A comprehensive annual travel insurance policy can be a real friend, if you have relatives living overseas who you can visit several times a year. But a single trip travel insurance policy is equally vital, if you just decide to take a one-off trip in the spirit of National Visit Your Relatives Day (May 18).
Relatives overseas are often a great source of cheap or free accommodation. They know the best places to visit or frequent for meals. They often speak the language and can act as interpreters. Free lifts and transport to scenic places are willingly provided. But what such kind and generous relatives cannot do is get you out of a hole, if you fall ill or are injured whilst in their country.
The need for comprehensive travel insurance when visiting relatives
Unfortunately, relatives cannot just extend their healthcare rights, in their country of residence, to you, a foreign national. You would receive whatever healthcare were available to you, at the regular cost that the facility providing the healthcare charges. You might receive state healthcare or private healthcare. Either way, that is likely to come at a price – either reasonable or eye-watering.
Private medical care is, of course, more expensive than state medical care. You might think your relative could steer you towards the latter but that is not always possible. In some locations, only private medical care facilities exist. Your relative may well have a private medical insurance policy that gives them access to such treatment but you will not have that luxury. Even with a GHIC or EHIC healthcard, you are only covered for state medical care, to the level a local citizen enjoys. Even if accessing state healthcare, that can leave you with quire a bill. If private care is your only option, you can add many more figures to that bill, unless you can call upon a travel insurance policy for financial help.
Special action required when visiting relatives in Australia
In Australia, any treatment for a British traveller can gain some free medical treatment through the Medicare reciprocal arrangement. However, after receiving any care, you must then enrol with a local Medicare office in Australia. The process is described in a booklet that you can get from a Post Office, before you depart. Alternatively, you can visit www.dh.gov.uk/travellers or the Medicare website on www.hic.gov.au
If you are admitted to hospital in Australia, you should contact Europesure’s medical assistance company as soon as possible, if you have one of our comprehensive medical insurance policies. That will allow you to authorise any treatment that will not be covered by Medicare.
How comprehensive travel insurance provides specialist medical help
Should you have a major medical emergency, such as breaking bones, tearing an anterior cruciate ligament on the ski slopes, or needing surgery, you are likely to need the help of medical experts, like our medical assistance company, to get home. That might require special travel provisions on a plane. Or, a medical team may need to accompany you. In the worst case scenario, it might require the use of an air ambulance service. Again, these are things with which a relative cannot help but with which a comprehensive travel insurance policy is geared up to assist.
Liability and theft risks during friends and family trips
Whilst out and about with your relatives, you might also somehow cause injury to a third party or their property. If that is the case, you would need public liability insurance. Even if you have that sort of insurance policy in your home country, you will have left your cover behind when you departed. Luckily, it’s another thing included in a travel insurance policy.
Remember also that your relatives will not have tabs on every petty or opportunist thief in town. Wherever you lose your possessions, or have them stolen, you should be able to call upon travel insurance cover again, rather than hoping your relative will offer to replace your travel spending money for you or buy you a new phone or gadget.
Luggage and passport risks
The same is true when it comes to luggage. That could go missing by the time you’ve reached the baggage carousel at the airport, or whilst you’re giving that long lost relative a hug, so make sure you buy your own protection for your baggage.
And don’t forget how attractive your passport could be to someone either. Uncle Jim and Auntie Jean will not be able to help you out if that goes missing, but your travel insurance provider can offer advice and help you sort out your replacement documentation.
Cancellation risks
There is also the big risk of cancellation, particularly if your relatives live in a far-flung country, to which the air fare costs a four-figure or high three-figure sum. If you suddenly find you cannot travel, for a reason such as a health issue or jury service call-up, you can be left with a large hole in your finances, if you have no cancellation protection in place.
Vaccinations are still needed for friends and family trips!
The other thing to really ponder relates to travel health and pre-travel vaccinations. Research shows far too few of those travelling to visit relatives actually book the travel jabs recommended for the country they are visiting. There is too much trust placed in the ‘cocoon’ that relatives will provide and too little realisation that infectious diseases can be picked up anywhere. The longer you stay in a country in which a disease risk is present, the more likely it is that you could become infected, so do not overlook vaccines, even if visiting relatives.
It is particularly essential to not forget to book such vaccines, if your relatives live in a country in which a particular vaccine is mandatory. For instance, if your family members have set up home near Nairobi, you will need a Yellow Fever certificate before you can even enter Kenya.
Get all of this right and you can visit relatives, with the right travel protection behind you, and have a fabulous time. An annual travel policy from Europesure can be defined as the comprehensive protection you need. By virtue of covering you as many times a year as you wish, this will be great value for money, if trips to see the relatives become irresistible. Each time you visit, you will be covered for up to 17, 32, 45 or 90 days, according to which trip length you elect to buy.
Getting the right travel insurance for your friends and family visit
If you only intend to make one trip, a single trip travel insurance policy is a wiser purchase. This will just cover you for as many days as you specify for your trip. Here, if you are aged up to 65, you can buy cover for up to 180 days from Europesure. If you are aged 66 to 79, you can be covered for up to 32 days.
How to keep your comprehensive travel insurance protection in place
Either way, you just need to honestly assess whether your existing medical conditions are covered and whether sporting and leisure activities that you might engage in whilst with your family overseas will be covered by your insurance policy.
And do also note that alcohol, drug-related incidents, dangerous actions such as balconing and owling and injuries picked up during manual labour will not be covered by your policy. So do not get up to high jinks or be tempted to take on a construction or labouring job to pay your way.
The moral of the tale is that, in the world of travel, everything is relative. Although you will have to pay for travel insurance protection, the cost is a drop in the ocean compared to what the bill could be, if things go wrong when visiting relatives. So, if you are intending to visit family or friends overseas, do not leave home without the comprehensive travel insurance you need. If you do, you run the risk of facing the mother of all crises, without any indemnity in place at all.
