There are probably few, if any, long time cycle tourers who do not have a smattering of hospital experiences. The ones who have really negative ones are probably amongst the unfortunate minority.

In a weird way it is reassuring to know that everyone! has difficullties with SNCF. We alternate between arguing the point in our reasonably usable French and "being unable to speak or understand" any French at all. Hoping all goes smoothly on Monday, but it tends to be a crap shoot. Dodie

Hi,
For what it’s worth, my experience as a French resident, and regular user of the railway is no different than what is being reported here. I do have available to me work around that those trying to book from out side France don’t have, so I’ll add them here in case you find yourself in France needing a train. First, sncf.connect is the worst when it comes to finding anything that is not a TGV or other long distance train. I use hafas, the Deutschebahn site, in English to string trains together, or I use a travel agent. Not always reliable, but better than the sncf. Second, I argue A LOT with ticket takers. My experience has been that if I can get on the train with my bike, I can get to my destination, rules be damned. Only once did I have to pay the contrôleur anything extra, and it was only €10. This might not work if your French isn’t very good, but it might. I also note that when I know what might work from consulting the internet, I write the trains down and go to a ticket agent and hand them my list. If I have a ticket in hand, and the contrôleur gets upset I can tell him to take it up with management. By selling me a ticket, the sncf is obliged to honor it regardless of whether the ticket agent made a mistake.
Now, things do change, so maybe I’m not completely current, but it’s worth a shot trying some of these strategies.
Cheers,
Keith

We’ve got our own list of encounters with medical services on tour, all of them positive and all of which come quickly to mind. There’s something about the stress and anxiety and vulnerability of needing help on the road that really imprints on the memory. We’ve invariably been impressed by the quality of care we received as well as the cost. The ones that come immediately to mind:
- 1989, in Nova Scotia, when Rachael woke up scarcely able to breathe a few days after I crashed her coming down from the White Mountains in New England.
- 2010 in Verona, after I tore my quadriceps tendon on a ski trip;
- 2015 in Portland, when Rachael suffered a concussion when she crashed on bike trail;
- 2017 in Foix, when I needed emergency care after an apparent food poisoning episode;
- 2021 on the Mohican reservation in Wisconsin when I needed resuscitation after a debilitating arrhythmia episode.

Even at home we’ve always been blessed to receive excellent medical care (obviously we’re privileged to be able to afford good health insurance); but the experiences in Foix and Verona impressed me the most. Foix especially - I was in their ER all day under observation and on a saline drip, and it wasn’t free. Two months later back home we got a bill for €50, payable online.

This is Dodie. Steve seems to have made payments and bookings, but who knows for sure? I guess you need to check the blog at least on Monday for the truth. I am bringing 2 housses with me, just in case, and if all else fails we will dismantle the bikes sufficiently to shove them in and call them luggage.

Did you manage to pay? In 2019, I tried to book tickets and bike spaces using Trainline and also tried on SNCF, but every time I got to paying, my Canadian credit card was refused. I found out later only European credit cards were accepted. In the end, we booked at the CDG station and, of course, there were no bike spaces left. So we left our bikes in their cases to go to Bordeaux.

We are still 10 years behind you and truthfully it gets harder every year. E-bikes and river routes it will have to be.

We have now decided it is impossible for us to ever use bikes on trains again. With my mobility issues I can’t be any help with getting the bikes aboard. And at 87 to deal with two bikes and all our luggage seems rather a bid ask for Ken

Thank you John for your kind wishes.

Wishing you and your family the very best.

Wow, you have travelled more widely than I knew, and made a tour of exotic hospitals. Interesting, but not the kind of tour we would plan in advance!

An interesting topic, Steve. It's wonderful that the hospital makes it possible for you and Dodie to be with Joni.

Here in a nutshell some of our hospital experiences while traveling. Once in Siem Reap, Cambodia for severe deydration and diarrhea (a luxury hospital for foreigners where you had to pay a horrendous sum up front before they admitted you - later Janos' insurance covered it), Thailand for a sprained back (competent and free), India for a bronchial infection (where we saw the most outdated x-ray equipment you can imagine). The details would be interesting but that would be too much for a comment. At home I have been in the hospital in nearby Starnberg more often than I can count in the past year. The place is beautifully situated, light and airy, friendly, costs covered by my health insurance and the food is edible (not the case in many hospitals). We are always extremely thankful for our medical care here in Germany.

There are still leftover bits of Covid protocols, like social distancing, but even the hospital has signboards indicating only optional use of masks. There are some who prefer to mask in public still, but mostly not.

Interesting to note the people are standing far enough apart, but no one is wearing a face mask..and this IS a hospital…

Oh! Wonder Bread ! Ugh. Case closed. You are correct..it is not edible.