Tag Archives: emergency

Wendy's son, Charlie via ferrata at Whistler, British Columbia

Travel Insurance and Emergency Assistance: How to Protect Yourself

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If you don’t start thinking about travel insurance until you need it, chances are it’s already too late. For example, did you know that many benefits only kick in if you purchase your plan soon after paying the first deposit for a trip?

For our WOW Week 2024 Travel Talk on February 8, we brought in experts to discuss how to prepare for travel curveballs, from surprise injuries to natural disasters to political unrest, and how to minimize your risk, both financial and medical. Joining us were Stan Sandberg, co-founder of travel-insurance comparison site TravelInsurance.com, and Sheri Howell, from air-medical-transport and crisis-response provider Medjet. Check out all we learned from Stan and Sheri in the video below.

4 top takeaways

Some plans are more generous than others about covering pre-existing medical conditions. Most insurance policies will not cover pre-existing conditions unless you purchase them within a week or two of your first trip payment. However, a few plans have now extended this window to up to 24 hours after your final trip payment. You can filter for such policies when you do a search on travelinsurance.com.

Annual travel-insurance policies are on the rise. Historically these policies have only covered medical expenses, but some now also provide trip cancellation and interruption protection. Those benefits typically only cover $5,000 or so; if your nonrefundable trip costs are higher than that, you’ll get more complete coverage by purchasing individual policies for each trip.

Tread carefully on the gangways. River cruises are a surprisingly common source of travel accidents. Sheri explained that the vessels’ gangways are smaller and less sturdy than on ocean-going ships; the wake from a passing boat has been known to sweep travelers off their feet—and straight into the hospital.

A Medjet membership protects kids studying abroad. Family memberships cover two adults, plus up to five children until age 19, or until age 23 if they are full-time students. Members are  covered anytime they are at least 150 miles away from home, even when not traveling together.

Links to Useful Resources

How to Buy Travel Insurance: What It Covers, When You Need It

What Medical Evacuation Coverage Do You Need?

“Cancel For Any Reason” CFAR Travel Insurance: What It Is and How It Works

 

Be a smarter traveler: Sign up for Wendy’s weekly newsletter to stay in the know. Read real travelers’ reviews, then use the black CONTACT buttons on Wendy’s WOW List to reach out to the right local fixer for your trip.

This Cyber Monday Sale Will Give You Peace of Mind in 2024

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Wherever I go, it gives me great peace of mind to know my family and I will be covered in a crisis.  Even before the pandemic and recent events in the Middle East, travelers would often ask us about how to protect themselves.  First I point them to our article How To Buy Travel Insurance: What It Covers, When You Need It.  Then I tell them that if they really want peace of mind, they should consider this emergency assistance membership program that goes beyond what regular travel insurance provides:

If you should end up in a hospital far from home—with a complicated bone fracture, a Covid diagnosis, or any other reason—Medjet will get you back home to the doctor you trust and the hospital near your family and friends, saving you many tens of thousands of dollars. (Not every assistance program will transport Covid-positive members, but Medjet will.)  Medjet offers crisis protection too: If during your trip you feel that your safety and security may be threatened—because of a political threat, terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other crisis—they will come to the rescue with access to 24/7 security experts, and evacuation if necessary.

So I thought you’d want to know that on Monday, November 27—for one day only—Medjet is putting its annual memberships on sale again (this time with their largest discount ever: $60 off individual annual memberships, and $90 off family annual memberships). Memberships bought during the sale can be activated later, which means that you can take advantage of the deal now even if you’re not traveling until later in 2024.

CLICK TO THE SALE ON NOVEMBER 27

If you have any issues accessing the sale pricing,
you may call Medjet at 1-800-527-7478
and reference “Wendy Perrin Cyber Monday”

 

Not sure which membership is right for you?  Personally, mine is a MedjetHorizon family membership, so that my children are protected too—even when they travel without me—and so that we’re covered in a crisis such as a terrorist incident or natural disaster.

This sale is for new memberships only, so if you’ve already got one for yourself, consider gifting one. After all, it’s a gift you’d want to get.  I plan to give some as holiday gifts. In fact, I’ve already collected this enrollment info from the giftees. (And I plan to have their enrollment packages sent to my address, so I can give them as a physical gift, rather than spoil the surprise!)

Want to speak with a real live human being?  While it’s a cyber sale in theory, human beings at Medjet will be happy to answer your questions—not only on Cyber Monday but every day of Thanksgiving week except Thanksgiving Day and Sunday.

Full disclosure: Medjet is a sponsor of WendyPerrin.com. But that’s because I use their services myself and believe in them. And their sponsorship is another thing for us all to be thankful for: It enables me, Brook, and the rest of our team to spend time answering your many travel questions and finding the savviest trip-planning specialists for you.

Wherever we end up—such as Wadi Rum in Jordan—it gives me peace of mind to know my family is covered.

red case with red cross photo by peggy marco pixabay

How to Be Prepared for an Emergency When You Travel: Simple Steps

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When you prepare for a trip, it’s smart to prepare for an emergency too. The threats of political unrest, natural disasters (hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes), and terrorist attacks—both at home and abroad—are not going away any time soon. But by all means don’t focus so much on highly unlikely, spectacular risks that you ignore the mundane risks that are far more likely to do you harm. For example, when I traveled to London, I optimized my family’s safety not by doing anything so extreme as avoiding the Tube (a target of past terrorist attacks) or abstaining from a cricket match at The Oval (another potential target, what with 24,000 spectators in a stadium), but by making sure that we looked both ways when crossing the street (it’s easy to look in the wrong direction in countries where people drive on the left) and that we used a bathmat in our rental apartment so we would not slip and fall in an unfamiliar shower.

In addition to keeping risks in perspective, here’s what I do to be prepared for emergencies when I travel:

Before Your Trip

1. Enroll in STEP.
Signing up for the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program makes it easier for the U.S. embassy to send you important information about safety conditions, contact you in an emergency, and help family and friends get in touch with you. Enrolling is easy and quick.

2. Activate your phone for overseas use so that, at a minimum, you can send and receive text messages.
That way you can communicate with others in your traveling party via text message, receive STEP security updates and Twitter Alerts (see #14) via text message, etc.

3. Depending on how remote or risky your destination is, consider carrying a satellite phone or satellite text-messaging device.
In an emergency, you could lose your ability to communicate by cell phone. Internet access could be unavailable as well. Satellite devices do not depend on cell-phone or Internet technology and are much less expensive to rent than they used to be. In countries where satellite phones are illegal—India and China, for instance—you can rent a local mobile phone.

4. Whatever your communication device is, carry extra battery power for it.
If you’re using a smartphone, attach a Mophie or carry a charging block; if you’re using a satellite phone, have an additional battery.

5. Choose a hotel in the right neighborhood, with the right TV news channels and high-speed Internet access.
If you’ve got CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and fast Wi-Fi, you can easily monitor the news and check local English-language websites for news and help. Pick a hotel that is not located close to a symbolic plaza where protests and traffic jams occur (e.g., Taksim Square in Istanbul, or Tahrir Square in Cairo).

6. Book your trip through the right destination specialist.
This gives you a local fixer, advocate, problem solver. The travel specialists on my WOW List know which areas of their destination are safe and which aren’t, and arrange trips based on the latest on-the-ground intel. They connect you with the savviest drivers and “guides” — more expediters and strategists than traditional tour guides — who have the background and credentials to keep you safe and have access to key people in the country who will take care of you. I know this based not only on personal experience, having traveled under their vigilance, but also based on years of feedback from travelers. For example, when Nepal specialist Toni Neubauer had WendyPerrin.com travelers in Nepal during the 2015 quake, she quickly got them on a flight out of the country. (Read the review of Toni that the travelers, Joe and Rowena Burke, posted on Toni’s reviews page.) At dicey moments, Israel specialist Joe Yudin has kept WendyPerrin.com travelers safe (read Nadika Wignarajan’s review here), Turkey specialist Earl Starkey has as well (read reports from his travelers here). WOW Listers also provide you with the physical tools to stay safe: India specialist Sanjay Saxena, for instance, gives you an in-country mobile phone pre-programmed with numbers for local staff, hotels, emergency services, etc. Of course, his in-country and U.S. staff are available 24/7 as well.

7. Pack certain medicines.
Bring a prescription antibiotic and prescription pain reliever that you know work for you, in case you end up needing to be your own doctor. Bring iodine tablets (or one of the newer technologies) to purify dirty water too, since, in an emergency, bottled water supplies quickly run out.

8. Plot on a paper map where the local embassy, consulate, and best hospitals are.
In an emergency you won’t want to rely on your smartphone or Google Maps app to get you there; you’ll want to save your battery for calls to loved ones, doctors, etc. Know where the best hospitals are—not just for the capital city, which could be hours away from where you are when a crisis strikes, but for other cities too.

9. Purchase an emergency assistance plan.
A MedjetHorizon membership can get you safely out of a crisis situation 24/7 and can also get you out of a foreign hospital and back home to a hospital you know and trust. They can come to the rescue in the event of a terrorist or political threat, violent crime, or if you need a ground ambulance, specialty hospital transfer, or cash advance.

During Your Trip

10. Program your cell phone with emergency numbers.
Remember that 911 does not work for countries outside the USA and Canada. Here’s one list of local emergency numbers, but also ask your hotel concierge for the best numbers for the police, medical emergencies, and someone at your hotel who can help.

11. Carry a mini-flashlight.
You don’t want to get caught in the dark.

12. Carry your hotel’s business card, in the local language.
You can show it to police or taxi drivers to get back to safety quickly.

13. Carry a photocopy of your passport photo page and any visas.

Keep it on your person during the trip, in case the original is back at your hotel (usually the smartest place to keep it) or gets lost in the emergency.

14. Follow relevant Twitter feeds that can provide reliable, accurate updates and potentially life-saving alerts.
Such Twitter feeds will vary by destination and type of emergency. Usually, though, you’ll want to follow the U.S. embassy feed in the country you’re visiting, as well as the U.S. State Department’s feed, @travelgov. The @RedCross and Google’s Crisis Response Team, @GoogleCR, are also worth following, as are the local airport’s feed, which may post updates about airport delays and shutdowns, and the feeds of local hotels, which usually have an emergency action plan and may be offering help or a landline. You can also turn on Twitter Alerts for the feeds relevant to the destination you’re headed to.

15. Know that Google has a person finder and Facebook has a Safety Check feature.
In natural and humanitarian disasters, Google helps track missing persons. When a crisis occurs, Facebook activates its Safety Check feature: If you’re in an affected area, use it to alert friends and family that you’re okay; if you’re at home, you can use it to search for travelers and confirm their status.

If You Have a Trip Booked to an Area Perceived as Risky

* Don’t overreact: Realize that the geographic area affected is limited.

So often, when a crisis strikes a country, U.S. travelers unnecessarily cancel trips to a huge swath of the world surrounding that country. They avoid regions that have not been affected in the least—which would be like Europeans deciding against a trip to New York because there was an earthquake in San Francisco or a terror attack in Orlando. The Italy earthquake was no reason to cancel a trip to Tuscany, the same way the Nice attack was no reason to cancel a trip to the Dordogne.

* Don’t confuse the probability of an incident with the probability of becoming the victim of that incident.
Is it virtually certain that there will be another terrorist attack in Europe this year?  Yes.  Does that translate into a high degree of risk for the individual traveler to Europe?  No.

* Understand the psychological reasons why your fear of a terrorist attack is out of proportion to the risk—and why you fear a terrorist attack more than an earthquake.
I explain it in my article 7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks.

* Know where the real dangers lie.
Remember that the single biggest cause of death for Americans traveling overseas is motor vehicle accidents.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Wendy making friends at the ancient Phoenician city of Baalbek in Lebanon

The Real Things You Should Be Wary Of When Traveling Abroad (Hint: It’s Not Terrorism)

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Don’t spend so much time focusing on avoiding risks that are highly unlikely—such as a terror attack—that you neglect to take sufficient steps to avoid those risks that are far more likely to ruin a trip abroad—such as a traffic accident, theft, or food poisoning. The following do’s and don’ts that I shared with U.S. News & World Report will take care of most potential problems. A reliable (and reachable) travel planner will take care of the rest.

Drive carefully on your way to the airport.
Renting a car? Remember that motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of death of Americans overseas.

traffic on a street

Traffic rules are different in other countries, and car accidents kill more tourists than terrorist attacks. Be careful crossing the street. Photo: Timothy Baker

Look both ways before crossing the street.
Motor vehicle “rules” in many countries are not what you’re used to back home.

Leave valuables at home.
Most of us have learned to leave fancy jewelry at home, but we now bring all manner of fancy electronics.  Consider leaving your larger and more expensive electronics at home.  Whatever devices you do pack, be sure that the information in them is password-protected and that you have a copy of that information somewhere safe.

Use your in-room safe.
Store your passport in it. Leave the Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel room door when you’re not in the room.

Use trustworthy Wi-Fi.
I carry my own portable Wi-Fi hotspot rather than logging into free Wi-Fi on the street.

Watch out for scam artists.
In big cities, pickpockets may prey on tourists, especially in crowded transportation hubs. Clothing with internal zippered pockets, or a neck pouch, are a good way to keep cash and credit cards safe as you walk around and sightsee. If you’ll be carrying a handbag, use a cross-body one. A few examples of scam artists:

I was walking in Buenos Aires once—in a good neighborhood, in broad daylight—when suddenly some inky, foul-smelling liquid landed on me and my husband.  Two young women sympathetically showed us an outdoor faucet where we could clean it off.  Suspicious, we opted to remain a mess and started to walk away—at which point the duo offered Kleenex.  They seemed a little too eager to help, so we quickly left the area. Back at our hotel, the concierge immediately guessed which street corner we’d been standing on and confirmed that we had nearly fallen for a common con: Had we put down our bags to clean up, they would have made off with them.

Other traditional scams in certain countries include the handbag snatch (you’re sitting at an outdoor café, you place your handbag on the ground or hang it on your chair, and somebody grabs it and runs off), the fake street fight (boys pretend to beat each other up, one approaches you in tears, pleading for money so he can get home to safety, you pull out your wallet and the kids grab it and race off), the crowded subway car (a group of women and children waltz into your subway car in a distracting whirl of colorful scarves and skirts, remove your wallet from inside your pocket, and exit before the doors close), and even the baby toss (a woman tries to hurriedly hand you an infant—some actually toss you a doll, in hopes that you will instantly drop your bags to catch it. An accomplice then swipes your belongings).

Dress smart.
I wear jackets with internal zippered pockets that nobody else’s hands can reach.  Rather than keeping my wallet in a handbag that could be stolen, I keep small bills and credit cards in various pockets, so that I never have to take out my whole wallet. If you must carry your wallet in your outside pants pocket, wrapping rubber bands around it makes it more difficult for a pickpocket to extract it. Don’t wear brand new white sneakers. They’re a dead giveaway that you’re a tourist.

Don’t pull out a map and scrutinize it in a public place.
Step inside a restaurant or shop if you want to check your map.

Think before you photograph someone.
Don’t photograph policemen or anyone who does not want his/her photo taken. Here are some more tips on photo etiquette when you travel.

Program local emergency numbers into your cell phone.
I ask my hotel concierge for those numbers.

Carry your hotel’s business card in the local language.
Have at least one of these so you can show it to non-English-speaking locals (e.g., a taxi driver) and get back to your hotel quickly in an emergency.

Carry a mini-flashlight (so you’re never caught in the dark).
I once made the mistake of not packing one and learned my lesson the hard way. You can read all about my best travel mistake here.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.