When preparing to travel, we plan for things to go smoothly. We have a lot to contend with and try as we might, we’ll never be able to anticipate everything that lays ahead. Hence we call it the unforeseen.
The perils associated with international travel can range from health issues to baggage loss. Along with the latter, criminal activity and civil unrest can lead to the cancellation of pre-booked and non-refundable expeditions. These are significant inconveniences to the traveler.
How does one cover all these bases? Indeed, travel agents are generally up to speed with the affairs of the destinations they sell, but not even they can predict the unexpected. Thus it’s essential to have travel insurance. Click here to learn more about travel insurance.
Let’s explore a little further why it’s so important to have coverage when traveling in the form of some real holiday tales.
Illness
In 2017 Danielle, a 21 year old Israeli national, started a three-week tour in Cape Town. She and her long-time friend Noah were euphoric. They had been planning for this trip for some time.
On this excursion, they would be camping through some of the most isolated locations in Southern Africa. They were to see Namibia with the oldest desert in the world, Botswana, and the Okavango Delta, and Zimbabwe; The Kingdom of Stone.
Difficulty struck 13 days into the tour. It was the first night in Botswana when an unbearable pain started growing in Danielle’s lower abdomen.
By 11 PM, she could take no more and sent her friend through the inky darkness to find the tour guide.
Two days later, Danielle was in an African hospital surrounded by strangers. The doctors came up with all sorts of diagnoses but no remedy; she just wished she was at home.
Danielle was lucky enough to have had some kind of insurance, which allowed her to access medical assistance. If she felt the need to, she could have flown out of Botswana to Israel and had her entire trip refunded, including the untimely flight back home.
Crime
In 2015 the retired couple Wilhelm and Greta Klein drove out of the Europ Car terminal at Cape Town International Airport. They’d been driving for 25 minutes, and Greta still couldn’t get the GPS to work. It was time to get help.
Little did they know, when they pulled into the Shell Filling Station, they were in Delft, one of the Cape flats’ most violent townships. Things got out of control.
A week later, Greta found herself in Seapoint hotel while her hospitalized husband recovered from a gunshot to the leg.
It was a difficult time. Greta and hubby had been relieved of all their personal effects, including the confounded GPS. Had it not been for a few card stow-aways in their luggage, they would also have had no money.
Greta now confined herself to the hotel as she awaited her significant other. He was unfit for travel, but as soon as his condition improved, they would fly home to Germany.
Their comprehensive insurance cover refunded them for all canceled activities. The medical fees and Greta’s stay at the Winchester Mansions Hotel, where she awaited her husband’s recovery, was also taken care of.
We don’t know if the couple ever got to revisit South Africa, but they did have the full complement of service, support, and compensation throughout the ordeal.
Emergencies at Home While Abroad
Edward Maas had been planning the trip for a while, and although he was on a group tour, he always found the time to be alone. His silence on that particular day had an underlying melancholy to it.
He had received news from home that his ailing mother’s condition had deteriorated phenomenally. His siblings needed him back. The trip was only halfway through, and there was still a lot to see. Nonetheless, the journey, for now, was over.
The next day, he got dropped off at Port Elizabeth Airport and connected with KLM in Johannesburg. Thirteen hours later, he was in Schiphol, Amsterdam.
Two weeks after his untimely trip home, he was back in Africa compliments of his travel insurance.
The Bottom Line
Many travel companies insist that the traveler has travel insurance before signing them up, as we see this is with good reason. It stands in as an aid and a lifeline in the time of need. So next time you’re heading on vacation, make sure you get coverage to protect yourself in case of illness, crime, or an unexpected event happening at home.
