I’m cruising my way to Hawaii.
Unfortunately, the ocean is a little rough. It’s been interesting on board because people are tripping, running into stuff because the ship is moving underneath them. For those of us who are susceptible to motion sickness, we have two choices: break out the Dramamine, or put on some kind of wrist band.
My wife doesn’t get motion sickness, since she got used to it when traveling on her father’ boat. She asked me what the symptoms are like.
I said the first sign of it was cold sweat. It feels like a cold wind blowing. Then you want to reach for the bag.
I was deploying to an air base in the Middle East, in a jet called the C-5 Bus. That bus was scheduled to get two midair refuelings on the way. I knew this and took Dramamine before takeoff. Because Dramamine makes you drowsy, I fell asleep right away. The next thing I knew, we were refueling, and that jet was bouncing up and down. I knew something was going on, and then I saw people getting the sweats. Then one person, a tech controller I’ll call “Frank” turned pasty white. He was wiping sweat, then started grabbing for the bag. Another tech controller I’ll call “Bob” laughed at “Frank”, then he got sick all over himself. Once that happened, it became, as in “Stand By Me”, one big barf-a-Rama. The crew chief was spraying disinfectant to try and get that smell down but it just wouldn’t stop.
When that cold wind blows, it’s trouble.