There are lots of things people love to do at Disney World, but I’m positive that having the swine flu is not one of them. Unfortunately, that’s exactly how my vacation went.
It was the spring break of eleventh grade, and my family had been planning a trip to Disney World since the summer. We aren’t able to make big trips like that often (maybe once every three years or so), so naturally we were all very excited the morning when it was time to wake up, load up the family van, and make our eight hour trip from Montgomery, Alabama, my hometown, to Orlando, Florida. As you may remember, that spring of 2010 and its preceding winter saw the largest outbreaks of the swine flu, especially in the South, and the scare was spreading faster than the illness. I rarely get sick, so I wasn’t worried. But that morning, when I woke up to leave, I found myself with a cough. It was a small one at first, but only hours after I’d woken up it began to get progressively worse.
After only about two hours on the road, I felt like I was dying. I couldn’t hardly breathe for coughing so much, and I knew for a fact that I had a fever. I sat in the back of the van by myself with the windows rolled down so as to come into the least contact possible with my family. The rest of the trip down went exactly like that, and I went to sleep that night hoping that some rest would help. But the next morning I only felt worse, and it was our first day in the parks. We went to Animal Kingdom, and I don’t remember much of anything that went on that day because I was so out of it due to my fever (my parents tried to make me stay in the condo but I was determined to at least try to enjoy the day). I woke up the next morning feeling much better, almost perfect, but guess whose turn it was to be sick? Everyone else’s. My mother and sister were too sick to even leave, so it was just my dad, my brother and I, and that is how the entire rest of the week went, with the girls not getting to do a single thing. I felt so guilty because after the first day I was able to enjoy my trip while everyone else had to suffer. It was certainly the worst vacation experience any of us have ever had.
For any families planning similar vacations for this upcoming break, a word of advice: rent a condominium. It’s a bit pricier than a hotel room, but much more comfortable for a larger family and well worth it (especially if someone ends up sick). With that in mind, I hope you all will travel smart, stay safe, and, most importantly, have fun!