Well that was an interesting night. One that we wouldn't want to repeat!

We had planned to spend last night in Barcelona Airport waiting for our 11:15am flight to Halifax, Canada.

Instead, we spent it at a hospital in Barcelona!

Lets back up to yesterday afternoon to start this story.

We said goodbye to Auntie Nice around 1:00pm, and took the tube to Victoria Coach Station. We had tickets for the 3:00pm bus to Gatwick. I didn't realize it at the time, but I didn't buy the Gatwick "express" tickets... I had bought the milk run. So we ended up going to Heathrow first, and then Gatwick.

A wide range of architecture outside London's Victoria Station.

The Shakespeare Pub.

Tourist bus.

In the lounge at Gatwick Airport.

We ended up getting to Gatwick just before 6:00pm. We were quickly through security and having a drink in the lounge at 6:15pm.

Our flight boarded at 8:30pm. I had paid for the extra legroom seats, and we were in the second row. It was a Vueling flight from London Gatwick to Barcelona. The cost including an extra bag and the extra legroom seats was €82 ($133 CAD, $96 USD) each.

We took off exactly on time, and the flight was going along fine. I think we each had a little nap.

But then I started feeling hot and sweaty. It came on really suddenly. And then I got a little bit light headed. Strangely, I also felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I was seated in the middle seat of the second row. I tapped the guy in the aisle seat on the shoulder, motioning that I needed to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was just three more steps in front of me, but I never made it that far.

I woke up on the floor with the flight attendants hovering over me as well as two doctors who just happened to be on board. Ruth thinks I might have been out for at least a minute. She was actually worried that I had kicked off. She said my eyes were wide open, but there was no recognition, and my face was white as a ghost. They were checking my blood pressure and saying that it was abnormally low. I felt like crap.

I really don't remember how long it took to get me back into a seat and strapped in for landing. They told me that they had radioed in a "medical emergency" and that there would be an ambulance and attendants waiting to take me off the plane.

They got me into the ambulance before anyone else was able to leave the plane. I have to say that the flight attendants and other passengers were absolutely great. 

Inside the ambulance, there was a doctor and a medical technician who hooked me up to a bunch of monitors. I was actually starting to feel better by this point, but they insisted they were taking me to hospital for further tests. I didn't argue.

It was probably 1:00am when we arrived at the emergency at Bellvitge University Hospital in Barcelona. They wasted no time. In fact there was zero waiting at all. People prodding and poking and asking questions and inserting needles for taking blood and possibly attaching intravenous medications. They were really good at explaining what they were doing. Most spoke decent enough English.

I was wheeled down to radiology where they did two different chest x-rays. 

Then into a room where Ruth could join me while we waited for blood test results.

I had a sleep for probably an hour, and started feeling much better. The doctors eventually came in saying that everything tested normally, but they wanted to monitor for a couple more hours. Again, nothing but good things to say about all the staff. They were great.

We were discharged at about 6:30am. They never gave us any indication as to what might have caused it, but I have a feeling it was either some kind of food poisoning or dehydration. Just grasping at straws though. At least everything else tested out normally, so that's good.

We don't purchase travel medical insurance, preferring to pay out of pocket as necessary. Having said that, this expense may or may not be covered by our credit card that comes with a variety of coverages. I haven't checked into it yet.

And how much was the bill? Well, the ambulance was free. The hospital stay and all the tests and exams came to €430 ($697 CAD, $502 USD). Not bad, all things considered.

Not feeling 100% yet, but good enough to do the walk to the local bus stop, and take the local bus to the airport.

Now in the premium lounge having some breakfast before our 7.5 hour 11:20am flight to Halifax, Canada. Lindsey is going to pick us up at the airport at 2;05pm local time in Halifax.

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