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Do as I say, not as I do - right?
Ahhh the good old ankle story, I love this one.
It took 2 years to fully heal from it and I had to wear a sports strap for any strenuous activity to avoid hurting it again. I even got kicked off of my Quidditch team because they didn't want to be liable for my ankle. Fair, but sad. Here's the story of how I sprained an ankle, then fractured it, then decided not to let it stop the last 6 weeks of a year-long Europe trip!
Even with the ankle, I continued on to go for a week of hiking in a very frosty and slippery Iceland before finally walking the entirety of Liechtenstein - all on a fractured ankle!
We hit the road. I had this large umbrella with me that served well as a make-shift crutch. We got picked up by a lady who dropped us off in-front of an abandoned asylum - spooky but cool. I sat around there chilling with the cows for half an hour while my travel buddy went for a bit of an explore, only to come running back and saying that there were squatters inside the asylum and they didn't seem friendly, and that we should continue on. Thankfully, hitchhiking in Romania is very easy and the next car picked us up! This one had four young men in the car, and they thought it was hilarious that I wanted to go to see the waterfall instead of go to the hospital. Because of my ankle, I sat on top of three of the boys in the back and we laughed and joked the whole way there. When we arrived at Bigar Cascada, the boys actually carried me down to the waterfall, then up to some caves nearby so that I can see everything. They were incredible! Afterwards we ended up at a local diner where they knew the chef, and they treated us to some traditional brânză de burduf. It was delicious!
From there, we hitchhiked to Baile Herculane and checked into a hotel for the night. The next morning I woke early and went to the pharmacy to get a strap, some pain medications, and ideally - crutches. Well, they only had one crutch and it was a child's one. Bloody useless but I got it anyway - for 50 euros, ouch!
Fast forward two weeks and the ankle is starting to go down. My travel buddy had to go back to work so we parted ways, and I was alone in Bratislava, walking along on my way to take a bus to Vienna and listening to music. I'd given up on my child's crutch only that morning and left it with someone who said they could give it to a children's hospital. As I'm walking along, enjoying the view, I didn't notice a crack in the pavement below. Naturally, I tripped on it, and knew instantly that I'd hurt myself - badly. A few locals came running up to me I understood one of them say "ich werde einen Krankenwagen rufen", or I will call an ambulance. But I knew my bus to Vienna was soon, and I didn't know how much an ambulance would cost! I have this hysterical memory of me on the ground, my bag on my back, as I shouted "Nein Krankenwagen, nein" to which the man responded "Ya krankenwagen, ya!". We settled on a taxi and he very kindly helped me load in my bag - bless him.
The next hour and a half on the bus felt like a small eternity. I got a taxi to my hostel, dumped my bags, and then took a taxi to the hospital. At first, they told me the ankle was broken. Then just sprained. Then fractured. They wanted to give me a full cast, but I refused firmly! I was only a week away from a massive hiking trip around Iceland, and the plan was to spend every evening in hotsprings. We ended up finding a removable cast that I could strap on and take off easily, and whilst the doctor and (very handsome) nurse thought I was an idiot, we all had a laugh about it and they sent me on my way, warning me that I wouldn't enjoy the immortality of youth forever! Ahhh!
The next few weeks of my travel pictures are hilarious. Travelling around Prague on crutches, hitchhiking with crutches, visiting waterfalls in Iceland on crutches! I got surprisingly good at keeping my balance and managed to keep pace with my two Canadian travel buddies when going around Iceland, although I do think they slowed down for me a bit. We strapped a crampon to my good food for the icey hikes, and they would take turns in walking close to me to catch me if I fell! I definitely don't know anyone else with travel pictures like mine.
After Iceland, I had one last goal. Coming from Australia, I had always wanted to walk the distance of a whole country. I'd found a relatively cheap flight from Reykjavik to Zurich, took the first train of the morning to Sargans, then a bus to Balzers and Mäls, the southernmost towns of Lichtenstein. I spoke to the barman at Hotel Hofbalzers and he agreed that I could leave my bag my the door and come back by the end of the day to pick it up. Ankle strapped, I set off for an incredible day, walking to the northernmost point of Lichtenstein! What should have taken 5 and a half hours took 8 or 9 on the ankle, but it was absolutely worth it. This was around 5 days from the end of a year-long trip, so I spent the whole day listening to music, admiring the mountains pass by, chatting with the locals I passed, and reflecting on all that I'd learned in the past year. That and trying to ignore the throbbing in my ankle!
I eventually made it to the north of Lichtenstein, spent a while celebrating the achievement, and walked back to Rennell to hitchhike back to Hotel Hofbalzers. I'd forgotten my passport at the hotel, but thankfully the guards on the border thought it was hilarious that I'd spent the whole day walking with my ankle, and they were happy to wave me through to the Swiss side of the border where I caught a ride back to Balzers straight away. An audi picked me up, if I remember correctly, and it was a really nice car. The lady and I chatted the whole way back to my bag, and it was only when we got to Balzers that I realised she's driven completely out of her way to help me out. She was an absolute legend and such a fun person to speak to, and she almost convinced me to forgo my flight back to Australia and hang out with her in Switzerland!
The next part of the trip was a bit hectic. I started hitchhiking to Strasbourg and then to Paris, although ended up getting busses as my ankle couldn't support the weight of my bag anymore. The flight home was crazy, but I got chatting with the air hostesses and ended up sitting with them in the plane's kitchen area just enjoying a yarn! When we landed in Australia, they invited me to meet the captain of the plane and check out the cockpit - the pilots were very well humoured and were happy to swap travel stories while everyone else got off the plane!
From there, it took around 2 years for the ankle to fully heal. I even got kicked off my Quidditch team after spraining the weak ankle again a few months later! But it was a good wake-up call to look after my ankle and my health - the sense of immortality when you're young feels incredible, but it doesn't last forever!
It's now been 8 years since then and my ankle is repaired and well. Part of me craves the challenge though - if I did my ankle again, could I still push myself so far and hike so much on crutches? Hopefully I'll never find out, but if I do, I'll be sure to add an update to this article!
Left: I found a bag of peas in Baile Herculane - it hardly looks bad there, just some light swelling!
Middle: When I fractured it in Bratislava - this picture was taken on the bus to Vienna. Starting to realise it might not be a quick fix!
Right: The compromise between the doctor and I in Vienna - this little cast that I could take off and on for the Iceland trip! Nothing was getting in the way of me and those hotsprings.
No regrets, some pictures I put the crutches away for, and others I embraced them. My ankle strap is visible in every photo for the last weeks of my adventures, and it makes me laugh everytime. Do as I say, not as I do!
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