5 Travel Fails I Wish I Had Travel Insurance For

Being a solo female traveler with a fearless sense of adventure can sometimes result in a recipe for disaster. Not going to lie, I’ve gotten myself into a pickle (or rather an entire jar of them) a few times, and it can be pretty terrifying, especially when traveling abroad. It can also be expensive, which, let’s be serious, you never think about until something actually happens. Then you kick yourself for not doing smart things like getting travel insurance.

But, being the stubborn self-proclaimed invincible adventurer that I think I am, I never thought to actually protect myself with travel insurance until it dawned on me how many times I could have really used it. To be completely honest, I had no idea what travel insurance even covered until I signed up for an annual Professional Travel Plan (humble brag) with Allianz, and read through all of the benefits. Essentially, I realized that I’m basically a walking poster child for why you need travel insurance.

While reading through what was covered in my new travel insurance plan, I couldn’t help but to automatically think about all the times I could have been covered and saved a ton of money. Since those times are now kind of funny, I decided it would be better to use them as examples to show how travel insurance works in case it’s something you’ve been thinking of getting too!

1. When I Thought I Got Zika in Bali

Nothing’s more fun than waking up in a foreign country with a massive rash across your body, right? Especially when you try to Google what it might be and the top search results are ‘Zika’. Fail. Like any normal person, I freaked out and rushed to the closest hospital I could find in Bali (two hours away from where I was staying), where I was extremely happy (and slightly grossed out) to find that it was a skin infection from my hotel’s swimming pool.

The cost wasn’t too bad, neither was the condition, BUT! If it would have been worse (like Zika), my Allianz plan would have covered the emergency medical transportation cost, emergency medical care, quarantine and possibly even the trip interruption!

2. When My Flight Got Canceled in Lima

To be honest, I wasn’t mad at all about having to stay longer in Peru instead of going back to Florida for the holidays (sorry mom). But, it was at the end of a long trip, and in an area that wasn’t exactly at the top of my travel list; Lima. AKA I was broke and terrified. The airline of course rebooked everyone for the following day, but couldn’t do anything to accommodate everyone for the 10 hours we had to wait for it.

My options were either sleep on a chair at the airport, stay awake, or just bite the bullet and get a hotel. Since I was alone and exhausted, I of course opted for the closest hotel. Would have been really nice to use my $300 coverage limit for trip delays on my Allianz plan rather than the rest of my Christmas-present money on the hotel airport…

3. When My Drone Got Stolen From Luggage in India

I’m not going to point any fingers, but I’m just going to throw it out there that I had to put my drone in my checked luggage at the last minute while going through security at an airport in India, and when I got to baggage claim, it was gone. Sure, maybe there could have been some security concerns (even though I had already carried it though four other airports in India), but there was no note or anything, it was just gone.

Obviously there was no chance I was going to attempt complaining about my drone to security officials while traveling in India, but if I would have had my travel insurance, I could have potentially been covered for the loss. Allianz covers baggage delays as well as lost, stolen, or damaged baggage!

4. When I Rented a Camper Van in New Zealand

Last month I had the genius idea to do a budget camper van roadtrip around New Zealand since it was the most seemingly affordable way to see everything. Little did I know I was going to get hit with an additional $20 per day for insurance on the rental, since my U.S. car insurance doesn’t cover me abroad. So on top of paying for the rental, gas, and campground fees for two weeks, I also had to pay a total of $280 for the daily in-case-shit-happens insurance.

…My Allianz plan costs $129 for the year, and covers rental car damage, collision, and theft, in addition to emergency medical care. I’ll let you do the math while I go cry in the corner. The good news though is that the only damage done on that trip was to my bank account!

5. When I Got Locked in the Sydney Aquarium

Let’s just say that I thought I was being super savvy going to the Sydney Aquarium right before it closed, thinking there’d be less crowds. Well yeah, there were less crowds, because everyone except me knew that it was going to close early that day. Long story short, I spent way too much time taking selfies in the shark tank tunnel, and when I came out, everyone was gone, and all the doors were locked.

I distinctly recall wishing I had someone to call for help, and realize now that if I had my travel insurance plan, I could have used Allianz’ 24 hour emergency hotline. Yes, I considered it an emergency. That way they could have maybe looked up and called local authorities to come have the doors unlocked so I didn’t have to set off the alarm by busting out of the emergency exit. 

OH! And you don’t have to get an annual plan if you’re not a frequent traveler! You can pay for plans according to the dates you’ll be traveling! Click below to get a quote depending on what type of coverage you think you’ll need!

Disclaimer: This post is done in collaboration with Allianz Global Assistance, but all opinions, experiences, and travel fails are my own. Seriously though, you can’t fake that.

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Alyssa Ramos

I’m Alyssa Ramos, a full-time, self-made, solo traveler who’s been to over 85+ Countries, all 7 Continents, 7 World Wonders, 7 Wonders of Nature, plus I recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and dove the Great Barrier Reef! I created this life of full-time traveling completely on my own, and my goal is to give you as much information and inspiration as possible to make travel happen for you too!

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