TROUBLE IN PARADISE // OBVS

WEEK ONE 

I arrived at Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport (named after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who was a pioneer in Australian aviation) on 30th November 2014. I arrived with anticipation, excitement, fear, anxiety, hope and an immense amount of pain (courtesy of Chiang Mai mountain biking). The flight was smooth and comfortable considering it was an Air Asia flight and up until recently I had only discovered they have one of the worst safety records in public aviation. I had paid about £270 for the one way flight from Bangkok to Sydney via Kuala Lumpur, and I had paid a bit extra for a quiet section of the plane. A very good price. Asia are pretty hot on low budget long haul flights, something that is coming over to the west with airlines like Norwegian Air. There were no screens, entertainment, or goody bags. Everything has a price, including all food and drinks. I prepaid and preordered my food when I booked my flight, speaking of which the food was pretty good. I had my iPad, my iPhone and a couple of magazines, I was pretty sorted on entertainment but if you don't have such items the airline allows you to rent iPads which are preloaded with TV shows, Movies, Music, and games on.

I arrived in the morning and made it through security and customs unscathed, no Border Control filming was going on, it turns out I would have to wait for my Australian television debut for Bondi Rescue no doubt (turns out that my television debut was not from Bondi Rescue but partially Eurovision and soon to be Food Safari - both SBS broadcasts). Whilst waiting for my baggage a member of airport staff was coming to check our completed immigration and Ebola forms. I had ticked a box about being in a remote area due to the jungle trekking. I was challenged on this, and you know that feeling where you know you've done nothing wrong but someone of some importance and power questions you and your heart basically falls out of your bum hole nevertheless, well yeah that was kind of it.  A bit ridiculous given that I am a man of some sort of power at home, not that I abuse it of course, but you know people do have this uncomfortable and nervous look about them when talking to you. The officer was asking me about my choice of footwear in the jungle and clothing and whether these had been washed etc... all formalities that they go through. Australia are concerned, rightly so I should say, about contamination of some sort crossing their borders. I made it through that encounter unscathed and collected my baggage, just about, I managed to drag it with one hand, baring in mind I am carrying about 30kgs of uneven distributed weight. Armed with a trolley, my baggage and my sense of trepidation I proceeded through the 'Nothing to Declare' corridor and made it out to a sea of welcoming faces. Somewhere out there was one special welcoming face, arms and voice, my dear friend Camilla. I've known Camilla for a number of years, we worked together when I first joined the Metropolitan Police as a PCSO about 9 years ago. I have remained in contact with her once she left for the Australian sunshine and I visited her 3 and half years ago when she lived in Canberra & I went to Australia on a holiday to see Leanne and Jo who were travelling for three months.

There Camilla was, so happy to see me and I her, armed with compassion and concern due to my injuries but not too much so as one of the first things she said to me was that she was going to keep me awake all day, just so I could be aided into the right time zone, not that there is anything that can prepare for that transition. I had had a night flight from SE Asia and it was about 11am when I met Camilla. I was down for whatever, I was just happy and relieved that I was finally here after months and months of dreaming and not quite believing I would actually make it here. I always said to people prior to going that I wouldn't believe I would be doing it until I stepped foot on Australian soil, as there was no going back at that point. I had prearranged with Camilla that I would be staying with her for 6 days to settle in before heading to the city (Sydney) and thankfully I did do that. Due to my injuries I would have really struggled on my own in a hostel, and I think we all can share that common feeling of when you are unwell or in my case injured, you crave support or the care of someone you're close to. Camilla had pretty much my first week planned loosely with a number of 'must dos'. Camilla was more than just the support I needed physically but also the support I needed for administration purposes. Things like the medicare card, driving licence, bank accounts, tax file number, and mobile phone set ups. Camilla had been through this process herself and has assisted others in the past also.

We had arrived in Kiama, NSW, where Camilla and her husband, Steve, live. I had been here the last time I came to Australia, prior to C & S moving here and at the time the town wasn't on their radar. Camilla had taken Leanne, Jo and I back to Sydney from Canberra several years ago and we stopped in Kiama to see the 'Blow Hole' - a bit more about that later. I settled myself into their beautiful renovated home and relaxed for the rest of the day, we took the boys (Hugo and Taco - the Dogs) out for a walk. I knew from previous experience that the jet lag would be hard to overcome, I suffer with it badly.  When I think of jet lag now I in turn think of Dorothy Wang (Realty TV star/LA socialite) and what she once said about it, she describes jet lag something that the poor or the lesser travelled person only suffers with. Always makes me chuckle a bit. My first week was relaxing with the exception of having to open up my dressings, cleaning them with the forsaken IODINE and then redressing. Camilla did this for me in the first week. I completed the administration jobs with Camilla with ease. I will write a further post in due course with handy tips for people who are coming to Australia and just don't know where to start when it comes to the admin side of things, it can be a tad daunting if you're doing a Jason Derulo (riding solo).

It was on my second day in Australia, 1st December 2014, that I logged on to www.cashpassport.com to reload my cash passport with my November's pay packet in my UK account. When I logged in it came to my notice that I was in a minus figure. I could not compute. It didn't make sense as I hadn't used it as I had been in Thailand and I had an entirely different cash passport for my Thailand trip.  As far as I was concerned I thought I couldn't use the Aussie one aside from in Australia. I had about $2,500AUD on this card and now it was minus. I looked at the transaction history and I saw that just two transactions had been made, both on 19th November 2014 and one transaction straight after the other. They were taken from a Chiang Mai hostel. A hostel which I had not booked or even heard of, the hostel I was due to stay in was completely different and besides for $2,500 you could own a bloody hostel in CM or rather live there for about 3 years. My heart sank, literally sank, it felt like it had not just sank but it had taken the rest of my organs on it's way down and just my sphincter was keeping it in my ass. Graphic I know but just imagine that feeling nevertheless. I was devastated, it was half of my savings. I wanted to not worry about looking for work immediately when I arrived, I wanted to relax a bit, do some experiences, tour the city and casually look for work. Everything I wanted to do was now officially on hold. Soon after devastation came the anger. I was enraged. 

Now, I don't know if you know anything about cash passports? Well, they are advertised as the safer way to take your currency abroad. It is a prepaid Mastercard with your chosen currency, so you can make use of a great exchange rate on credit card without incurring charges from your bank or even a poorer exchange rate. I have always experienced problems with them, for example; you can't withdraw every penny/cent if you use it to purchase items online or in store as there will come a time where you can't withdraw $20 or less. Also, most ATM's charge for withdrawal. The online registration process is not user friendly at all, even less so when you have two different cash passports.  Another thing is that when you purchase your cash passport, like I did from TRAVELEX, if the cashier doesn't enter the details correctly from your form on to the system then that brings another set of problems. I was soon to find out just how difficult the process was going to be when a cash passport had been used fraudulently. Even writing about the issues connected with CP's tires me.

I contacted TRAVELEX to dispute these transactions. I was concerned as these transactions occurred on 19th November and it was now 1st December. I had no reason to check my cash passport account online until I got to Australia, although whilst away in Thailand I got paid from work in the UK and I very nearly 'topped up' the CP and then I'd have had no money at all. TRAVELEX emailed me a dispute form and explained that I should also forward any evidence that would assist in their investigations. I challenged the person on the telephone to a few issuues;

1. How has someone got away with two large transactions to the same place one straight after the other?

2. How was it able to take me over the available funds? (after all it is not a credit card nor a debit card with an overdraft facility)

3. Why didn't this get flagged up as unusual activity? 

4. Why was the transactions authorised and funds removed?

The staff member on the phone wasn't able to clarify answers on all of these questions, they explained that it's not monitored like a bank card, it's our money basically to spend how we wish. So already I fail to see how the cash passport is any safer than taking your own bank card? So I completed the form, in it the basics of course are noted and they request a explanation as to how the card could have possibly been used fraudulently and where/what/who/how/when/why details. All this was fine. I knew that it had been used on the 19th November, I also knew I still had both cards in my possession. You loyal readers will already know that on said date I was traveling from Bangkok to Pai via Chiang Mai. What I recall from the journey is that I had my valuable personal effects on me in my rucksack.  I fell asleep on the bus, my rucksack was padlocked, I got off the bus for twenty minutes and the bus was locked, and when I got my iPad out of my bag at about 4am on 20th November the zip broke, I had thought that this was my doing due to over packing and I didn't think anything of it. So in my train of thought at the time of completing my form that this is when the card must have been used. I completed the form and scanned it, I sent three emails in the end to TRAVELEX, due to the evidence I was submitting. In my first email I attached the completed form and wrote that this was the first of three emails, the other two includes my evidence. Due to the time difference I would not hear back until the following day, at least, or so I thought. Just four hours later I received this reply;

"I regret to inform you that after careful consideration we were unable to refund the disputed charges on your account. Please refer to the contents of the attached letter." - The letter basically states that they didn't believe me, and that they were not satisfied with the validity of the claim. In the very same email the 'investigator' states;

"We didn't receive a second email with evidences and pictures as advised in your first email" - So instead of replying to me and stating that they did not receive such evidence and asking me to resend, they took it upon themselves to close the investigation at that point. Not even basic customer service skills covered here.

So naturally I resent everything. This time I got automated responses for each email I sent ensuring that they had been received. I received nothing back. Not a thing. My next step was to take to twitter, I sent tweets to TRAVELEX, about ten in total. Someone from the social media team responded and the issue was relayed. I received an email from someone else explaining that a decision had been made by the disputes team and that if I had not been notified of this then they would resend the letter. This was literally like smashing my money maker against brick wall. This came after two days of not hearing anything from them. The investigation was then eventually passed on to the disputes of disputes team, basically the team that deals with challenges of the decision that the first dispute team made. I continued to resend all my evidence as well as extra bits that I had left out the first time around. At this point I made a point of explaining that I am a Police Officer, and that I had investigated various Fraud offences and I know what is involved, and not only that but if I was committing fraud would I have really valued my career at the amount stolen? No. I wanted to avoid playing this card because it is a bit douchey however given their treatment towards me thus far, I was raring to play the whole deck, I wanted them to know that they will not be able to palm me off.

This money REALLY mattered. This whole experience with TRAVELEX has caused a ridiculous amount of stress, loss of sleep, worry, tears, fear, my anxiety issues raised it's ugly head more than usual. It turned out over the coming weeks and months JUST how much that money mattered, due to the lack of work, the expense of living in Sydney etc etc.

The new investigation was commenced on 4th December 2014. It was due to conclude on 24th February 2015. So I knew I had quite some time without the money at least, besides early on I talked myself into the fact I would not see it again. Thankfully I had money in my UK account to get me by, and I had prepaid for my 5 weeks accommodation in my Sydney hostel. The issue I had using my UK account was that the bank charges you a fee for withdrawals and usage, but you also don't get the best exchange rate, which does matter when it's large amounts of money. Nevertheless I had no choice and it was light relief that I had some sort of funds. I contacted the chap from TRAVELEX who was investigating early January, after a no reply, I tried again and he replied, he explained that he had not heard from the merchant that took the money and that a charge back process was being conducted. 24th February arrived and I sent a polite email checking in. It was explained that the merchant did eventually reply and provided further details of the transactions and that it would take a further 10 working days to look into, 9th March 2015. On 4th March it was requested I sent a copy of my drivers licence and passport for verification, which I did, it would take another 48 hours. This time had elapsed to the 9th March where I was asked to view a document which had two receipts on it, I was asked if they were my signatures, I explained that they weren't. I asked the investigator to call me, which he did. It was actually a relief to finally speak to the person handling the situation. I was able to clear up, hopefully, any confusion. Turns out that both my cash passport cards were used, but not the PIN numbers. He confirmed that the actual cards had been used, as in the chips had been read on both of them. We couldn't understand how that was when I wasn't in Chiang Mai at the time yet I have the cards on me. Still don't understand this. Anyway, he believed me and the funds have been returned to me. I received them on 16th March 2015. Actual factual relief. 

My point here is NEVER use a Cash Passport. It is much safer to use your credit card or bank card. The banks and financial institutions know your spending pattern, they recognise unusual activity and if fraud is committed you are likely to get the money back within hours, not months. I still fail to see how a cash passport is safer. I am continuing to escalate the issue with TRAVELEX and complain regarding their initial handling of my situation.

The saga continues, slightly, when they card was fraudulently used it actually took me over the available amount on the card, because of this the company sent the details of my account to a debt collecting agency who were making demands via letter to my UK home address to pay. This has had a negative impact on my credit rating in the UK and I was only aware of this when Mum sent me all my mail from the UK over to Australia.

I appreciate the above makes for pretty boring reading however it is important to highlight the negative side of using cash passports and also the incompetency of a major company who runs them.  

My first week into Australian life involved a fair amount of recuperation and relaxation after the eventful times in Thailand. It was definitely much needed. Camilla & I walked the dogs every day, usually in different places; Minnamurra, Bombo, Jervis Bay, and Kiama of course. Bombo is a place near to Kiama where dogs are allowed on the beach. Taco is hilarious, he has no qualms about getting into the sea a bit and chases the waves and tries to eat them. Hugo is an old boy (15yrs) so he is not so adolescent but he does what he bloody well wants to, if he wants to go into the sea he will do it in his own time. It is such a beautiful beach, yellow sand, and the sea has some big waves and whenever I have gone past on the train it has always got several people just waiting to catch the next big surf. Unbeknownst to me at this stage I would find myself back in Kiama...

Here are some photos of my first week in Australia;

Camilla & I in Minnamurra. Really beautiful part of the South Coast.

Kiama Lighthouse - very near to the Kiama 'Blow Hole' - a hit with tourists and No! I'm not the new Blow Hole, you filthy buggers.

Minnamurra.

 An injured me in front of Kiama's Lighthouse with Taco & Hugo.

I actually took more photos than this in my first week, other than the Lighthouse and Minnamurra but not sure what I've actually done with them.

Camilla was concerned about me moving into a hostel in Sydney. When you think of hostels you clearly don't think of boutique guest houses, you do think; grotty, disgusting, repugnant and smelly, maybe thats a bit of an ancient view point to take.... Given my inability to be able to look after myself without something going wrong, concern really wasn't a far fetched feeling to have. I assured Camilla I would be OK and that if I wasn't I would come back. I had stayed at the hostel before and from previous experience, it wasn't any of the words I used above to describe the common thoughts of hostels. Obviously that was near on four years ago, a lot can change in that time. Camilla drove me into the city and dropped me to the hostel door which was very kind of her, but that's C through and through. 

I met C again later that day at the hairdressers she uses on Oxford Street. Those that know me well will know that my hair is probably the most important part of my 'look'. When you find an amazing barber/hairdresser you stay loyal. Mine at home was Pall Mall Barbers (@pallmallbarbers on Insta and Twitter // Pall Mall Barbers on FB) - they are sensational. I used to travel into central London especially for my cut and my last one before arriving to Australia was 5 weeks ago and it was the day before I left. So naturally I was in dire need for a fresh cut and there was no way on Godney's green Earth I was going to have on in Thailand ( ed - tattoo yes, haircut no!? Dafuq). Anyways I've digressed yet again. I met C and the owner gave me a great cut actually, I'm not usually a fan of hairdressers as they cut and style differently to a barber. New hair, new me....right?! 

I remember parting with C at the hairdressers, and I remember too well that feeling of 'Fuck my life' it's just Steve vs Sydney. Thoughts took me to back to the days where I was stuck in my office at work in London, in a job I had lost my purpose in, in a team who didn't know what my purpose was either, dreaming of what was to come and life on the other side of the world. It really hit me at this point that I was actually where I was and that I achieved the very first thing I denied myself 3 years prior. 

So armed with my fresh look, a weak bank balance, and various ailments that would get me a blue badge for my car in the UK I took to Sydney's streets as a lone wolf searching for his pack...