Travel Insurance for Australians Abroad

When we first started our travels from Australia to Europe we had no idea how things were going to work out for us and luckily nothing bad has happened to us, although we have been within a few kilometers of some bad stuff like riots, bombings etc.

As a traveller we tend to think that since we're on holiday that the rest of the world must be on holiday as well, but the reality is that bad things still happen, except being a traveller you might actually be closer to it.

We were lucky before we started our journey that part of the plan was to visit Sri Lanka which is a country enduring a brutal civil war so our travel agent advised us to get the very best insurance we could afford. We're glad we did because the airport was bombed the morning we were supposed to leave which delayed our flight from Colombo by nearly 12 hours.

Not that much of a big deal since we didn't have connecting flights but it's the sort of thing that can happen to anyone and you could be out of pocket by many hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you need to pay for new flights and hotel stays, and that's not including the cost of medical treatment if you happen to be unlucky.

Travel Insurance Direct is one of those companies all Ozzies should talk to before leaving the safety of Australia. They're a direct insurer underwritten by Allianz so no middle men and being part of Mondial Assistance can provide emergency evacuation back to Australia (or New Zealand) at short notice.

We were lucky and didn't need our cover, but it certainly made a huge difference to our peace of mind when we were in places that aren't like back home.