Take it from someone who didn’t, and regretted it immediately after.
Do you buy travel insurance?
Like, every single time?
Be honest.
Because I’ll be honest with you — I don’t. 😛
And the funny part (well, not funny, kinda embarrassing actually) is that I work in insurance…
After a few unfortunate incidents during my past trips, I’ve decided to cover an underrated topic that probably sounds uninteresting, yet is actually crucial when planning your next trip: travel insurance.
Because believe me, if you’re even a little bit like me, it can really save your a**. I’ve figured this out the hard way.
So take a word of advice from your big sister and buckle in, while I tell you a few stories I’ve learned along the way – starting from best (a.k.a. my friends), going onto worst (a.k.a. me).
My friends, a scooter and some gravel
First, my type A friends.
In Thailand, they rented scooters — as you do — and on like the second day they took a corner too fast on an unpaved road, hit some gravel and they both went down (luckily with helmets). One of them had bruises for months.
In Sri Lanka, one of them got sick. Like properly sick — he had a fever, he couldn’t keep anything down, and ended up on a drip in hospital for a couple of days. Again, insurance saved them. Again, not a single problem (well, apart from the being sick part).
In China, food intoxication. At this point I am advising them to perhaps stay home next time, but alas, it is too late. Yet, their insurance once again steps in (and probably puts them on their black list after this one).
They either should be on this company’s marketing posters, or they should travel to Lourdes next time. Perhaps both.
But I digress.
Me, day one, Indonesia
Now me – the type B disaster.
First day in Indonesia, fresh off the plane, taking a relaxed stroll around the city, when suddenly I feel my toe being ripped apart by something.
I look down and, surely enough, an unidentified object is protruding from the pavement and is now covered in my fresh blood. And my last tetanus shot was more than 10 years prior.
After an initial panic, I manage to get to the side of the road to assess the situation. Some kind souls see me bleeding and hand me some tissues, which I use to stop the bleeding as I mentally draw up my options.
- Keep going about my day and pretend nothing happened
- Seek immediate medical help
- Keep going about my day, and sort it out later
If you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you know exactly which one I picked.
Option 3, naturally.
No bleeding toe or life-threatening cut can pressure me into anything before I’ve had my walk and my morning coffee.
Once the day ends though, I am finally off to a foreigner-friendly clinic — a necessary luxury as I cannot speak a lick of Bahasa. This little incident costs me way more than I had budgeted for, yet it isn’t enough to make me understand that, perhaps, travel insurance might be a good call.
So I set off for Japan a few months later.
Here, I live through a traumatic experience which I will recount in a separate blog post (be patient), but all you need to know is I had no access to cash, and could only pay digitally — in a country where digital payments appear to be a miracle rather than the norm.
As I cannot keep moving around on foot, and buses only accept cash, I have the brilliant idea to rent a car. Now, because I’ve never had a single accident in my life until this point, and I am only renting it for a day, I naturally opt out of the insurance.
At the end of the day, we’re in Japan: everything’s so organised and calm, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, as it turns out, in Japan they drive on the left. And at one junction, for a second, my brain goes back into Italy mode, I pull out on the wrong side and boom — a gentle push to another car sets me back another 1000 EUR in damage. For a rental which had originally cost me 25.
Nobody got hurt, thank god. But I drove VERY slowly, and very much on the left, for the rest of that trip.
And this is when I decided to never risk it anymore.
How to choose the best travel insurance for your trip
With hopes my short sad stories were sufficiently illustrative, I would now argue that travel insurance is very important.
However, different companies offer different coverage and terms and conditions, so it’s really important you select the one that is best suited for your needs.
Based on experience, I have now developed a good understand of what to look out for, and this is how I would narrow it down (incidentally, an even 10):
- Where you’re going: Europe only, or further? If you’re European, your national health card might cover you for any emergency— but not private clinics, and not getting you home. If you’re from anywhere else, check whether your national health insurance might cover expenses first. Otherwise, you’re definitely going to want to have that.
- Medical and the emergency number: in relation to this, also make sure there’s someone you can call 24/7 and that the cover is high enough for where you’re going (healthcare in some countries is CRAZY expensive – ahem, USA…).
- Country coverage. If you’re travelling to multiple countries, it’s worth checking whether you can cover multiple ones, or if you need an individual policy for each single one (which can be a pain) – I almost paid double once without realizing I could actually select multiple countries at once, and as someone who likes to combine locations, this is very important to me.
- How often you travel: do you travel more than two or three trips a year? An annual multi-trip policy usually works out cheaper than buying one every time, so consider this if it’s something you do really often, and compare prices with a single policy per trip.
- What you’ll be doing: scooters, diving, hiking at altitude — these aren’t always included, and they’re also the ones that might incur in more costly damages. So check if it’s on the plan and it’s actually covered, and if it’s not, ask if it can be added and make sure you carefully read the coverage conditions (e.g. wearing helmets)
- Driving. This one’s important — normal travel insurance usually doesn’t cover damage to a rental car or to someone else’s car. That’s what the rental company’s cover (or a separate policy) is for. Basically my Japan lesson, so learn it from me and not from a bill
- Whether you need cancellation cover: this is only relevant you’ve paid a lot upfront (flights, tours, non-refundable hotels). If you’re booking as you go like me, maybe not so much. But worth looking into
- What you already have: some credit cards come with travel insurance included, and like I said your national health insurance might cover some expenses already, so check before you pay for the same thing twice
- The boring small print. Look at the excess (how much you pay before they pay) and how quickly you need to tell them something happened. Some only give you 24 hours, and if you miss it, they won’t pay – so be careful!
- Your tetanus shot. Not insurance at all, but maybe check the date….
Once you have answers to all of these, THEN you can compare prices. Don’t be tempted by one just because it looks cheaper – there is probably a reason for that, and you don’t want to find out when you actually need to use it.
Now, as for which one to get: honestly, like I said it really depends on your needs. However, I personally always use AXA. There might be better ones out there, but this one comes from a reputable company and honestly I’ve never had a problem with them (and no, this isn’t sponsored – just my honest opinion. I wish…)
To conclude this boring but useful post
Is it a bit annoying to pay for something you’ll probably never use?
Yes.
Is it a pain to have to read through the fine print before signing up?
Also, absolutely yes.
But, the you of the future will definitely thank you when you need it and you actually have it.
After Japan, I’ve definitely learned this lesson…
What about you, my friends — have you ever travelled without it? Did you get away with it, or have you got your own Japan incident? I’d love to hear about your stories too!
As always, wishing you all a lovely day,
Elena
