My face-plant in the name of blogging 52


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So, as it turns out, I got in a little bit of trouble in Costa Rica all because I was trying to get some content for you, my loyal readers.

Well that, and the fact that I am an idiot.

Let me explain a bit. I’d flown from London to San Jose, Costa Rica on Thursday, looking forward to warm weather and a bit of exercise on a bicycle during my two-week tour with Exodus Travels. The trip hadn’t started off well on account of my absent-mindedness — I’d run around London a few days before to find a pair of padded bike shorts and forgot to pack them.

My streak of idiotness had just started. It lasted for almost two months and crossed the entire gamet, from personal to professional.

So, I was in Costa Rica, totally out of shape, hadn’t gotten on a bike in about six months or more, and didn’t have any padded bike shorts to cushion me and my semi-important parts during the long days of biking coming up over the next couple weeks.

Well, as it ended up, long days of biking for everyone else on the tour.

One thing I wanted to do on this particular trip was to start producing daily video diaries for YouTube and my Facebook Fan page. I’d been getting more and more into video and wanted to test my abilities by challenging myself to see if I could edit up a quick video every night of the tour.

My video diary the day before the tour started ended up being prophetic — though I think I was worried more about what could go wrong with my lack of bike shorts verses what ended up happening.

The First Morning

On the first morning, Britten, our Exodus group leader and guide, briefed the group on the day’s riding instructions and what we should all expect. He knew I was there to write about and take video of the tour and we had had a nice discussion about my travel blogging and his experiences in Central America over breakfast. As we walked outside to the bikes I turned to him and said, “Britten, I’m afraid I forgot my padded bike shorts in London, what are the chances we can find a pair for me somewhere here in Costa Rica?”

I expected a similar reply to the time that I was slipping on a wetsuit to go diving after a half year hiatus from the water. I put the suit on backwards and was fumbling around and the diving instructor looked at me with judgement in his eyes and said, “are we going to have any problems with you?”

Instead what I got from Britten was a breezy, “won’t be a problem. Today’s ride is really easy and short and if we can’t find some at the town we end up at tonight and I am 100% sure we can find you a pair the next day on the coast.”

No annoyance, no distain. I knew I was going to like him right then.

The bikes were all laid out on the grass outside the hotel after breakfast and we each got on our assigned bike and let Paul, the other guide (and also ace mechanic) make any adjustments that were needed. I filled up my water bottle, slipped on my helmet, and rode the bike back and forth a few times on the road outside the hotel making sure the seat was the right height. I was relieved I figured out how the gears worked without having to ask.

And Off We Go

We rode off directly from the hotel, crossed over a bridge and rode on some fairly flat and unassuming terrain for about a half hour. As I wanted to do a daily video diary, I needed some video content of my day. I’d taken some video of the briefing that morning and getting the adjustments done on the bikes on my cell phone and I figured I should shoot just a little bit of video as I rode through the countryside.

I’d bought a GoPro camera right before I left London, but wasn’t able to find the strap add-on that would allow me to attach it to my helmet. I thought I had at least charged it up the night before, but when I checked that morning, the battery was almost dead, so I figured for this first day I would just shoot a few clips with my phone.

We rode along and I pulled the phone out the first time, held the handle bar with my left hand and clicked on a few buttons on the screen to get the camera into video mode and start shooting. As I was doing it, I realized it was a lot harder to do all that than I thought and I actually thought to myself, “I don’t need to do this more than a couple times. Bad idea.”

I let it roll for a couple minutes, put it away and rode some more. We came up to a fork in the road and all stopped, so that Britten and Paul could survey how everyone was doing and have a quick water break, then we set off again. I pulled the phone out again as we went down a gentle incline and shot for another couple minutes and put it away. The scenery was very uneventful, but I figured I had enough footage to go along with the stuff I had from the morning, plus the stuff I would shoot at the end of the day, for a three minute video diary that night.

I don’t recall the reason I pulled the phone out a third time. I vaguely remember thinking that we were going through some area that was more visually stimulating than before and I remember pulling the phone out again to shoot it, but it is all still a haze, even as I write this today. The next thing I remember was:

“Michael do you know where you are?”
“Ummmm, not sure.”
“You are in Costa Rica on a bike tour with Exodus, do you remember that?”

Costa Rica? No, I was in London. What is this guy talking about?

Actually, come to think of it…. who is this guy???

My Biking Tour Was Over

I was in the back of a moving ambulance, lying face up on what felt like a sheet of metal. In fact, I am pretty sure it was a sheet of metal, since I was on a  stretcher. I felt the neck brace holding me still as the ambulance bumped down the road as I stared up at this stranger through eyes that were almost swollen shut. My right arm and elbow were throbbing and during that thirty minute (or so it seemed, I really didn’t have much of a sense of time at the time) ride to the hospital and it started coming back to me.

michael hodson messed up face

Me with Paul, the guide and mechanic. He was a lot prettier than me to start with, so this didn’t help any

I remembered I was in Costa Rica. I remembered the morning briefing. I remembered this guy in the ambulance was our group leader and I was on a bike tour. I remembered using my phone to do some video while I was riding the bike.

I didn’t remember anything about the crash. I still don’t today.

We got the hospital and most of the rest of the day was a blur. We were at the hospital for almost eight hours. Britten stayed with me the entire time. In between the infrequent visits by the nurses and doctors, we talked about everything. I think he knows more about my personal life than all but about a dozen people on the planet. I just appreciated the company and his efforts to keep my mind off things.

They stitched up three places in my face: right in my left eyebrow, right over my left eye and the bridge of my nose.

The first two weren’t too bad, but there isn’t a lot of extra skin in the nose region, so when the doctor pulled the wound shut to stitch it closed, I’m pretty sure I let out a loud yelp. OK, it was really a full throated scream.

I can’t say that was the only such occurrence in the next few weeks.

I’d obviously suffered a concussion and they did an MRI to make sure I didn’t have any brain damage. The good news on that front was that Britten translated the results as them saying “nothing more than you came in with.” Not sure how I should take that…

My right elbow was in a good bit of pain and Britten got them to do an X-ray of it. The doctor came back and said it was fractured. That was when I unloaded a series of F-bombs. Was I going to be able to work? To type? To use my camera?

The doctor said the fracture wasn’t a bad one and the good news was that I wouldn’t need a cast. They would fit me up with a sling and he actually wanted me to continue to try to use the arm, as much as I could given the pain, in order to keep the muscles working in there.

What You Learn in Situations Like This

The first thing I learned on this day was…. don’t be an idiot.

The accident was totally and completely my fault. I was a moron. Really nothing more to be said on that topic. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t peddle and video.

As Britten said at the next morning’s pre-ride briefing, after he summed up the day we had at the hospital: “So, on the topic of safe riding [as he looked over to me]. Ummmm… how about no one tries to photograph while riding today.”

The next day, the woman that was behind me at the time of the accident told me what happened from her point of view. I had the phone out in my right hand and was holding onto the handlebars with my left. The group went over some railroad tracks (given my fascination with trains, this might have been why I pulled the phone out to shoot in the first place) and I apparently didn’t hit the tracks at a solid 90 degree angle. The front wheel slightly turned and basically… I went straight over the handlebars and landed face first on the asphalt.

The second thing I learned was how much respect I had for the tour company, Exodus. You really can’t tell anything about the merits of a company or its employees when things are going well. When everyone is having a great time on the sailboat tour with great weather and calm seas, everyone is going to come back to shore singing their praises.

When something goes wrong, that is the time you can judge.

I have nothing but positive things to say about Exodus. I’m not sure what I would have done without their help, specifically Britten, but also later on Paul and even the driver of the follow-van that I ended up hanging out in for the next 4-5 days, until I finally had to leave the group.

Britten was a stalwart at the hospital. My Spanish is marginal, at best, and given the state I was in, I’m not sure I could have come up with more than about three words I could say or understand. Other than the doctor, no one else in the hospital spoke English. He translated for me and on more than a few occasions fought and argued with the staff to make sure I got the right medical care and that the bill in the end was correct. He talked me through things, listened to me ramble, and made jokes at appropriate moments to keep my spirits up.

I’m not sure how I would have managed those four or five days from the accident onward, without his help. I owe him a debt that I will likely never be able to repay.

One of the amusing fights/discussions he had at the hospital was about ice for the swelling on my face. While the medical care I got at the hospital really was pretty great (aside from one nurse throwing my right arm up on the metal plate for the X-rays, seemingly oblivious to the fact that if the arm required X-rays, it might not be a good idea to just toss it around), one thing that the hospital didn’t have was ice. MRI machine. X-Ray machine. Well qualified and trained doctors. Up-to-date computers for billing purposes.

And no ice.

The most humorous part of the day was about halfway through things, after I had the X-rays on my arm and was in the sling. I had to go to the bathroom and Britten sorted out where I needed to go and followed me there as I shuffled along slowly. As I got to the door, he had to open it up, because my arm at that point was pretty useless. As he opened the door, he asked me in a tone of voice that pleaded for the answer to me no:

“You think you’ll need any help in there?”

I laughed and told him that I’d manage somehow. And then I poked fun at him to the rest of the group for a few days for making the offer — though I did appreciate it.

_______________________________________________________

This post has been a bit rambling. Well, it has been entirely rambling. Since that accident, which was on March 31st, a lot of things have happened to me and because of me in my life and I haven’t really been blogging that much as a result. I will be writing about some of it in the coming weeks, but I’m just glad to be back up and into the game.

For those of you that have been emailing me and messaging me about things — I truly and deeply appreciate it. A very good friend of mine has been telling me for months that I need to write more about my emotions and how I feel about things — to tell you more about what is going on in my life. It isn’t something I am comfortable with writing about at all, but I will make a small effort in that direction because I trust their opinion completely.

The last few months have been some of the toughest for me in a long time, at least for well over a decade. I felt lonely, frustrated, angry, self-pitying and more. It also has been two months that have helped open my eyes to my life, how I think and feel about things, and what I need to do for myself going forward.

Those of you that reached out in the last few months, even if just a quick Facebook message saying hello, really helped me through things. I’ve written before about the issue of long-term travel and loneliness and it doesn’t strike me very often, but I was really lonely there for a while.

You helped. A lot. Thank you.

__________________________________________________

And now, on to some pictures of me all messed up. I’ve always known that I wasn’t photogenic, but now I’ve got a solid excuse to think so.

michael hodson post accident costa rica

Smile for the camera! And hey… when are you going to try to run a razor over your face again?

michael hodson face injuries costa rica

a little photo collage of me sitting on my ass, while everyone else does all the hard work of riding

One more photo… and this might not be one that you want to look at if you have just eaten or about to.

So, don’t scroll down if you can’t handle a bit of gore. Mother, this includes you!!

The photo down below was taken in the ambulance as we were going to the hospital. I’d woken up and was talking to Britten about the accident and things and in true blogger fashion, I asked him to take some photos of me in the ambulance and the hospital. I knew I was going to have to write about it and at the time, I really had no idea at all how bad I looked — I didn’t get to look into a mirror until the next day.

Apparently, my concussion had at least subsided to the point where I knew that I had to get some photos for a post. Blogging didn’t kill me, but the accident hadn’t knocked it out of my head either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

up close face-1

My tour, which did continue onward for a few more days in the follow-van, was sponsored by Exodus Travels. To be clear, Exodus brought me to Costa Rica and also gave me the tour for free, but they did not pay for my medical care, nor did they pay anything for me to write positively about them, even though I’d gotten injured on one of their tours. Nor did they ask me to not write about my accident and to be explicitly clear, they did not ask me to write anything in particular about my accident and the aftermath.

The content of this post is entirely my own.

Also entirely my own was the fault for my face plant. I hope scars really are sexy, because I now have a little one under my eye. When you see me next, lie to me and tell me it makes all the difference in the world.

 

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About Michael Hodson

I’m an attorney that took off on my birthday in December of 2008 to circumnavigate the globe without ever getting on an airplane. After 16 months, 6 continents and 44 countries, I made it all the way back home. Right now, I am back on the road writing about it all.

52 thoughts on “My face-plant in the name of blogging

      • Michael Hodson Post author

        Didn’t remove it — not sure what happened. Go ahead and try another comment with it.

  • James Clark

    Damn, Michael! What a crazy accident. I’m glad you are ok now. I must say that I didn’t even notice any scars when I saw you in London recently.

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      You are too kind James, or the lighting wasn’t very good. STILL have a black eye from it. People ask if I’ve been fighting… a lot.

  • Jen Klair

    Damn! That is brutal. You and Dad have matching face scars now… sort of… So, you’ve got that…
    Seriously, glad you are OK.
    See you soon for the ole’ man’s b-day festivities. Maybe we will take bike riding and horseback riding off the list of things to do though!!
    xo

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      I had to blow up my face to get my first ever comment from my sister!!! This is a huge blogging day for me 😉

  • sam b

    Ouch, next sponsor suggestion: “Camera Tripod Straps Inc” our motto is “you hold the handlebar, we’ll hold the camera”

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      I am sooooooo going to be talking to GoPro about why they should sponsor me as a cautionary tale.

  • Erin in Costa Rica

    OUCH. So glad you came out of it with just a few scars and nothing worse. *hugs*
    Also, you know you are a blogger when you wake up in the ambulance and ask someone to take photos of you for a blog post. lol 🙂

  • simon falvo (@1step2theleft)

    Too bad that you hurt yourself so badly, but no worries for the scars: lots of women like tough guys! 🙂

    Seriously speaking, I know what you mean when you say, retrospectively, that you were ‘an idiot’. I’m a champion in these kind of things, although I was lucky enough to never have such bad consequences.

    Somehow, I also believe that there’s a reason for everything and that such difficult experiences makes us stronger and better.

    Take care, Michael. Hope to meet you soon again!

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      Thanks, Simon. I’ve never had a scar before. Hopefully it will end up being a benefit in that particular area 😉

  • Mica

    Holy shit! The best photo? The last one! That freaking blows. But I can say we have all been the ‘dumbass’ at least once before!
    Man I hope I finally get to meet you in California! You definitely need some good Napa wine and maybe some California girls to help take your mind off this.

    And scars are super sexy! You’re still a cutie pie!

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      Yea, we need to see if we can have a meetup over there in a few weeks. I know that the Talbots are there also. I need to get on that!

      • Mica

        Yup. I should message you and see exactly what dates you’ll be where. We will be all over the place. And the Talbots rock!

  • Jenni Jo

    Pity parties are totally acceptable in cases like this. Glad you are alright through it all…scary stuff in your own country but especially when you are somewhere foreign!

    • Michael Hodson Post author

      I fear the brain damage has been sustained and originated a lot earlier than the accident. 😉

  • Jennifer

    Geez! We were traveling ourselves when all this transpired, so missed several of your updates. We’re really glad you’re okay and that it wasn’t any worse. You’re lucky to walk away with only a few scars.

  • Ann Becker

    Hey Michael–Wow! Now I really, truly understand how much better you looked by the time I saw you in San Jose! Despite all the bumps and bruises (literally and figuratively), I’m glad to know you’re finding some good in it all and are moving forward. I guess sometimes it has to be this way…

    Hope you are enjoying TBEX. And in all seriousness, Pura Vida–

  • Adam - Tropical Nomad

    Hi Michael,
    Man, it looks like you went 3 rounds with a UFC fighter! But on the bright side, it makes for a good story and an unforgetable memory 🙂

  • Megan

    Yikes, I’m glad you’re okay! Living in Colorado, I’ve had many a friend with these sorts of injuries. Now you’ve just joined the elite ranks of biking badasses?

  • Angela Goldstein

    Wow, Michael! I had no idea the accident had been this bad! But I am amazed at how fast your body responded! We met about 20 days after and by then you looked much better, no signs of bruises on your face whatsoever.
    Hope things are looking up!

  • Megan

    What’s a few scars when you have such a great story, right? The cuts and bruises will heal but this accident will earmark a turning point of change in your life. We all benefit from those experiences, no matter how painful. Thanks for sharing.

  • Arianwen

    That last picture is a shocker! I can’t imagine how painful that was. Ever since I heard about a girl cycling off the edge of Death Road in Bolivia I’ve been way more sensible when it comes to taking photos and videos.

  • Paul

    At least your timing was good! Imagine if a train had been passing at the same time 😉

  • Brittany

    I just discovered your blog today and I must say that was quite an introduction to your blog! Glad you were not seriously hurt.

  • Ayngelina

    The photos make it look really bad and so I am glad you are okay. But also I think it’s important to tell stories like these because you get a better sense of what a company is really like. Sure everyone is amazing when things go great but you need to stick with a company that will take care of you when things go wrong. Exodus certainly came through on this one.

  • Beth

    Ouch! That looks horrible, but glad you’re alright!

    I had a pretty bad accident as well a few months back, and like you I was asking people to take pictures of me! True blogger fashion right? haha

  • Jo Gibson

    Hey, as so many others have said – ‘ouch’! But other than the gore factor, it was refreshing to read your frank comments on feelings of loneliness, during the trauma, and from an ongoing point of view.

    I had a minor incident of a similar nature when I fell down a drain (big drain, shoulder deep in road) in Phuket a week or so ago. I was kindly heaved out and could have suffered much worse injuries than the extreme bruising and battered pride I walked away with. I even had a giggle, but that feeling of vulnerability and loneliness that arose later was quite powerful.

    I have really just begun my episode of travel but it is something I am looking to sustain, so looking forward to reading about the impact of that as I explore your blog.

    Glad you are back in the game!

  • wanderingeducators

    OMG! so glad you’re safe now – and thanks for the lesson. it sounds like something i would totally do. now i’ll have to find another way to face plant. safe healing! and good advice about tours – exodus sounds amazing.

  • Cailin

    Glad to know you are ok now. Such a crazy story 🙁 But I agree with the others totally good to know that Exodus came through in a time of need.

  • Dave

    Glad it wasn’t worse and you were in good enough spirits to make TBEX, and dress up like Austin Powers Sat night. Good to see you again!

  • Cheryl Howard

    Just reading this now! Wow, such an intense and rough experience. 🙁

    Glad that everything turned out well in the end and that the tour company was supportive of you during the recovery period.

  • Lisa | LLworldtour

    Yikes! I’m sure it sucked beyond belief, but also so lucky it wasn’t worse. It sounds like Britten was a rockstar. It really does show a lo to see how they handled this kind of thing. Glad you are better and feeling yourself again. It may not feel like it all the time, but don’t forget how many people out ‘here’ have your back and do care about you!

  • This Battered Suitcase

    Hi Michael! We met on Friday night at TBEX – I, too, flew over the handlebars of a bike while cycling down Death Road in Bolivia last year. I know we briefly compared notes about our accidents, but wow – this is intense. I’m so glad that you’re all healed up now and that you are able to write about it with a sense of humour! I still haven’t written about my accident but I will soon, and I’ll be sure to send you the link.

    Once again, nice to meet you!

    -Brenna

  • Morgan Rhodes

    Ouch! That’s pretty brutal. Did you have traveler’s insurance to help with the medical bills? Glad to hear you had a friend to help translate!

  • Tom

    That is unbelievable. You are lucky to be ok especially being abroad. You look like RIcky Hatton after a bad sparring session! Be safe, but keep blogging. I really enjoy…

    Tom

  • Ali

    Yep, that’s pretty nasty! I’m glad you made it out ok though, could’ve been much worse. No more trying to take pictures or video while riding a bike!

  • Barbara

    OMG, now that my heart has calmed down a bit, I can tell you that it’s amazing that you are ok after such a fall! I can’t believe you were in the ambulance asking to have photos taken so you could write a post about this incident! Wow, that’s some dedication…keep up the good work!

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