Travel insurance for any trip is so critical. I do know of folk who have home abroad and never take out travel insurance – the unshakeable belief that nothing will happen to them is very worrying. I had the most eye opening experience only a couple of years ago. My flight home from Cyprus had been delayed setting of from the UK – when it came there was a rush to do the usual turn around tasks. Once on board, I was in row 8, and only 20 minutes into flight a lady in row 3 started having what turned out to be a full diabetic melt down. I discovered then that we belong to the airline once those cabin doors close. It became a major incident. No doctor on board. We ended up diverting to Schippol in Nederlands – not just to whisk the patient off to a hospital very rapidly but also replenish the entire plane load of insulin and oxygen cylinders. Also though, the crew were now well over their duty hours so we then had to wait for a fresh plane to collect us from Amsterdam. The patient and her husband appeared not to have travel insurance. Boy were they in for a bill later on!
