The Misadventures of Jeff and Sarah

Hi there friends! This blog post is a little different than our other posts since we were stuck in a city for two weeks with Sarah hospitalized for several of those days and self-isolated in an apartment for a week without venturing outside. For reasons out of its control, Athens ended up being seen through whatever the opposite of rose colored glasses is for us. So sorry in advance if any of this post comes off as bitter. The people of Athens were some of the friendliest we have been around and the culture there was very lively. It certainly isn’t their fault that we will probably never go back to Athens.

We last left off with Sarah feeling miserable. She had a high fever and severe migraines. We weighed the pros and cons of going to the doctor in Santorini or trying to make it to Athens with a much broader spectrum of medical expertise. When she woke up with the fever, she smartly referenced our insurance and met with an online doctor. Given the information on her symptoms and the exhausting adventures she went on the last few days, he made the call to treat her for dehydration and exhaustion. So bed rest and lots and lots of liquid (I made three trips to the convenience store in one day to keep her stocked on Powerade). She was still testing negative for Covid, and when the day arrived for us to leave Santorini, we decided it was best to seek help in Athens.

Acropolis

Sarah loaded up on Dramamine and fever reducers and braved the onslaught of crazy taxi drivers, overzealous airport security, and small rickety airplanes. We landed in Athens and made our way to the place we were staying. The most she got to see of the sights there at the time was a picture I took of the Acropolis while going to the pharmacy for her. When her symptoms did not improve after resting for a few hours we decided a trip to the ER was in order.

The hospital we went to was a private hospital with no Covid ward. In order to be examined, she got another Covid test at the hospital and tested negative. The doctors there were very thorough and kind. They noticed her inflammation levels were elevated from blood tests. This pointed to meningitis, but would not be able to be confirmed until further tests the next day. They recommended her stay the night there for observation. So yeah, great….

I did what any sane person would do and changed my hair color to purple once I got back to the apartment. I was still optimistic at this time that after getting hospital goodies her body would turn the corner, and she would be out of the hospital in a day. Our first full day in Athens, I tried to balance my time in the hospital and fitting in a little sightseeing. I was able to visit the Acropolis and snag some pics and videos. It was at this point that I started feeling some semi-illness creeping up. I again tried to be optimistic since my Covid tests were also negative and it was extremely hot there which I do not handle very well.

More Acropolis with the new Do

While I was sightseeing, Sarah had the extremely fun experience of getting a spinal tap. From that, they determined she had a form of meningitis. Depending on what the cause of meningitis is, it can certainly be fatal. The best course of action was for her to be hospitalized for at least five days so they could keep an eye on her vitals and treat her for whatever issues might arise. Based on her symptoms, it did not appear that she had the extreme version of it, but it was definitely better to be safe than sorry.

We were only supposed to stay in Athens for two nights. After that we were to head to Istanbul. Obviously, this was not going to work out. We canceled all of the reservations we could. By the way, Turkish Airlines has the worst customer service we have had to deal with (other than UPS, which is another story). I booked a new place to stay for the long haul. It was not the best place in the world, but I figured it would suffice for being a place I only needed to sleep in.

Post phone being returned beer and pizza

After Sarah went to sleep on the second night there, I decided to get a late dinner and sample some of the local craft brews of Athens. I went to beertime and was seated outside. It was such a lovely place to decompress a little bit. One of my favorite things about Athens is that there are seemingly hundreds of parks and green spaces. Each one is surrounded by all kinds of restaurants, cafes, and pubs. Outside of beertime, there was live music, art everywhere, and about one hundred people enjoying their Friday night. While looking at the menu, I was approached by someone who seemed to be asking for money (I’m not 100% sure since I don’t speak Greek). I apologized to him and tried to say I did not have any cash. He lingered around my table for a little while, which really didn’t bother me, but the manager of the restaurant came out and relatively forcibly asked him to leave. To try and not emarres this fellow, I tried to pretend I wasn’t paying attention and looked down at the menu. He did end up leaving, and after a couple of minutes I wanted to text Sarah and tell her I couldn’t wait to take her to this pizza place. I reached for my pocket; it was empty. I looked at the table; no phone there. I looked around the table; the phone was gone.

F***

When I looked down and focused on the menu, the dude swiped my phone from the table.

S***

I looked up with panic on my face. The manager saw this, and I pieced together what happened a little later. Someone either saw the dude steal my phone or the guy tried to quickly pawn it off to someone else. Either way this good samaritan knew something was up and took the phone from the dude. He then walked around the park square, going table to table asking if anyone lost a phone. Right before I noticed my phone was missing, he asked the manager of beertime if anyone there had lost a phone. The manager said he didn’t think so and the dude went on. When the manager noticed my panicked face, he put two and two together and asked me about my phone’s status. When I told him it was gone, he quickly went into the crowd to track down the dude with my phone. After a couple of sweaty minutes, they both returned with my phone in tow. I profusely expressed my gratitude. Another bystander said I needed to pay this man for his good deed. I happily agreed, but unfortunately did not have any cash. I offered to pay for his dinner or a drink, but he kindly declined. The manager did give him a handful of Euros that he accepted. This great man then said his goodbyes and went on his way. Once my heartrate got back down to normal, I was able to focus enough to pick out a pizza and enjoy a beer (or two).

On the third day in Athens, I had to transport all of our baggage from our first apartment to the new hotel. That is two suitcases, two backpacks, and two giant suitcase backpacks. Unfortunately, I picked a place that was on a pedestrian only road. So the cab driver had to drop me off a couple of blocks away. The neighborhood I was in did not particularly look like a place I could leave a bag unattended for a few minutes. So I carried everything all at once to the hotel. It was about 100 F outside. It was humid. I have no idea how far I actually walked, but it certainly felt like a mile. After settling in and cooling off, I learned what my new commute to Sarah’s hospital would be and went to hangout.

Acropolis but a little smaller

That night I got only a couple hours of sleep while I struggled to keep the intermittent air conditioning running. When I woke up, I felt the worst I had on the trip, but still no fever or severe symptoms. When I arrived at the hospital Sarah was talking to her doctor and had a peculiar expression on her face. They had just found out the cause for the meningitis was Covid! It was an extremely rare manifestation of the disease. We were all shocked, especially because she had tested negative all the way up to that day. Looking back, we shouldn’t have been so shocked considering our travels and activities. I had to take a Covid test immediately to be allowed in the hospital and that also came back negative. The doctor informed us that this hospital did not have a Covid ward and that Sarah was to be immediately discharged. Since Sarah was getting a little better every day, the doctor did not recommend going to a Covid ward, but instead self-isolating in our hotel for at least five days. My first thought was that the hotel I just booked was by no means a healthy place to be stuck in for so long. We immediately looked for a new place and found one not too far from the hotel. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, I took Sarah’s clothes to be washed the day before and wasn’t due to pick them up until later day. The hospital wanted us out ASAP. So I had to run to the nearest store and pick out clothes for her. I ended up spending the best €5 I think I ever had. The cover picture for this blog post is what I ended up getting. :)

We got back to the hotel to collect our luggage. I attempted to get a refund for the days we would not be staying there. At first they said that would not be possible. I responded with that is fine, I am just going to write a really bad review of the hotel and had pictures I could share of the experience. They quickly changed their tune and agreed to a full refund. So the gross hotel will remain nameless. :) We then headed to our new home for the next week and some change.

Covid life

The next few days were quite uneventful. The first morning in our new place, I woke up with a fever and tested positive for the spicy cough. Luckily, Sarah was getting better every day, and I only had a day or two of a high fever. After that, I started to get better. Sarah tested negative a few days into our isolation and after five days of my positive test, felt well enough to do some exploring of her own. The mundane day-to-day started to be harder to deal with than the actual illness. So I occupied my mind by making new cartoons and a Covid life video.

With our Schengen days stacking up faster than we intended since we were only supposed to be in Athens for three days, we had to start modifying our trip. The most immediate change was to cut out Istanbul entirely and add a week to Croatia. We also changed the order of the cities we were visiting in Croatia to make our travel more efficient.

The day before we were scheduled to leave, Sarah’s doctors wanted to do one more spinal tap to make sure she was good to go. The test results ended up being well, but the effects of the actual test were a duzy. Sarah suffered from severe migraines for several days afterwards. It made for a really challenging travel day to Dubrovnik.

In the next blog, Sarah will talk more about our plans changing and the flight from hell.

Love,

Jeff and Sarah