u/Sufficient_Goat_7026

For anyone who has worked in retail, restaurants, hotels or other service roles, what was your experience like serving British tourists? Did you find them generally friendly, polite or reserved compared to domestic or other international guests? I'd be interested to hear any standout stories, cultural mix ups, vocabulary differences or tipping experiences. Also, whether you've ever had to handle a rowdy or drunk group (since we do have a bit of a reputation for that unfortunately!)

Hi, I live in England and I've had agoraphobia since I was a kid. My mum had it pretty bad as well in her late teens and there are things she avoids today like flying, which she hasn't done since she was pregnant with me. So I didn't fly as a child and get used to it from an early age. By the time I was old enough to go by myself I had developed agoraphobia.
My agoraphobia is pretty bad in some ways, I really struggle to go anywhere far in the car, and avoid walking in wide open fields. But on the other hand I've managed to travel around Europe by train.
I find travelling stressful but thankfully exciting as well.
There are a lot of places outside of Europe I would love to visit but I would need to fly. Cruises take too long and are too expensive for me.
Fear of flying for me is not necessarily to do with safety it's about feeling trapped thousands of feet up in the air, the vastness of the sky (although I know I don't have to look out the window...) the speed and uncomfortable sensation of take-off etc
I feel like my anxieties are too severe to cope on a plane. Do you guys think with the right therapy I might be able to do it in the future?

I live in England. Yesterday I got back from 10 day trip travelling around Ireland by train. First place was Dublin. Really wasn't keen initially, the vibe of the place wasn't that great but after exploring more of the city I grew to like it more and I felt it had charm. Good amount of thing to do, nice parks, the rock n roll museum was a great experience for a music nerd like me. The prices in Ireland, especially Dublin, are kind of ridiculous and it's definitely one if it's biggest issues I had with the city. That being said I'm still pretty fond of Dublin.

Next Belfast. I had never even considered visiting Belfast until the last few years when I had heard from multiple people how much they enjoyed the city. I've got to be honest, I can't really see what they love about it. It's surprisingly chill (even the train station when it had a lot of passengers walking around was chill and quiet) but it's just kind of dull too. It's not a city that's very easy on the eye although that's partly a post war redevelopment thing. Not many things to do either but the Titanic museum was very good. I would definitely recommend that.

Galway- this was the biggest disappointment. I thought this was going to be my favourite place but I was surprised how small it was. The Salthill promenade/beach is a 40 min walk away and that's right by a main road. The buildings in the area are a bit tatty.
I will say though that the streets and shops in the city centre are cute. I just don't get why the place is always highly recommended.

Cork- A lot bigger and crowded than I thought it was going to be. Pretty rough in a lot of areas. A lot of addicts around causing issues. I was getting a bottle of water one morning in a shop and three addicts tried to just casually walk out with some items.
There's tons of shops, restaurants, a few cool bookshops but I can't say I recommend this city.
Cobh- a coastal town just a 25 minute train journey from Cork. Very pretty location and worth going to but it's very small. It didn't take long to explore the place.

As for the trains I was happy to not have to deal with any cancellations or delays the whole week like I would in England. As soon as I got back to England I was facing a total of 40 min delay...The trains are a bit cheaper in Ireland too compared to UK (if you decided to buy point to point tickets) The seats are comfortable enough and their is air con as well. Another big plus is that the toilets in the train stations are decent and most importantly free to use. Most countries in Europe outside of UK and Ireland you have to pay to use them and it's especially infuriating if they only accept cash and you don't have the right change.

For some reason my ticket never scanned at the ticket gates. A member of staff always had to let me in. I saw that happen to other people. I don't know if it's an technical issue that's been happening lately or that they never work? Who knows. One of the other differences I noticed between UK and Ireland is that things aren't signposted as well in Ireland, they're not as explained as well what to do, where to go. Not sure why this is either.

Most of my train journeys were around 2 and a half hours but they were comfortable and the scenery was nice. Yes, maybe I wasn't in love with a lot of places I went to and I'm a bit critical of them but I still enjoyed my trip. If anyone is considering travelling through Ireland by train and they want advice or have any questions give me a shout.

I get about 4 matches a week on Hinge. Nothing much I know but I'm an average looking guy so I think that number is standard. However I've had no matches in the past week and no likes. Do you think it's a drought or a type of ban?

I had a right hemicolectomy 2 years ago and it was great to be able to be without symptoms and eat normally for the first time in many years. I had a colonoscopy last year and everything including the join looked very good. All they found was psuedo polyps (indicating past inflammation)
However I experienced a flare a month and a half ago, my calprotectin was at 930 despite having been on 40mg of prednisolone for a week when I did the stool sample.
I was having blood (not sure if from bowel inflammation or anal fissures) lots of bloating and mild to medium cramping. Eating even soft food made my symptoms a lot worse. Although, my bowel frequency, after being on pred, was no more than 3 times a day and almost always solid.
I've been on a liquid diet for two and a half weeks but for some reason those nutritional drinks (like Ensure, Fortisip etc) seem so hard to get. I live in the UK and the NHS is clearly struggling so much they seem almost reluctant to give me them, especially a large amount. Plus my IBD team are very unreliable. You have to leave a voicemail message and they get back to you. Sometimes it's on the same day but once it took them a whole week despite me calling two separate times and being in A&E. I told them a few days ago I'm out of those drinks. They said they'd try and get me more but I've heard nothing back.

I had a small bowel ultrasound last Friday. the findings were: short segment of narrowing of ileocolonic anastomosis over very short length (1.8cm). Slightly thickened bowel wall (5mm) and probable focal hypervascularity (suggesting a degree of active inflammation) The small bowel immediately upstream is slightly dilated (1.7cm) but no evidence of small bowel disease elsewhere and no obstruction.

My gastro's plan is for me to take azathioprine to try and boost the infliximab (my current treatment) because he still sees infliximab as being able to work for me (my latest infusion showed levels at 6.3 and antibody levels at 17) I used to take azathioprine many years ago and it worked very well for a few years but symptoms came back, they increased the dose but I got leukopenia. So knowing that, they plan to use a low dose and monitor blood tests very carefully. He also wants me to have another ultrasound at week 8 and if it isn't working to switch to Stelara.

What doesn't make sense to me is that he said in the ultrasound report that there is likely active inflammation (despite me being in pred. I'm on 20mg at the moment) and obviously I need to keep reducing the pred by 5mg every week. and the fact Azathioprine can take up to 8 weeks to work (he mentions that in the letter) he wants me to start taking Aza next week. But that means I'm going to be without pred to shield me for 6 weeks. 6 weeks of inflammation likely getting worse and the narrowing possibly getting worse. 8 more weeks of a liquid diet. Misery....
Do you guys think this is a bad plan?

I only have about two medications left to try. I've tried Azathioprine which worked well for 4 years but then I started getting cramps and loose stool again. When they increased the dose my white blood cell count went too low. A few years later Azathioprine wasn't even registering in my blood tests. Methotrexate had the same effect on my white blood cells.

Then I tried Vedolizumab which didn't work. Then I was put on Infliximab which I'm still currently on. When I first started taking it my bowel was already so impacted and I had two fistulas that I needed a right hemicolectomy. Regardless, I've been doing well on Infliximab for almost 3 years but my antibodies are now at 17 and I'm going through what feels like a flareup now. The last time I spoke to my gastroenterologist I think he said I only have a couple of options left. I might be wrong but I think he might have mentioned using a drug in combo with Azathioprine even though he acknowledge I had trouble with that drug in the past. I think he also mentioned a pill or a injection you have to give yourself in the stomach.

So it's highly likely I'll need a permanent stoma in the near future unfortunately. It's not ideal obviously but it's just one of those things I have to accept. I was wondering how people on here have managed their lives having to have one and also, knowing that Crohn's can affect anywhere in the GI tract what are the chances of inflammation significantly affecting other areas and how can it be treated?