A Trip Away With an Uncomfortable Bed

Since I was about 10 years old, every summer I would go on a holiday with my mam, my aunt and my grandparents. It was our tradition. Sometimes we would even go twice a year. We would always go to the same place. Alcudia in Spain.

Because of Covid-19, we have not been able to go for the past two years. This year we decided that the five of us would go on a staycation. We booked an Airbnb in West Cork. This is only an hour and a half from where I live. Our plan was to stay there from Friday to Monday. I was excited to get away for the weekend and stay in the countryside in an idyllic quiet town. I love West Cork, the scenery, and the peacefulness really helps me to relax. It’s my favorite place in Ireland!

Adventure time

I decided that I would drive myself and my mam down. I got a new car, it has heated seats and I wanted to take it for a spin! The drive down was fine, which I’m very happy about as if you’ve read my article "Driving Difficulties and Ankylosing Spondylitis" you will know the difficulties I had driving my last car.

Anyways, we arrived at the beautiful town located in West Cork on Friday. My fatigue levels were very low as my injection day was due on Saturday. The drive down and attending college classes in the morning took up all the spoons I had left. Before arriving at our Airbnb we stopped in a restaurant and had a lovely dinner. All I was thinking about was when I could lie down.

When we got to our Airbnb, my mam filled up my hot water bottles and I spent the evening lying on the couch chatting with my family. We had a lovely night first night together.

Bed time

I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and got ready for bed.  As soon as I got into the bed, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep there. I had my hot water bottles which helped my pains but oh this mattress was too hard! I tried not to think about it.

I put on the "Calm" app and selected a sleep story to listen to. I do this every night. Usually, Stephen Fry is the only one that helps me sleep. I was lying there listening to Stephen Fry’s calming voice trying to forget about how hard the bed was. I was tossing and turning trying to get comfortable.

After a few hours, I decided that the carpet floor seemed like a more promising option for comfort. It was, but I still couldn’t sleep there. I got up and put on the light, I found two more duvets in the wardrobe. I put them on top of the bed to try to make the bed softer, longing for sleep. This made it a little better, but it was still too hard!

I knew I wasn’t going to sleep here, I thought about going out to the living room and attempting to sleep on the couch. The silence in West Cork is one of the things I love about the place but at 3 in the morning it made me scared. I was too afraid to go out and sleep on the couch. The house was literally in the middle of nowhere and there was a huge window with no curtains in the living room. So, I decided not to leave this bedroom.

I laid in bed uncomfortably. I was frustrated and tired. I spent the night crying over the hard bed and the pain that my body was in. The last time I checked my watch it was 5:40. In the end, I slept for about 3 hours.

Morning time

I woke up, still frustrated, still in pain and once again I was crying. When I’m overtired, I cry a lot, I feel like a toddler. I decided that I could not sleep here another night.

I had breakfast with my family, we went down to the town, had a little walk, and sat by the water. I didn’t feel frustrated anymore, but I was upset. I wanted to stay here for the whole weekend, I didn’t want to have to go home over an uncomfortable bed. But I had to. My family understood and advised that I drive home before it was dark.

I was lucky that I decided to drive myself down as otherwise my family would have had to come home too to bring me home. I was never so happy to see my bed. As soon as I came home, I got straight into bed and stayed there until the following morning.

If only I could bring my orthopedic mattress with me everywhere!

Have you had a similar experience to this?