Travel Insurance

Travel insurance, like a pre-nuptial agreement, is all about preparing for the worst whilst at the same time planning and hoping for the best. I am making bookings to visit what is left of New Zealand – the north island. I read all of the details in the product disclosure statement, even the fine print, and could not find any exclusions about if the country you are visiting unexpectedly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, which is about the only natural disaster not seen around the world in 2011 so I think my travel companion and myself will be covered.

I like to undertake adventure activities when travelling abroad; abseiling, sky diving, trekking, zip lines, human sling shots white water rafting. I am half way through my mission to white water raft on every planet. Due to these types of activities I always take out the premium level of travel insurance available.

I have even had use to claim on my travel insurance. Twice. Neither time was it due to what insurers consider to be “extreme activities”.

In Africa having spent 4 weeks trekking across desserts and savannah regions where I got charged by an elephant whilst I was sitting in a jeep and charged by a rhinoceros while I was on foot I white water rafted and consequently swam in crocodile infested waters of the Zimbabwean river system. I jumped out of a plane that was held together by gaffa tape over the deserts of Namibia.

It was none of these activities that resulted in an insurance claim.

At the end of my safari tour I spent 4 days in the luxury resort of Sun City. I was spending a luxurious day in their water park and chose to utilise the waterslides. Admittedly the slide was called “Slide of Courage.” This slide was long and straight at an angle of approx 85%. Bodies separate from the actual slide during the descent. I separated enough that by the time I got to the bottom I had what can only be described as a landing. Coming to a complete halt across the slide still 5m short of the end-pool. The resounding “crack” sound was loud enough that the entire park came to a complete stand still.

Surprisingly I had not broken anything and was able to get up and walk away from the scene. The injury did not become clear until approximately 30minutes later. I had torn the trapezius muscle which extend down the back of the neck to the shoulder.

Gym-junkies will spend endless hours to build up their pecs, biceps and triceps, hundreds of sit ups and twists to get the perfect six pack for their abs, but I am here to tell you that they are all wasting their time. The trapezius is where all of the strength is.

Having torn it off of the bone I lost all strength in my upper body. Having had room service change the sheets and remake the bed, I had to ask the maid to return to my room to untuck the covers as I did not have the strength to turn down a sheet.

Even though it took nearly an hour to get out of bed, I did manage to still get down to the endless buffets at both lunch and dinner. After all I needed to build my strength to commence the healing process.

At least falling off a water slide is more extreme than the reason for my claim when holidaying in New York for Christmas in 2007.

I was hospitalised with extreme gastroenteritis which I contracted from a computer key board. It is often said that computer viruses are often spread through email.

Although I got exceptional service from all of the hospital staff – albeit that I was the only person in casualty that was not their due to alcohol or drug intoxication, it did not warrant the cost.

AU$13,000 in bills. For this I got two drip bags of saline, four x-rays and eight hours on a hospital gurney and a cup of ice chips. No meals, no over night stay. I only saw a doctor for 10minutes in total. Most of the treatment was done by radiographers and orderlies.

For this amount I would have hoped that the drip would be laced with something more exotic and dripping from bags made of gold.

I can’t complain though. I was so sick that throughout the previous night that even though it was the depth of a New York winter with snow all over, the only way I could get cool enough to fall asleep was to lay naked on the cement floor of the bathroom.

I was burning up. The saline was not liquid platinum but it did the trick. After eight hours I was good as gold and able to stomach more meals that consist mainly of cheese. Even more I boarded a 20 hour long-haul flight back to Australia not more than 30 hours later.

I am wondering if travel insurance to New Zealand includes protection against their accent!