Our Trip to Greece

Finally, after ten months of being married, my wife and I were finally able to go on our honeymoon. We decided to go to Greece so that there was a mix of tourist attractions, and beaches. I have been nervous about traveling abroad since the day we booked this trip, but I did not want my anxiety to get in the way of our fun. We were able to find a flight that went direct to Athens. It would be a nine-hour flight.

I use the bathroom often because of my j-pouch

I made sure to tell my wife to book an aisle seat near the bathroom because I know I would be paying a visit at least ten times. Let’s remember that with my J-pouch, and chronic pouchitis, my baseline is around twenty times a day. I will tell you that I did not sleep the night before.

Of course, our flight was delayed for about two hours. We decided to eat light in the airport, but I was not that hungry. I knew that I would be served food on the plane, but again, I was not that hungry. Before I got on the large airplane, I must’ve gone to the bathroom around seven times. I was nervous. Of course, I worked myself up for nothing!

My stomach was acting up because of nerves

Once on the flight, the takeoff went pretty smoothly. I continued to go to the bathroom a few times. My wife noticed that I was getting up a lot, and asked if I was alright, and I was. It was just one of those days. The flight, believe it or not, went really well. There were a few bumps in the flight, but nothing out of the normal. I admit that my stomach was acting up all because I was nervous.

When we landed in Athens, I was of course “Jet lagged.” So when my body thought I should have been asleep, I was actually awake. So I strongly believe Crohn’s and internal clocks have a correlation. My body just stopped and I did not have to go to the bathroom for a few hours in Athens.

Public restrooms and explaining Crohn's is different in other parts of the world

What can I say, it is a beautiful city in Greece! We did start with a four-hour walking tour of the city. I will admit that it was hard to find public places that allowed me to use the bathroom. It is also interesting that they haven’t really heard of Crohn’s on that side of the pond. The people in Athens do know what inflammation of the stomach is but I don’t believe that there is a name they are familiar with.

One of the other reasons we traveled to Greece is because I do pretty well with a “Mediterranean diet. There is a lot of bbq meat options, and my wife who is a vegetarian can eat things there as well. One thing is for certain, the bathrooms are called something else in that part of the world.  Bathrooms are called “Water closets.” In the  shops and restaurants, they have the initials “WC.”  But this was not the most bizarre thing.