Legend Travel Insurance

Planning that once in a lifetime trip to an exotic desert island, coast to coast across the States or just a domestic scuba diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef makes you tingle with anticipation. But its all too easy to overlook practical issues, and one of the most important is travel insurance.

Comprehensive travel insurance is one of the most important aspects of proper planning. It isn't exiting or fun to spend money on insurance, but in the end it could save you much more, and make the difference between getting home safely and being stranded broke and injured far from home. Don't forget that one days hospitalisation in most countries will probably cost more than comprehensive travel insurance for the whole trip!

Real life example

If you need an example, Johns story is a real life advertisment for travel insurance. Travelling in Bangkok, he rented a motercycle. When he was hit by a car and badly fractured his leg, he was admitted to the local hospital. He had no travel insurance, and received only basic treatment. After complications set in, the Australian Embassy evacuated him to Australia at very considerable expense to his family.

Another true story has a happier ending- a group of Australians travelling by minibus in Nepal were involved in a head on collision on a remote mountain road. All had adequate travel insurance, and were treated in local private hospitals for head injuries. The most severely injured member was later medically evacuated home to Australia. All made complete recoveries, and thanks to their travel insurance no extra expenses were incurred, in fact they received compensation for the time spent recuperating.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade deals with over 20,000 cases like this every year, and says that comprehensive travel insurance can prevent a travellers family from being left with a debt which forces them to sell off assets or family homes. In the worst cases, inadequate travel insurance can result in travellers not receiving proper medical attention, leading to a deterioration in their medical condition, or long term consequences.