Allie Goes Global

In a turn of events that is shocking to absolutely no one, I woke up on day 14 still in a lot of pain and not particularly able to walk. My plans for this day included a rather extensive walking route, so some changes had to be made.

I decided to go ahead and book the London Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) Bus. I love a HOHO bus, and almost every major city has at least one. The one for London even has a couple of different routes. I figured I could at least see everything I wanted to see, even if I didn’t have the stamina to get out and walk to it. They generally have an audio guide offered in a ton of different languages, so you can follow along with everything you’re seeing.

I managed to get to the bus and get the spot right in the front on the top level. This proved to be a mixed bag. Firstly, it was freezing. It was February, and, being outside, there was of course no climate control. That’s an obvious problem. Being in the front, I got the best views of everything. However, I was behind a windshield, so all of my pictures have a glare on them. You take the good with the bad.

I did get to see just about everything on my itinerary, in one form or another. I did not see Buckingham Palace, because they don’t allow buses in front of it. That’s fine, something for next time. When we passed the houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the sun came out. I thought that was a great thing, until I looked back at my pictures for the day.

At this point, however, I had a problem. My foot was now aggressively pounding even while I was sitting down. No weight on it, still shrieking with pain. So I bit the bullet and called the NHS helpline. They told me an urgent care to go to, and I summoned another Uber. Off topic, but the amount of money that I spent on Ubers and black cabs in London alone was… way too much.

Turns out, the urgent care I was sent to was also an emergency room. I went in, travel insurance card in hand, prepared to pay my £100 deductible. The person running the check-in was pretty confused by me trying to give her money, and finally told me that there was no charge unless they admitted me. As an American, used to the American healthcare system, that was a new experience.

I know the NHS has some problems, and I have heard many stories from people who rely on it about the wait times for care being months long. My experience, in this instance, was stellar. After checking in, I was put into an entirely packed waiting room. I was in the hospital for two hours tops. In that time, I was triaged, got several x-rays, saw a doctor, and left without paying a dime. Turns out, I sprained my foot. The doctor told me that as long as I could stand the pain, I didn’t need to change my activities. I wasn’t going to make it worse by walking on it. She also advised using ibuprofen gel, rather than taking it orally. I’m now a convert to ibuprofen gel, which is almost unavailable in the US.

So, back to the hotel I went, determined that I would stick to all of my plans for my final day in the city the next day. At this point, I had basically lost two days out of the three days I had total for the city. All because I, in a fit of childish joy, decided to run across a wet street. You live and learn, I suppose.