...and a few geographical surprises to watch out for
Some policies, like the Eurovision song contest, helpfully spread the borders of Europe far and wide.
And so you may get covered for travel to Egypt and Morocco in a policy that covers Europe – but not at all for Libya, which has a travel warning in operation.
Somewhat surprisingly, ‘these destinations are covered under our European insurance policy’, says insuremyholiday.ie
Blue Insurance’s policy includes non-European countries bordering the Mediterranean (except Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Albania and Syria). Other policies may annoyingly exclude things like cruises on ships, insisting that you need specialist cover for sitting in a deckchair on a floating hotel mainly populated by nonthreatening pensioners.
Whether you are covered when under the influence of alcohol is another issue. ‘Underwriters expect some people to drink while on holidays and for that reason they would not decline a claim on this reason alone,’ says Blue Insurance managing director Ciaran Mulligan.
‘The exclusion on our multitrip.com policy states that claims will be declined relating to alcohol where a person in authority, such as an officer of the law, or a medical practitioner, or our senior medical officer
confirms that your intoxication was significant to the claim occurring – so the advice, as always, is to drink sensibly.’
Another minefield is the type of activity covered. One bungee jump is generally fine but don’t get addicted to it – there may be a limit to the number of jumps covered.
Or typically you could be covered for an incidental spot of surfing or even white-water rafting but not, without penalty, if you do it in challenging spots or for more than two weeks.
Insurers take a dim view of any form of aerial activity such as paragliding and, tellingly, rugby is also included as a grade 4 (most dangerous) activity. That doesn’t mean you can’t get covered for such pursuits but there are high penalties and exclusions.
Every policy provides graded cover depending on the type of activity, your level of experience and what precautions you take – so always check the terms of your policy first.