[Alysia]

Take enough pred for the trip 😜

[annekat]

Nice pics, Mike, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you were able to have such a great time!

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

[blu4runner]

Happy to hear that you had a great trip

[MikeG-2012]

Generally, I feel like crap, but still charging forward.

Glad to hear that you are off the pain killers, and are moving forward! I'll get my new knee on December 7th (I hope!)

[MikeG-2012]

Take enough pred for the trip 

I did indeed--even though I have been off of it for two years!

I also had addresses and phone numbers of doctors in the region that were providers that specialize in ENT and Rheum.

[Jaha]

Those are some awesome pictures Mike. I am happy that you and your wife were able to take such a wonderful trip. It looked like the relatives were happy to see you guys. That is really great to have a chance to go back when you want another get away. Please take care of yourself.

[gilders]

Glad to hear you managed to get away Mike.
Travelling and looking forward to my next trip has been the thing that has kept my sanity, especially since having to give up work.
I have been on holiday/vacation at least once a year, except for the year I was diagnosed (unless you call 7 months in hospital a vacation). The only other year that I've not being able to go on holiday is this year. To travel out of the UK you need to purchase travel insurance that covers medical expenses. It has always been extremely expensive as I have to declare my conditions (Wegener's, renal failure, haemochromatosis, osteoporosis,hypertension, high cholesterol, lung damage, sleep apnea, severe bleeding disorder, to name a few), but now that I have refused dialysis and I'm awaiting kidney transplant, no one will insure me.
It was our 10th wedding anniversary in May and we had been planning on travelling to Vegas, then renewing our vows at the Grand Canyon, visiting New York and finally going back to Clearwater Florida where we had our sunset wedding.
Hopefully a year after my transplant I will be fit enough and be able to afford this dream vacation. I'd also like to meet up with forum members who are in locations close to where we plan to visit.

[Bing505z]

Anyway, just wanted to put out there that you do not have to let this disease win over your life! Get out there and do what you can!!



Sounds like a great trip Mike! I agree with you, don't let the disease stop you from doing what you want. As for me, from Texas to Chicago, to Florida, and then to Istanbul, Turkey and to Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, it was a busy traveling year. Work and Hurricane Harvey prevented me from visiting Germany and my friend Jetmir (from this forum) in Macedonia...but it is on the list for 2018 if possible. Cheers to you in 2018!!