Last time I relapsed was on a 5 day city break to Seville 58 days ago. I had my longest ever streak of 65 days. I’m going to Prague today and I very very much do not want a recurrence, so here goes.
Every aspect of this trip will be new territory for me because I’ve never had a trip abroad that didn’t involve alcohol, and that is about 50 times in my life. I usually start at the airport, if not before, because it’s all part of the element of being on my jollies that has been normalised in British culture. Airport time is time to drink, because the pubs are open and it’s 7pm somewhere, right? Even if it’s fuckin 5am.
I already feel more positive and confident about sobriety for this trip than the last trip for a number of factors. 1) I don’t feel as overwhelmed to the point where I feel like staying sober is about to lead to some kind of nervous breakdown if I DON’T drink. 2) This trip has been booked with sobriety in mind, Seville wasn’t. I just thought I could still do normal life sober because I’d had success with sober gig going etc. 3) I’ll chronicle this trip and that’s been the plan for a while. Whenever I feel the need to come here, I’m on it Connection is important. ODAAT!
I don’t usually give advice on here, mostly out of fear of saying the wrong thing or giving shit advice, or sometimes I’m just a bit late and someone else has already said what I wanted to say. I’m more of a react kinda person.
Thank you to everyone who has commented or reacted so far.
I’m just going to copy pasta a bit of advice I gave a couple of weeks ago in a thread about holiday drinking. It’ll be a good reminder of my relapse.
I relapsed after a 65 day streak when I went on holiday and in hindsight it’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.
What did I miss from drinking? Fuck all!
In fact, being under the influence made me nauseous, dizzy, lightheaded and my BP went sky high. It gave me the shits again and resulted in piles, which bled.
In the aftermath it fucked up my precious sleeping pattern and body clock all over again, that resulted in extreme tiredness and anxiety for about a week.
This is just a small sample of things off of the top of my head.
Just one more thing - the hangovers.
Fuck. In. Hell!!!
On the plane on the way home I thought I was going to die. I sat there suppressing vomit. Sweat on my face. Zero colour in my face. I felt as weak as a kitten and I was shaking like a shitting dog! I literally felt EVERY cabin change of temperature and pressure.
When I got home mid afternoon I collapsed on the couch and only moved to go to bed. I unpacked the suitcase a couple of days later. Because I was useless!
We’re part of sober time because for whatever reason we can’t moderate.
I want you to Google ‘The kindling effect’.
Don’t throw away your impressive streak. Keep building those days.
Oh absolutely. I’m done with the hangovers from hell, and I don’t have it in me to start building up a tolerance - I’m no spring chicken anymore. Plus, I’m enjoying life without it and saving shitloads of money.
The money I’ve saved has paid for this trip and will pay for another in July. I can’t remember the last time I took 3 foreign holidays in the same year, I have done but it’s a rarity. I only took 1 last year.
I survived a 5 hour stay in the airport without touching a drop of alcohol. Good grief it was boring but I’m on the plane now after a 90 minute delay. Next little milestone will be a sober flight which should be fine because I normally drop off to sleep before take off and awake when I land.
I know you like a challenge Phil. Take care over there. I was there four years ago and drinking was literally everywhere. And very cheap too. Wouldn’t advise it to people early in recovery. But you have a plan. Stick with it. Prague sure is beautiful. Enjoy it sober friend.
And I agree with your advise on googling kindling. As well as looking up the syndromes of Korsakoff and Wernicke, hepatic encephalopathy, esophageal varices, to name just a few of the things I see on the daily in my work.
I’ve been here before 8 years ago, so I kinda know the place. I’ve bagged us some tickets for a jazz club (Agartha) on the Saturday and Sunday night and tomorrow we’ll try out a different one. I can do gigs sober so that’s gonna keep me entertained in the evenings when boredom has a chance of creeping in. I’m no jazz purist btw, I don’t even own much jazz music or stream it in my free time, but I’ve been to a few shows and really enjoyed them.
This morning I feel as fresh as a daisy and ready for the day’s adventures. We’ve got a visit to the library and tower in the main square and then a 3 hour walking tour.
Seville has a big tower that you can walk up to the top and enjoy the view, and because of a hangover I was blowing outta my srse when I got to the top. I’m not anticipating the same issues today.
The pillow is soft and I am sober.
