These 18 travel insurance stories from travelers around the globe prove how important great coverage is. From scuba diving to airports, road trips to carving sides of mountains – there are endless ways for costly mishaps, or worse, life-threatening injuries to catch you off guard. That’s why it’s so important to have to right coverage.

If you’re unlucky enough to have an accident on the road, the last thing you want to be worried about is the thought of a bank-breaking bill when you’re finally released from the hospital. In the end, you may never need travel insurance, but when something happens, you’ll be so glad you had it. Getting the right travel insurance is always my number one on my list of travel tips!

But don’t take my word for it, here are 18 travel insurance stories from real travelers around the world that had their trip salvaged from a great safety net.

 

Campbell and Alya – Stingy Nomads

I was very happy that I had travel insurance on a dive trip to Indonesia. I am an experienced diver with hundreds of dives under my belt, always use a computer and stay within my no-decompression limits.

I got a scare while doing repetitive dives for a couple of weeks on multiple islands in Indonesia. After a long day of diving on Komodo Island, I was running around more than I should have and I was tired and felt some mild discomfort in my ankle.

More than 48 hours after my last dive I had a short flight to Kuala Lumpur since I was completely off-gassed after my last dive and I was not having any effects I boarded my flight.

During the flight my scalp started tingling like crazy, I got very noticeable paresthesia in my scalp and forehead. I was quite worried and contacted my insurance company when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, they were great and organized that I go and see a diving doctor that referred me to a decompression clinic.

It was not normal decompression sickness, but my problems were diving related and I had a session in a decompression chamber. It was a huge relief that my insurance company covered all expenses and I could continue my travels.

 

Alex Waltner – Swedish Nomad

When traveling around Iceland with a campervan it was unfortunately hit by a truck. We were driving in the middle of the night and didn’t know that Icelandic truck drivers are driving like crazy during the night (and daytime) because there is normally not so much traffic out there.

We were chasing northern lights and was just about to arrive at our stop for the night when we saw a truck driving past us in full-speed of at least 120 km/h and knocking the side-mirror of the campervan. Luckily nobody was harmed, but the truck driver didn’t stop and just kept going and due to darkness and snow we weren’t able to catch his plate number.

This meant that we became responsible for the damage that we didn’t cause. Luckily we had travel insurance which helped us cover half the amount which it had otherwise cost us, and we were able to get a new side-mirror delivered to our location the next day.

In case something had happened to us in the campervan when the truck hit us, our travel insurance would’ve also covered hospital bills if necessary, so even though we had to pay an excess fee, we saved more than 800 Euros.

 

Holly Connors – Four Around The World

Traveling with kids tends to make you a little more scatter-brained than usual. This was definitely the case on our way home from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago.

We were waiting for our flight back to Los Angeles, checking our phones while the kids had snacks. Somehow I managed to drop my phone and not realize, as we got up to board. It was not until we landed for a brief stopover in Panama that I realized.

We attempted to recover the phone, however, we knew it was pretty much a lost cause. So we canceled the service and locked the phone with my provider. Thankfully my photos from our trip were all backed up on iCloud. The worst part was my phone was still under contract, with several months remaining.

Once home, I lodged a claim with our travel insurance company. Thankfully the claim amount covered 90% of the remaining balance on my phone contract, leaving me with minimal out of pocket costs once we were back home in Australia.

While I had no plans for a new phone so soon, it was a relief not to be paying off a lost phone at the same time as a new contract. While we always get travel insurance, it was one of those times it definitely reinforced why it is worth it!

 

Caitlin Boylan – The Country Jumper

One of the things to do in The Bahamas is swim with pigs. So I did that. I did not, though, make the trip to Exuma to paddle around with porkers. Instead, I stayed right at the hostel I was at in Nassau and dipped into the ocean with home-raised pigs.

So, to get a pig to swim one must feed them, pigs don’t just go paddling around in the sea unprompted. To feed the pigs one must use their hands. While feeding said pig with said hand a pig might bite your hand. Not on purpose, perhaps, but it can happen. And it happened to me.

It was nothing major. But it was an animal in a foreign country. So, I chatted with a training doctor who was staying in my dorm room and she strongly suggested I make a hospital visit, just in case.

So she and I, and one other kind guest with a car made the trip to the emergency room in Nassau where a doctor checked my finger, gave me a tetanus jab and charged me over $500 for the privilege. The Bahamas is no joke expensive. That was November 11^th. I reported the claim to World Nomads on November 22^nd, my preferred insurer for some time now, and by December 21^st had the payment, in full, paid back to me.

My finger is fine.

 

Stuart Fahy – Stuart Fahy

Last month I suffered a bicycle accident whilst away in Valencia and broke my nose and left hand. To make matters worse I was due to start work in Iceland the week after, but due to the cast I now had on my arm I had to cancel the trip. I was going to be working on the hiking trails so the work was manual and I would have been too restricted with my hand in plaster.

Fortunately, I had already purchased travel insurance with Insure and Go, so began the process of making my claim.

Despite buying insurance for all of my long-term trips I’d been lucky enough not to have had to make a claim before, so had no real experience of what was required.

This turned out to be much more straight forward than I thought it would be. The insurance company emailed me the forms I needed to complete in order to make my claim.

There were just four pages and two of those required very little information, whilst another was a medical certificate to be completed by my doctor. Apparently the cast on my arm wasn’t enough evidence that I had actually broken my hand.

I sent all of the completed forms along with copies of my flight, accommodation and travel invoices. The whole process took a little over a month (despite being told it could take longer due to the summer holidays) and I was reimbursed for everything less my excess.

 

Rick – The Road Is Life

After years of traveling without incident I had become pretty blasé about the need for travel insurance. When I planned to spend a snowboarding season in Whistler, Canada. However, I thought, ok this is probably a good time to invest in some cover because I know there’s a good chance I’m going to do something crazy.

I managed to make it through about three-quarters of the season with minor bumps and bruises and then out of nowhere, on a run that I had ridden many times before, I crashed.

I can’t even remember the details as it happened so fast, I popped a 180 off a small ledge and then I was on the ground after hearing a snapping sound from my shoulder.

I was in a lot of pain but I was worried about the huge costs of being taken off the mountain so I decided I’d ride down carefully, with my arm stuffed in my jacket as a makeshift sling and gritting my teeth through the bumps.

I managed to get to my car and proceeded to drive 45 minutes to the nearest hospital. This wasn’t a cup of tea as the car was a manual and it happened to be my right arm that was incapacitated.

Gear changes involved holding the steering wheel with my knee and reaching over to change with my left hand and all this through snowy conditions! I made it into the hospital where I was told I had dislocated my AC joint and partially torn the tendon. Being an Australian, I paid upfront the large overseas patient medical fees and drove home.

I was so nervous about my first claim ever but it turned out to be so straightforward and I had the money refunded within a week; a great relief as I was imminently moving to the UK and needed every cent I could get! Since then I always fork out a little extra to get quality insurance.

 

Sinead Camplin – Map Made Memories

We spent hours researching a travel insurance policy to ‘best fit’ our family of five on our year-long, around the world trip. But our detailed research paid off!

Unfortunately, we had to make several claims and also utilized the insurance helpline whilst traveling. I was diagnosed with typhoid in New Zealand (caught elsewhere) and had to stay in the hospital for one week. Whilst the hospital stay and treatment was covered under a reciprocal agreement with the U.K, other expensive aspects were not.

Our insurance paid for pre (and post) diagnosis doctor visits, blood and stool tests. The insurance also gave us money towards steep city center accommodation costs for my family to enable them to stay near me whilst I was in the hospital.

Being so ill so far from home was horrible but the speed and ease with which the insurance company helped us was reassuring so money was one less thing to worry about at a stressful time. And having my family able to visit me each day was an invaluable form of medicine!

 

Karllie – Yolo Solo Travel

I am a New Zealander that was traveling with a friend from Venice, Italy to Nice, France and we had to stop in Genoa to change buses.  While waiting for the next bus, my friend and I walked to the nearest cafe for a coffee.  We had all our luggage with us and piled it between the wall and our table.  We never considered it wasn’t safe there with us.

However, without either of us noticing someone walked out of the cafe, right beside us, and picked up my day pack.

It contained my laptop and passport, along with several other items.  Long story short, I got through the border check with just a police report and a photocopy of my passport.

Once in Nice, I was able to contact the New Zealand Embassy in London to organize a new passport.

Thankfully, I had taken out long term travel insurance with 1Cover Travel for a travel period of close to eight months.

The cost of this insurance was over $800NZD but my insurance claim was well over $2000NZD which I was reimbursed 100%. 1Cover Travel made the whole claim process really easy.

This meant the only real inconvenience of the whole experience was the disruption to my travel plans as I couldn’t leave Nice until my new passport had arrived.  And there was a bonus, I got a brand new 10-year passport!  I wouldn’t travel anywhere (except Australia) without travel insurance.

In my view, it would be completely crazy to do so, especially when it comes to your health and safety.  Always have travel insurance!  I love to explore Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond and inspire others with my adventures.

 

Danni – Live In 10 Countries

On the journey along the motorway, I slept because it was a 5 am start. Only when we approached central London did I realize it was 1.5 hours later than it should have been. The bus driver confirmed journey time had more than doubled because of a huge traffic jam and he just let everyone sleep through it.

Of course, I raced through London but there was no way to make the Eurostar. I had to buy a new on-the-spot ticket – and it was not cheap. I figured there’d be no help because it was just a common experience, missing a connection due to traffic. But when I called up I was told that it was covered!

I had to send in my tickets and a letter from the coach company explaining why they were delayed. But it was actually very pain-free and easy. I’d definitely buy again.

 

Ayngelina Brogan – Bacon Is Magic

I was so excited to travel to Vietnam after spending time in Thailand and Cambodia. I was most excited to eat all the food for Tet, we had come overland from Cambodia and it was a long day of travel. I had to take out my passport so many times that I had just thrown my money belt in my purse along with my expensive DSLR camera.

When we finally passed through all immigration we needed to go to a bank to get money. I still had everything in my purse but it was across my body and so I felt it was secure.

I was wrong. 

We didn’t even make it to the bank. I was walking hand in hand with my boyfriend on the sidewalk when I scooter with two people came on the sidewalk and was approaching us. We had only been in Saigon a few hours but we had seen just how crazy scooter drivers were. 

My boyfriend let go of my hand and stepped away from me to make space on the sidewalk. In a blink, the passenger on the scooter cut my bag off my body with a knife. 

I was stunned. My passport and my camera were gone before our Vietnamese adventures even started. It absolutely could have ruined the trip but I knew my insurance would cover it and we were in a country that had amazing camera stores. 

After I went to the Canadian consulate to apply for a new passport I stopped in a camera shop and bought a new DSLR. Everything was covered and now when I look back at those photos the robbery seems like a very minor point in the trip.

 

Annie Robinson – Off Goes Annie

I can honestly say I don’t know what we would have done without insurance whilst we were traveling around New Zealand. We hired a campervan in winter to explore the beautiful North and South Islands but were struck by some bad luck. One evening when the weather was particularly bad, my partner was reversing our van into space at a campsite for the night when we heard glass shattering.

I quickly whipped around and could see a branch coming right into our van as it had smashed through the rear window – turns out there was a big tree in our blindspot. I rushed straight outside to assess the damage, where I found the rear door was badly dented and the back window totally smashed through.

The heavy rain quickly turned to snow overnight, and we were positive that our New Zealand adventure was over. We endured a freezing cold night, exposed to the elements in the back of the van. However, thanks to our insurance we were able to take it to a garage the following morning, who repaired it within an hour.

The insurance company spoke directly with the garage, so we didn’t have to pay a cent of the otherwise $1000+ bill.

 

Dominika Byś – Sunday In Wonderland

There are different types of travel insurances which you can choose from. One of the most popular is car rental insurance, which I think is also one of the most used all around the world.

Myself, I’m a believer that car rental insurance is a must-have if you don’t want to worry about any scratch on your rented vehicle. The full insurance saved me once in a very embarrassing situation.

I was traveling with my family in Spain. We rented a big van from a local company. We were lucky enough that they had run out of standard models, so they proposed us the luxury version at the same price.

That was the modern car where everything was automated, even the doors. You know, comfortable seats, spacious interior and a nice smell of luxury travel.

Our vacation was awesome! Sunsets on the beach, sangria in local bars, and delicious seafood directly from the morning market. And this was where we benefited our car insurance.

My mom was doing groceries and she bought fresh shrimps. She put them into a car’s trunk. Unfortunately, some shrimp juices leaked out of the bag and sank into the upholstery. Can you imagine this awful smell the next day when we opened a car standing in full sun?

No method worked in this case. We tried air fresheners, washing with detergents, natural methods, and even went to a professional carwash. Nothing helped. The interior still smelled like something died there.

The last day we had a morning flight back home. Embarrassed by this situation we went to car rental agency to drop off our smelly wheels. A blessing in disguise, the key battery discharged when we came there! Since it was a fully automated car, it didn’t have a standard door lock but only remote opening.

So the company’s employee was not able to open it anymore! The spare keys were in the office which was still closed because of the early hour. And here is where the full insurance saved us! The employee said that because we purchased it, he didn’t need to check the car condition, as any reasonable damage would be covered. You can read more about this story on my blog.

So luckily for us, they discovered the smelly problem when we were carefreely watching the sky from the plane. I hope they manage to fix our fail.

 

Mitchell Glass – Project Untethered

Travel insurance has saved my unlucky butt on multiple occasions—the most recent being on a trip through Chile.

After spending nine days hiking Torres del Paine, drinking fresh water straight from the river, I assumed that the water in surrounding towns must be clean as well.

I assumed wrong.

A half a glass of water was all it took to ruin the next month of my life.

Within an hour of drinking the cursed water, I had a high fever and was making bathroom runs every 20 minutes. This lasted for an entire night, and the next morning I was severely dehydrated (did I mention we’d just gotten back from nine days of malnourishment in the mountains?).

There were no taxis on the road, so I had to walk my diarrhea-ravaged body to the nearest hospital (luckily it was a small town).

Thankfully, my travel insurance covered my visit. No paperwork, no charges, nothing.

Two weeks later, I still hadn’t improved. I was now on Easter Island—sleeping in a tent literally in the middle of nowhere—and my body had turned into a skeleton. Back to the rustic island hospital. Once again, my insurance covered me for the visit (and some serious antibiotics).

In the end, it took a month before I was able to eat again without feeling funky. 

This experience was a great reminder of how important travel insurance is. It was also a good reminder that travel isn’t always daisies and lollipops. Some trips are good. Some are bad. And there’s always risk involved. 

That said, I’ll take the bad trip over no trip any day. Because, as one of my favorite adventure quotes goes, “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; It’s lethal.”

 

Chris – More Life In Your Days

Having travel insurance came into its own when I was involved in a snowboarding accident on the piste. After a few minutes of trying to compose myself, it seemed that I needed a bit of help. So we called to be rescued by the ski patrol who wrapped me up in blankets and took me down to the village on a sled.

From here there was a very short journey in an ambulance before they reset my wrist in a cast (super painful!). As it was a private hospital, everything needed to be paid for and it was not cheap, even the 100-meter ambulance journey was a couple of hundred Euros.

Luckily, we had travel insurance that covered us for winter sports cover. We contacted the insurers and they were able to sort everything out very easily. They called through to the medical center and confirmed that they would cover the costs upfront (they had taken a cheap rental snowboard as collateral).  We didn’t need to pay and the reclaim which made everything much simpler.

To be honest I lost half a snowboard holiday and had a cast on for months so it was a rubbish thing to happen. But, at least I got the treatment that was necessary and I didn’t need to worry about the cost of it, and only paid the small policy excess not the full bill of over 600 Euros.

 

Corritta Lewis – Itz A Family Thing

We were on our way home from a fun relaxing family vacation in Los Cabos Mexico. We arrived at the airport early, because when you travel with a baby you need more time for everything. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:50 so we arrived by 11:30 after returning the rental car. After waiting for over 3 hours (and eating a very expensive $15 subway sandwich), we head to our gate to board the flight.

As we are waiting, a random airport worker asked if we were heading to the Sun Country flight to San Diego? We answered yes and he informed us that the flight is canceled and go to the gate for more instructions.

We make our way around the airport downstairs because we had a stroller and there are no elevators to find a large group of confused passengers. We were all told that the flight was canceled, and we had to retrieve our bags and board a bus to a hotel.

I was not concerned, because I purchased travel insurance just in case something like this happened. I read the reviews for the airline before booking the flight and figured it would be $15 well spent, and it was. We were stuck in Mexico for another day with our 7-month-old son, very few diapers, no wipes, and a serious need for feminine hygiene products.

Everything ended up working out in the end, thanks to our travel insurance. We stayed in a 5-star all-inclusive resort (free drinks) and purchased very overpriced diapers and wipes for our son, which was reimbursed by our credit card. We even were able to talk our way into getting upgraded to premium seats the next day when our flight was delayed again.

 

Mario Migliore – Rest And Recuperation

I always wanted to travel to South East Asia and when I was offered a position in development in Phnom Penh, it took me a few moments to understand what was going on before I accepted it. The possibility to finally move in this part of the world and to travel in Cambodia and the neighboring countries just added up to interesting job offer.

I accepted the position and took a very comfortable flight with Singapore Airlines to Phnom Penh. The first impact with Cambodia was a humid heatwave that hit my face as soon as I stepped out of the plane. I was expecting it, but never thought it could be as strong!

After clearing all the visa procedures, I traveled on a tuk-tuk to the hostel I had booked for the first few nights. When I arrived and entered the dorm, I realized that my suitcase was broken. My travel companion for the last ten years, one of the first super-light bags, had a big crack on one corner.

I immediately called Singapore Airlines, hoping for some good news despite having already left the airport. I have to admit that it was not easy.

I had to go several times to their office in Phnom Penh, discuss the situation multiple times, and find out many times that they had not done what they promised. But in the end the good news: I received full reimbursement of my suitcase, thanks to the receipt that I kept in my house in Italy.

With that money, I managed to buy a backpack that allowed me more flexibility to travel around Southeast Asia in the next months.

 

Luke Storey –  The Coastal Campaign

Before traveling to Mexico City I had heard stories about how high the crime rates were and how careful you needed to be while travelling there. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay close enough attention to any of these warnings and had my phone and wallet stolen from me as I was boarding a train in the Zocalo metro. I was surrounded by a group of 5 or 6 men who jostled me on the platform and grabbed the valuables from my pockets before I even knew what was happening.

Having been backpacking for several years when this happened, I felt foolish for making it so easy for the robbers, but it was definitely a lesson learned. One thing I was delighted about was finally getting to use my travel insurance. The thousands of dollars spent over the years finally paid off.

I sent World Nomads my police report and some other documents and it took less than three weeks for them to approve my claim and transfer the money into my account. It was fantastic to have such a speedy and easy resolution to my claim. While I would rather never need my travel insurance again, it is great to travel with the knowledge that should anything bad happen, I will be well covered.

 

18 travel insurance stories from travelers around the world

Well, there you have it, 18 travel insurance stories from travelers just like you who dodged an expensive and frustrating bullet by covering themselves while traveling this beautiful world.

Don’t be one of those horror stories of expensive medical bills or repair fees that a simple travel insurance policy can solve.

It’s simple and easy to get a quote for travel insurance through World Nomads – always my preferred travel insurance provider. Just enter your details below and see how easy and stress-free travel insurance can be!

 

Please note: The box below is an affiliate link, you can read about Horizon Unknown’s affiliate policy here.

 

Thanks for reading!

Happy and safe travels,

Ben – Horizon Unknown