A backpacker says he has spent thousands of pounds on a plane ticket back to the UK after being stranded on the other side of the world because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Simon Mail, 36, from Watford, had been enjoying a four-week trip in New Zealand when he received the unwelcome news that the country was being put on lockdown.

Mr Mail is one of thousands of British tourists around the globe caught up in the worldwide pandemic - but he is set to fly home on Monday after more than a week of uncertainty.

But the plane ticket has come at a cost, with Mr Mail having to spend around £2,000 for a journey home.

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The sports journalist said: "The flight cost me a huge sum of money and people here have been very critical of flight prices, it feels like we are being taken advantage of.

"I am going to see if I can claim the money back when I get home, but whether I can or not I don't know."

He added that since his flight was never rescheduled the insurers should cover "at least some of it".

Watford Observer:

Simon Mail (photo Simon Mail)

The sports journalist flew out to New Zealand at the end of February for a tour of North and South Island.

The coronavirus crisis that was escalating in China and parts of Europe was in the back of his mind, but Mr Mail was not going to let it get in the way of a trip of a lifetime.

It was all going completely to plan and it looked like the tour was going to end as normal on Tuesday, March 24, but on the previous Saturday his group were told the tour was coming to an end due to travel restrictions, and the group were all taken to Christchurch.

Mr Mail said the tour ending was not a "complete surprise but it was really gutting and a shock to the system to hear about the restrictions in New Zealand".

He said: “I was at the airport on Sunday (March 22) trying to get into the international terminal, and then I tried again on Monday but the queues were 50 to 60 deep each. It has been incredibly frustrating and worrying.”

Since Wednesday, March 25, he has been staying in at the President Hotel in Auckland, with accommodation costing him around £25 a night.

Mr Mail, who was meant to be flying home on Thursday, March 26, says his experience of living in lockdown in New Zealand has been "very surreal".

He added: "It has been very strange in lockdown, everything has been shut and nothing is going on.

"It is an alien city and country to me and every day has been a different challenge.

"I have cooking appliances in my room but I am very limited to what I can do. Nothing is open except pharmacies and essential shops."

But Mr Mail says he knows he could be in a worse position owing to the fact New Zealand is an English-speaking and developed country.

Since March 19 most foreign travellers can no longer enter New Zealand.

The country's citizens, permanent residents, residents with valid travel conditions, and their immediate family travelling with a New Zealand citizen can still go, however.