Since I returned to the UK 6 weeks ago updates have been few and far between and for that I apologise. A lot has happened over the last few weeks and my circumstances are now entirely different.

When my Dad met me at Glasgow airport I was in a wheelchair. For the next few weeks I barely left my parent’s house. I hobbled around on crutches but generally found it easier to just stay seated. Over time it did get easier. I started walking short distances with one crutch and then I tried not using that either. I could only make it a few metres though before it became a problem.

Initially I had no intention of looking for a new job until I was fully recovered, but after I updated my LinkedIn profile I was contacted by recruitment agents for a plethora of jobs. The following week I found myself on the train down to London for interviews. I successfully hobbled from interview to interview on my crutches, the result of which was offers from my first two choices before I had even finished all of the interviews that had been scheduled. I accepted one of them, cancelled the rest and headed back up to Scotland.

The following week I was once again on the train to London. This time the purpose was to find somewhere to live. I hate flat hunting with a passion so once I found somewhere that I could get the keys for almost straight away I jumped at it. I moved in two weeks ago.

Two days after moving I started my new job.

Best of all, the crutches and I have now parted ways. After leaving my crutches in coffee shops twice, it was obvious that I didn’t need them anymore. I am however still taking things easy, but I am very glad to be crutch free.

Although I am now working full time and living in London, I do still have a lot to write about. Over the next few months there will be more about my travels, lots of photos, and maybe a bit about my adventures in London.

• Leaving London
• Glasgow to London
• Friday night on the Megabus to London

Following my post about being screwed over by World Nomads due to their handling of my insurance claim following my hospitalisation in New Zealand, the General Manager of World Nomads, Chris Noble, posted a comment stating that he would investigate my claim for me.

Chris contacted the underwriters in the UK and came to the conclusion that they had, in his opinion, made the correct decision to not send me back to the UK based upon the wording of my insurance policy. In his correspondence with me however, it transpired that the insurers would actually have paid for me to stay in a hotel whilst recovering in New Zealand, but that fact was unfortunately never communicated to me prior to this.

After a bit of further investigating, the decision was made by World Nomads to reimburse me for the costs I incurred returning to the UK. I am currently awaiting payment for my taxi from Auckland Hospital to the airport and the costs of changing my flights.

This outcome is obviously better than nothing, but its not ideal. The only reason that I am being reimbursed is because of the miscommunication on underwriter’s part. I am still rather annoyed that the opinion of the medical team treating me in Auckland was ignored and over ruled by a doctor in the UK who had not seen me. The whole episode has left me wondering whether I will bother with travel insurance in the future.

Six weeks after being hospitalised, I am still hobbling about on crutches and still certain that I made the correct decision in returning to the UK. There is no way that I could have gone on to backpack in South America. Even with the public transport here in the UK its a real struggle to get around with crutches, never mind crutches and a rucksack.

One day I will make it to South America.

• How World Nomads screwed me over
• Game over
• Three weeks in New Zealand

I have spent close to three weeks in Auckland City Hospital following an ankle injury the result of which is a recommendation from the doctors that I cannot continue my trip. In their infinite wisdom however, World Nomads’ underwriters, Millstream, have decided to ignore that recommendation and have rejected my claim for my trip to be curtailed.

The decision from the underwriters came after almost two weeks of communication between Specialty Assist (World Nomads’ medical assistance team) and my social worker who has been acting as a liaison between myself, the doctors and World Nomads because I have had no means of communicating with them myself whilst in hospital. Specialty Assist have dragged out the claim for much longer than necessary by repeatedly requesting the same information and telling my social worker that everything was progressing as expected. My social worker was actually told that all that needed to be done was to arrange the flights, but then when she called the following day she discovered that the underwriters hadn’t actually approved the claim yet. Specialty Assist dropped the ball big time. They have failed to pass on the correct information to the relevant parties and they misled my social worker and consequently myself for over a week. After being told that the claim had not yet been approved, my social worker had the case escalated and ended up speaking with the managing director of Specialty Assist. During this conversation it was confirmed to her that there was no problem with the validity of the claim, they had all of the information that they required and a promise was made to have a plan ready the following day. That plan was that the underwriters had decided to reject my claim.

Millstream decided that after six weeks of recovery in New Zealand I would be perfectly able to continue to South America. So they saw no reason for curtailment and therefore rejected my claim. Since my flight back to the UK (from Ecuador) was not until August, Millstream reckoned that I would have plenty of time to recover so there was no need for me to return to the UK aat that time, despite the medical team at Auckland City Hospital recommending it and disputing their claim that I will be fit to travel again in six weeks time entirely. Not only have Millstream ignored the recommendations of the medical team, they have also failed to take several other factors into consideration when making their decision. The majority of my time in South America was going to be spent trekking. I was going to go on several treks ranging from 4 to 10 days in Patagonia, Huaraz and the Inca trail, but there is no chance at all of doing anything so strenuous so soon after this injury. They have also failed to realise that I have not budgetted for an extended stay in New Zealand. If I was to stay in New Zealand for a further six weeks whilst I recovered, the majority of my budget for South America would be gone. And on top of all of that, I would be rather isolated staying in Auckland. Due to being on crutches and having limited mobility I would be pretty much confined to my accommodation for at least a few weeks until I could put weight through my ankle. All of this information was provided to Specialty Assist, but Millstream have chosen to ignore it. I have truly been left stranded by World Nomads.

Whilst in New Zealand I had no means of disputing Millstream’s decision. Specialty Assist are the only people contactable by phone and they relayed the standard “your claim has been rejected” line and all I have is a postal address for Millstream’s complaints department, so I was left with no choice but to fork out for a flight back to the UK myself despite it being World Nomads responsibility to pay for it. My flight back was not however what the doctors recommended. Their recommendation was for a reclinable seat with the ability to have my leg elevated during the flight, minimal flight changes and the shortest flight times. With the ticket I have it is not possible to do that. The only way I can have my leg elevated is if I buy an additional two seats or buy a new business class ticket, both of which are prohibitively expensive for me. I will be changing flights twice on my way to Glasgow, firstly in LA where I need to wait ten hours before my flight to London and then another change in London for the flight to Glasgow. This is because my ticket only allows for travel in one direction on my way around the world.

Once I return to the UK I will be disputing World Nomads decision through their complaints procedure and I will be contacting the Financial Ombudsman as World Nomads have failed to provide the service that I have paid for and have shown no duty of care. I am thoroughly disappointed by World Nomads. They left me stranded in New Zealand and were unwilling to reconsider their decision or help me in any way at all. For that reason I strongly advise everyone to look else where for travel insurance, World Nomads have taken my money and have done nothing but screw me over in return. Its unfortunate that you cannot tell how good an insurance company is until you try to make a claim, I’ve learnt the hard way.

Update: Chris Noble, General Manager of World Nomads, is now looking into my claim personally after reading about it on twitter.

• Settlement with World Nomads
• Game over
• Travel Insurance

During the last eight months, the longest that I had spent in any one place was ten days on Koh Tao in Thailand when I was learning to dive, that was true until I arrived in Auckland. In total I have spent just under three weeks in Auckland and I haven’t actually seen any of the city. I arrived in the evening, checked into the hostel and then got on the bus to Auckland City Hospital where I have spent a total of 17 days.

It all started at Mount Cook four weeks ago. I was walking on the hooker valley track when I twisted my ankle. I didn’t think much of it at the time as I was still able to walk on it and made it back to the hostel in Mount Cook village. That evening it was slightly swollen and it did hurt a little when I put weight on it but I thought it would be fine after a few days. I started taking pain killers and anti-inflammatory pills in the hope that it would go away and spent the next couple of days resting it as much as possible.

On arrival in Taupo, four days later, I discovered that I had a lump the size of a tennis ball growing out of my ankle. After a bit of prodding and poking, the doctor decided to stab it and try to drain some of the fluid out. That procedure was under local anaesthetic and once it wore off it hurt like a bitch! Time was a real problem at this stage as I was travelling to Auckland the next day and the day after I was flying to Santiago. I was therefore under strict instructions from the doctor to get it checked out at the hospital in Auckland as soon as I arrived to ensure that it was improving before heading to Chile.

When I arrived in Auckland I found that the tennis ball had burst and the wound it had left was oozing pus. At this point it was painful to walk on so the hospital was my only choice. Earlier in the day, before I discovered the oozing, I had considered skipping the hospital visit and flying to Chile. I thought it would clear up with the antibiotics the doctor in Taupo had given me, but fortunately a friend put things into perspective for me “would you rather get treated here where everyone speaks English, or in South America when you know no Spanish and the health system is no where near as good?”. So off to the hospital I went.

After waiting a couple of hours I was finally seen by a doctor who informed me that I had no chance of flying to Chile the following morning as his recommendation was for me to be admitted to the hospital and be put on IV antibiotics for at least a week. I called my travel agent back in the UK and postponed my flight by a week as I was still confident that I would make it. Later that night I was xrayed and examined by an orthopaedic doctor. The xray showed him that I still had a metal plate in my ankle from an accident I had a few years ago where I broke the same ankle by falling off a ramp at a skate park. His concern was that the infection could reach the plate and become chronic so the decision was made to operate on my ankle to remove the plate and clean out the wound in order to prevent further infection.

A week and two operations later I was still on IV antibiotics. My leg was in a cast and I hadn’t left my bed (apart from hobbling to the toilet). At Auckland hospital I had no easily accessible means of communicating with the outside world, no phone, no internet access and I couldn’t access the roof to send smoke signals, so I was fortunately allowed to make a couple of calls from the nurse’s phone to let my family know the score and to contact a few friends who managed to spread the word that I had been hospitalised. I ended up having visitors throughout my hospital stay; people that I had become friends with whilst in New Zealand, friends of friends from the UK and one friend that I first met in India who now lives in Auckland. The visits were very much appreciated and helped me through the long monotonous days.

In New Zealand there is a health care scheme called ACC which covers everyone, including visitors, for any medical care that is required following accidents that occur whilst in New Zealand. ACC was therefore picking up my hospital bill, a big relief after I was given an estimated bill four days in which already totaled $14,000! My doctors unfortunately advised me that I would not be able to continue my trip, it was their recommendation that I should return to the UK. After being discharged from hospital, I would be on crutches for six weeks and after that there was no way I would be able to do anything as strenuous as the trekking I had planned for South America.

Almost three weeks after first being admitted to hospital in Auckland, I am now sitting in LA airport waiting on my next flight which will take me back to the UK. My around the world adventure is over. It may have ended badly, but at least I had one hell of a time before this unfortunate episode.

One day I will make it to South America.

• Settlement with World Nomads
• How World Nomads screwed me over
• Three weeks in New Zealand

Maori statue, Kaikoura, New Zealand.

• Photo of the week – dolphin sunrise
• Three weeks in New Zealand
• Photo of the week – Finding Nemo

King’s Cross

Bars, clubs and strip clubs fill the streets of the sleazy King’s Cross.

The Rocks

The Rocks is the site of the first European settlement in Sydney. The narrow streets that once housed factories and warehouses are now filled with markets and pubs aimed at tourists.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

I had considered doing the bridge climb, but at almost $200 I decided that it was just too expensive.

Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens provide an excellent escape from Sydney’s busy streets.

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognisable buildings in the world.

• Photo of the week – Yuyuan Gardens
• Cape Cross Seal Colony
• Itinerary for Australia part 2

Today I turned 28 so to celebrate I decided that the best thing to do would be to throw myself out of a plane. Packed tightly into the tiny plane we climbed up to a height of 13,000 feet where the door was flung open and Scruffy (my instructor) slid us towards the exit. After a few seconds of posing for the camera on the wing Scruffy rolled us over the edge and we started to free fall. Unlike a bungee jump or a roller coaster you don’t get the feeling of g-force, I just felt like I was floating. After almost a minute of waving at the camera man Scruffy pulled the parachute cord and our descent slowed right down. I now had time to really appreciate the scenery. My skydive was over Abel Tasman National Park on the south island of New Zealand. Mountains, beaches, forest and the ocean provided for perfect views. After determining that I didn’t suffer from motion sickness, Scruffy span us around a few times so that I could get a full 360 degree view from the air and then we made our way towards the landing strip. Sky diving isn’t the cheapest of activities but its definitely one of the most exhilarating.

• Three weeks in New Zealand
• Photo of the week – dolphin sunrise
• Driving around Fraser Island

Kaikoura on the east coast of New Zealand’s south island is one of the best places in the world to see dolphins and whales. Both visit the coast line year round which has led to Kaikoura becoming a popular place to go on whale and dolphin watching trips as well as swimming with the dolphins. At 6am it was pretty damn cold and still pitch black, but the three of us knew that it would be worth it. We set sail as the sun began to rise and we were soon joined by scores of dusky dolphins. I was amazed by how many there were. They swam alongside the boat, leaping in and out of the water and performing flips in the boats wake. Once our crew had decided that we were in a good position we slipped into the freezing cold water and tried to get the dolphins attention. The tips we had been given had basically amounted to “be a dolphin”. We were to appear stream lined, dive down when they approached, circle around them as they did to us, and make dolphin sounds. The crew must get a right laugh at the noises everyone makes through their snorkels as they try to make friends with the dolphins. We had several opportunities to swim with the dolphins and I was lucky enough to have two circle around me for the majority of one of our swims. I had taken my camera in with me, but they are just too quick so all I managed to get were blurry dolphin shots whilst in the water.

• Photo of the week – Maori statue
• Photo of the week – Angkor Wat sunrise
• Photo of the week – On the river in Varanasi

Fraser Island on the east coast of Australia is the world’s largest sand island. Everyone that travels the east coast makes a trip to Fraser Island, either on a tour or with a self drive 4 wheel drive vehicle. Hervey Bay is the start point for tours, whilst the majority of self drives start from Rainbow Beach, just a little further down the coast. After hearing the horror stories of the self drive option (getting stuck in the sand, vehicles flipping, weekly helicopter rescues to name but a few) I decided to go with the tour option.

Tours are available for either 2 days and 1 night or 3 days and 2 nights, with accommodation being provided in wooden lodges at the island’s resort. The island does have numerous campsites to accommodate self drives and those who are simply hiking their way across the island, but the prospect of camping in the rain was not one I wanted to contemplate. The lodges were on a par with some of the better hostels that I have stayed in, only 2 bunks per room, clean shared bathrooms and a small kitchen in each lodge. The kitchen wasn’t necessary though as all our meals were included in the price of the tour.

The company I signed up with was Cool Dingo which is aimed squarely at the backpacker market. Everyone in my group of 20 was aged between 20 and 34, so I was by no means the oldest, unlike in several of the dorms I stayed in along the way. The same tour is also offered by Fraser Explorer Tours which is aimed at an older crowd. From what I could see though, they are the same company – same guides, similar itineraries and same vehicles. Cool Dingo had been recommended to me by Cathy who I met on my Kenya to Cape Town trip.

Cool Dingo uses a bus similar to the truck I travelled through Africa on. After seeing the self drive vehicles, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this was by far the most comfortable way to drive around Fraser Island. At times it did feel like a roller coaster ride as we went up and down the sandy tracks that traverse the island. Fortunately our bus managed not to get stuck in the sand, but another wasn’t so fortunate. At Eli Creek it took almost half an hour for us to tow another bus out of the soft sand.

Our guide, Peter, had spent the last 14 years on Fraser Island so knew it like the back of his hand, he knew it so well that he has written a book on it that has been published along with his own photography. He was incredibly enthusiastic in telling us all about the island and made it his mission to find us a dingo. We hit all the main tourist hotspots including jungle walks, Eli Creek, the Maheno shipwreck, champagne pools, Indian Head, and Lake McKenzie, then we jumped off some sand dunes before hitting some really rough tracks on the way back to the lodge. Peter warned us that it was going to be rough, but he had some music to make it a more enjoyable ride. As the music started, he started around wearing his hat and pretended to crack a whip – it was the Indiana Jones theme tune.

I can highly recommend the Cool Dingo tour to Fraser Island. I had a great time over the two days and found the pace of the tour to be perfect. We had ample time to swim in the lakes, lie on the beaches and float down the creeks. Not only did we see several dingos, but we spotted a carpet python by the side of the road that had just feasted on some fruit bats! To top it all off, sitting on the balcony of our lodge having a few beers as the rain poured down at the end of the first day made us all very glad that we had chosen a tour that didn’t include camping!

• Itinerary for Australia part 2
• Sailing the Whitsundays
• First stop is Nairobi!

I spent a day in Melaka before I left Malaysia to break up the journey between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Melaka is a world heritage listed town due to its importance as a port and because of the well preserved colonial buildings. Melaka has influences from India, China and Europe due to the origins of the people that once lived there. It is certainly a very nice town to wander around.

• Photo of the week – Finding Nemo
• Itinerary for Malaysia
• Photo of the week – Hangzhou water fountains