Australia's top 5 quirky travel insurance claims

While the majority of travel insurance claims are on lost or stolen belongings, the quirkier claims might surprise you.

From unwelcoming marine life to deceptive cab drivers, here’s a list of the weirdest travel insurance claims made by TID customers.

The smiling assassins

Travelling through South America, Ross and Haley made their to the Amazon River to swim with the rare pink dolphins and meet some “friendly” monkeys.

While meeting the furry friends, Ross was unfortunately bitten, and then while swimming in the river was also bitten by one of the pink dolphins, all on the same day! His partner, Haley, was also bitten by the dolphin – but luckily only licked by the monkey!

Obviously rabies is a concern here and you don’t want to take any chances, so TID covered the cost of travel to Mexico for anti-rabies shots.

Image Source: gagdaily.com

Floored by flora

During a trip with mates to Bali, a traveller drinking with friends in their Kuta villa was dared to eat a plant that was growing in the courtyard. He ate a small part of the stem but stopped when his mouth felt like it was full of razor blades – but that’s not when he went to hospital.

He went out with his friends and admits to drinking some cocktails and about 10 Vodka Red Bulls.

The next morning he was dizzy, his heart was racing and he was finding it hard to drink his breakfast beer, so went to hospital for checks. He says the doctors couldn’t say exactly what was wrong with him, but TID paid for the doctor’s visit and the blood tests.

Image Source: celmar/thefoundry.co.uk

Aggressive sea creatures

A traveller surfing in Bali was sitting on her board waiting for a wave and felt a sudden sharp pain in her side. She looked down to see that a nasty looking fish had jumped out of the water and collided with her, puncturing her lung.

The surfer made her way from Nusa Lembongan to Bali and was admitted to BIMC Hospital.

TID monitored her throughout this period until she was fit enough to return to Perth, ensuring her safety by providing her with a doctor escort as she suffered a hemopneumothorax (combination of air and blood in the chest cavity) and needed a chest drain during their flight back.

Image Source: edition.cnn.com

Dude, where’s my luggage?

A lone traveller in Kuala Lumpur met a very friendly cab driver that picked him up from the airport. While already having a hotel reservation, the cabbie mentioned that his family ran a very nice hotel and insisted he stayed there.

The traveller agreed to this and was dropped off at the new hotel, which of course was no good. He decided to check out what he was missing, and visited his original hotel, which turned out to be much better.

He made the decision to return to the cab driver’s family hotel and collect his bags. The only problem was that he had no idea of where it was. TID replaced the contents of his entire suitcase.

Image Source: cakeheadlovesevil.wordpress.com

Guys, be ready to wince

A bit of medical background first. The male has on his body few frenulum. Some are in the mouth, such as the skin connecting your tongue to the mouth, but one is in a less public area.

A traveller was having a bit of “holiday time” with his wife, got a bit energetic and interacted with some course fabric, tearing his frenulum (not the one in his mouth) … and a vein.

There was a lot of bleeding and the traveller required stitches and other medical attention that TID gladly paid for – no further questions asked (thankfully).

Image Source: bedroomdesigncatalog.com

Feature Image: foxnews.com

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