Why Travel Insurance Might Be the Most Important Thing You Pack (Even if it’s the Most Boring)
Why Travel Insurance Might Be the Most Important Thing You Pack…
Ok, so this one is a hard one to write…
Picture this…
You’re halfway through your dream holiday. The cocktails are cold, the sunsets are perfect and life feels wonderfully carefree. Then suddenly — an accident. A fall by the pool or a diving incident. Or perhaps something happens before you’ve even boarded the plane such as a medical emergency, family crisis or unexpected surgery that means your long-awaited trip simply can’t happen.
Now imagine being in a foreign hospital, stressed, frightened and being told you cannot even walk through the doors until you hand over hundreds, or even thousands of pounds. No treatment or discussions. No sympathy - just payment first.
Yes, both incidents have happened to us. This is why I simply cannot stress enough just how important it is not only to have travel insurance, but to have the right travel insurance.
Travel insurance isn’t glamorous. Nobody gets excited about comparing policy wording over a glass of wine while planning their holiday. It’s one of the more boring things to sort out, but it can be the thing standing between a manageable inconvenience and a financial disaster.
And speaking from personal experience… we know this all too well.
So, let’s break this all down…
The Claims We Never Expected to Make
Before Lucusta Travel was even formed, we had our own lessons in the importance of good cover.
Belize – April 2020
Our first planned trip to Belize. Only to be interrupted by – you guessed it – Covid.
Like many travellers, we scrambled to recover costs. Airlines and suppliers refunded some elements, but not everything. We had accommodation losses and other out-of-pocket expenses that simply weren’t recoverable elsewhere.
It took quite a long time to get the money refunded (understandably, the entire world seemed to be claiming at once) but having cover made a huge difference. We also chose credit notes from the airline because we fully intended to resurrect the trip when the world calmed down, but ended up using these the following year on a different trip to St Lucia in October 2021 – more on that below!
Insurance became our safety net and a lesson learned. If we didn’t have insurance, it would have been a very costly and devasting cancelled dream holiday as some smaller suppliers just couldn’t offer refunds without bankrupting themselves. Imagine paying for a holiday you didn’t even get to go on!
St Lucia – October 2021
This one was… rather more dramatic with a diving incident resulted in the bends. Jason and I love to travel, experience and explore all the wonderful things the world has to offer, but sometimes not everything goes to plan. And whilst I love diving and exploring the ocean and being free in the water to swim and marvel at nature’s beauty, my experience on this particular occasion didn’t have a Disney happy ending. Not exactly the souvenir we had in mind!
We had obtained our PADI qualifications before we went on holiday and were excited to dive in the Caribbean. After our second dive of the holiday (on Jason’s Birthday no less!) I felt a bit tired and went to have a rest, thinking it was just down to the 2 dives we had completed that day, which also included a drift dive for the first time. I woke up a few hours later feeling rather unwell and after speaking with the hotel Doctor was advised to get to hospital quicky!
After being bundled into a taxi to hospital and then wheeled to the door as I was unable to stand, we discovered something quite sobering - we weren’t even allowed through the hospital doors until we paid an $800 admission fee upfront. WTF! Whilst Jason was running around trying to sort out a payment, he suddenly then became very unwell too and we were both diagnosed with the Bends.
Then, came the 13-hour decompression chamber treatments (yes, you read that correctly!), where specialist doctors and emergency medical care demanded we pay everything upfront. The hospital had absolutely no interest in discussing payment arrangements with the insurance company as they wanted payment from us before treatment continued. I was literally marched to the payment office the morning I came out of the decompression chamber or treatment would have been stopped. They did not mess around.
The insurance we had in place at the time with our bank were not the most helpful either. Whilst I was able to notify them that we were in hospital and they opened the case file, the in-country support was non-existent! I dread to think what may have happened if we were relying on them for any urgent help whilst there, or with getting home.
And remember, whilst we were lucky in St Lucia with English speaking doctors, this could have happened somewhere with a language barrier, alongside panicked emotions and stressed conversations about money.
The final bill? A whopping +£25,000!!! Thank God for the credit cards I somehow remembered to grab out the safe when we were waiting for the taxi to the hospital!
Thankfully, we had enough available credit to cover it and then reclaim through insurance afterwards. Our insurance payment wasn’t instant, it took about 3 months and countless hours on hold to get everything back, but thankfully they covered it all in the end. And honestly? That experience changed how we talk about travel insurance forever.
So, not quite the Disney ending we all want from a dream holiday, but another lesson learned about Travel Insurance. Because not everyone has the luxury of putting £25,000 on their credit cards, or reaching out possibly to the ‘Bank of Mum or Dad’ in case of an emergency.
Belize – May 2026
Fast forward to now - Belize tried to defeat us yet again…
Jason and I celebrate our 10-Year Wedding Anniversary this month and whilst we have travelled the world and shared all these amazing experiences, we re-visited the idea of Belize again. We were so excited to plan again for this trip, with lots of places to discover and new adventures to experience. I’d done all the planning and all the booking as we had an action-packed adventure of hopping our way through the islands and mainland, staying in multiple locations throughout our dream holiday and researching the country for future clients.
But this time, emergency eye surgery meant cancelling the trip before we even departed. Devasted. Poor Jason suddenly found himself with his retina detaching, where he was hours away from being blind! With a trip to one eye hospital where the specialist said he was ok and fit to fly, something in our guts were say ‘no – let’s get a second opinion’ – thank god we did, as emergency surgery was needed straight away. (Can you imagine if this happened whilst in Belize, or worst still, mid-flight!?)
We now think the Universe might be telling us to skip Belize and explore the rest of the world…
But thankfully, after years of experience the claim process was refreshingly simple, with receipts uploaded online, cancellation documentations submitted, all reviewed and approved within the week and with payout received before we would even have returned home. Now that is pretty cool, I have to say!
That’s exactly what insurance should do: step in quietly when life throws a curveball.
The Things People Often Miss About Travel Insurance
Here’s the part worth paying attention to…
Buy it when you book — not the week before you fly
This is one of the biggest misconceptions.
Travel insurance isn’t just for while you’re away.
Cancellation cover starts from the date you purchase the policy. If something unexpected happens between booking and travelling - illness, family emergencies, surgery (been there, done that!) then you want protection already in place.
Declare pre-existing medical conditions
This is so important.
If you don’t declare relevant medical conditions, you risk invalidating claims entirely.
Sometimes there’s an extra premium involved but compared with overseas medical bills, it’s usually money very well spent. And you can’t put a price on peace of mind.
Check your cancellation limits
Many people have insurance bundled through their bank account and assume they’re fully covered. But have you checked the cancellation limits? Probably not.
Some policies only cover around £5,000 per person. Perfectly fine for a short city break perhaps, but probably less ideal for luxury holidays, cruises, safaris or multi-centre adventures. Top-up cover is available if needed, so always check this.
Don’t forget specialist cover
If you’re planning an exciting adventure holiday like safaris, ski trips, diving holidays (again, been there, done that, got the bends!) and cruises, then specialist cover is quite often needed. Also, most cruise lines will request evidence of insurance before you travel. These frequently need additional cover packs to be added to a standard policy, which is easily done, but always check what is/isn’t covered as standard as all policies differ.
Annual cover can save money
If you travel more than a couple of times a year, an annual policy can often work out far more cost effective than buying separate policies each trip. So, if you are anything like us where we like to jet off quite often, then annual cover could be a good way to go.
Our Recommended Travel Insurance Partner
After all this, you might be wondering who we use for our travel insurance?
We work with Rush, underwritten by Allianz, because we genuinely rate their coverage and service highly from both professional and personal experience.
We’re always happy to discuss your existing policies too and make sure they are fit for purpose — because the goal isn’t simply having insurance, it’s having the right insurance for your trip.
If you’d like to explore cover options, you can visit our affiliate insurance page here:
Covered2Go – Lucusta Travel Insurance Partner
One Final Message (The Important One!)
When you book your holiday…Buy your insurance. Or check your existing policy. Straight away.
Not tomorrow. Not when you start packing. Not at the airport.
Because nobody plans for accidents, cancellations, emergency surgery, decompression chambers or unexpected hospital bills.
But if life does decide to intervene, future-you will be incredibly grateful you spent ten minutes dealing with the “boring” bit.
And if you just can’t stomach the thought of sitting down and diving into the world of travel insurance, then hey – that’s what we are here for. We are your Travel Concierge after all, so ask us anything and we’d be happy to help!