Ten hours of scheduled travel turned into fourteen. Not normally a big deal, except I suffered moderate motion sickness the entire day. I wore wrist bands, took non-drowsy ginger Dramamine and drank ginger beer (their version of ginger ale).

Let’s see, who makes bad decisions…

When I was very young, our father taught at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. A perk was sailing its 44-foot ocean-going yawls in the Chesapeake Bay, to impress family and friends. I never survived these expeditions without getting sick.

Returning from Australia, my two younger brothers were ill on the overseas flight. Dad did not help Mom, plus my other brother and I were oblivious. We made a quick stop in Ohio to visit grandparents and Dad purchased a new station wagon from the local Dodge Dealership a friend owned.

An hour outside of Youngstown, I felt sick. I told my parents in the front seat. Ignored.

I threw up on the back of Dads seat. You never saw a car screech to a halt so fast, except in high drama movies. He yanked my door open, pulled me out while screaming. I suffered a few bruises while Mom cleaned up. Thank goodness I hadn’t eaten much breakfast.

Thirty minutes later my brother Chris joined me. Mom was worn out from the previous week with our other brothers with the stomach flu, by now she had no patience. What a fun drive we had from Ohio to Florida. That’s where Dad dropped us off to finish an unseasonably short school year, at our maternal grandmothers, G.G. (He went to his next duty station, Patuxent River NAS; we joined him a few months later)

Knowing I’m susceptible to motion sickness, I try to limit exposure and/or use preventative measures.

For example, the Caribbean cruise Larry and his brothers gifted their parents, I tagged along with patches behind my ears, a shot in the ass midway by the ships doctor and after speaking to a pregnant woman, purchased acupuncture wrist bands to survive the last day at sea. I was miserable the whole time and it was smooth waters!

So, who scheduled these bus, plane, ferry, and train rides across New Zealand? I did.

I did, to give Larry a break from driving and a chance to enjoy the scenery. I’m older and wiser and knew I could handle short spurts of unpredictable travel. Wrong.

I slept this morning away in our last cozy apartment (wearing those acupuncture wrist bands to stop the internal motion) while Larry took off on an adventure to Tiritiri Matangi Island sanctuary to view exotic birds. It required a ferry ride, something I booked months ago. Something I couldn’t do today.

I have to admit, some of the adventures I booked with Larry in mind, I did enjoy. I had a good time on the cycling tours. Good time with the few hikes and walks too; being outside is optimal. I love the people we’ve met, everywhere. And I’d say New Zealand ranks up there with Portugal in my favorite column.

New Zealanders say, “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”

Well, in two days we fly home. Fingers crossed for good weather, don’t think clothing will help with kinetosis.