Simon Morton, host of Forensics NZ, on the high and lows of his travel experiences.
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Trekking around the Annapurna circuit with the whanau a few years back was a real adventure, one of my favourite trips. We (my wife Jo, 10-year-old Lola and 8-year-old Lukas) strolled for 160km inthe Nepalese Himalayas for three weeks, crossing the Thorong La pass at 5400m above sea level. On the way to the pass we had Himalayan vultures circling us - "they wait until the slow one stops walking and then swoop down for a tasty meal," we were told. We didn't stop walking that day! It was a luxury to have the time to meet the locals, visit schools and explore the amazing ancient villages. The Nepalese people are the warmest and most friendly people on the planet. It's such a shame that the 2015 earthquake took such a toll on this mountain kingdom.
We'd had a couple of wines at my brother's place outside Perpignan [France] where he was renovating an old house, including erecting a trampoline in the garden. The double bounce is apparently a great way to get so much more air and Lukas was looking far too relaxed for a 4-year-old 8 feet above the ground. "It's just a bruise," I said after he'd collided with his cousin. But the pain got worse and before long we were en route to the local hospital. The x-ray showed a break, no translation required. They decided not to operate and fitted a blue cast, a sign of the doctor's rugby patriotism ("allez Les Bleus") - we settled the bill and headed back to my brother's. It cost €1500 ($3000), but we had insurance . . . or so we thought. The free cover from using our credit card to pay for flights was for a limited time - we were one day out.
