An American travel vlogger has spoken of his experience contracting a severe respiratory infection following a 15-hour train ride in India. Nick Maddock, a travel content creator with 200,000 Instagram followers, took to social media wearing an oxygen mask to recall “one of the grossest things” he had ever witnessed while travelling.
Mr Maddock had been from the northern city of Varanasi to New Jalpaiguri in the east, before being hospitalised in Bhutan with the serious illness. He had travelled on an Indian Railways train in a third-class AC compartment, the second lowest class he could travel in above only general Sleeper class carriages which have no air conditioning. He said: “Listen, I love India. It has warm and generous people, endless scenic landscapes, and a rich and sacred history,” he said on social media.
“I can acknowledge that while simultaneously saying my 15-hour train in 3rd class AC from Varanasi to New Jalpaiguiri was one of the grossest things I’ve seen in my 6 years of traveling. No higher class was available. It doesn’t have to be like that.”
“Three days later in Bhutan I was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection. I am doing better now but it’ll be a slow road to full recovery.”
The vlogger claims to have travelled to 120 different countries and says that this was the first time that he had been hospitalised on his travels.
He added: “It came to a point three days ago, when I entered Bhutan, that I just collapsed. I was so fatigued that I could barely move, talk, or function.”
Mr Maddock explained that he cannot be sure that he contracted the illness while travelling on the 15 hour journey but he recalled seeing bodies being openly cremated along the Ganges river.
His video went viral and received mixed reaction, with some Indians disagreeing with his appraisal of the cleanliness of travel in the country.
One said: “The majority of the tourists go to the poorest and bad areas of all countries in Asia and then proclaim the entire country is like that.
“This is because these travellers are not financially able to go to well-to-do areas.”
Other users speculated that the illnesses could have been caused by Bhutan’s high altitude, something that Mr Maddock disagrees with.
