One of the subjects that comes up frequently on the forum is travel insurance. We have ours through our Nationwide bank account and have had done since 2015. It was complicated to arrange and we were happy to pay a surcharge for my husband goes off on on his motor bike exploring Morocco, often on dirt roads, and also as we were away three months at a time. Last February at renewal a member of the team rang and because of Covid suggested we could put our insurance on hold. Of course after that I had a cancer diagnosis and it wasn't until about three weeks ago we could travel. So I rang to resurrect the travel policy and thought it would be easy. No, I was told I had to start from the beginning again. I wasn't surprised that I wasn't covered for cancer, and because I now have two conditions I am no longer covered for AF. I am stable on both counts, but the sticking problem was the motorbike travel. My husband wasn't covered. We needed insurance in a hurry so went ahead with the policy but I lodged a complaint. Crucially I had kept a detailed record of every single phone call. Two days later a charming gentleman rang me, and apologised. He had listened to all the calls (including those from 6+ years ago) and agreed with my recollections. My cancer and AF are still not covered but motorbike travel for my husband is back in place. We are both very happy about that!
The moral of this is keep a record of important calls. I would still recommend Nationwide as over the years it has cost us far less for a worldwide travel policy for long trips away. And it was one of the highest-scoring policies on Which? this month. We are now in Spain, not relaxing as a mouse had taken up residence (we found the body), the damage one solitary mouse caused is unbelievable and a huge clean-up is underway. Nevertheless after the past year we are just so glad and grateful to be here.
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irene75359
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My cat Pete brings them in alive from time to time and we have had two dishwashers in five years thanks to mice eating the wiring loom. The last one disapeared under the Aga but no evidence thereof so presumably died from heat exhaustion. My sympathies!
Mice 🙀 We had a cat but he thought catching one mouse was sufficient. My husband left the birdseed in the garage which was of course an invitation. Also bundles of old rags etc. So when I decided to start investigating a pile of old fruit boxes which were supposed to contain car boot stuff I found a nest of mice. I was too soft to evict baby mice on the spot, damage done already, including ruining the slow cooker I had been attempting to rescue. So I can imagine what you have been faced with 💔
I would have been the same once but all thoughts of a 'Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie' have gone right out of the window! I looked online and a mouse can live for up to three years in a safe environment with plenty food. Well it struck the jackpot with us. Because it is a cave house everything must be kept aired, so every room door, wardrobes, chests of drawers had been left open. I think it must have slipped in when we were here two years ago and not a towel, duvet, blanket, even my dressing gown has escaped damage. Not to mention the droppings and urine stains (in our bed, too). We have a large pantry with lots of stored and packet food - all chewed and eaten. Even opened paracetamol in foil in my bedside drawer! Just very very thankful it wasn't a family, they would have been bursting out the front door. The electricity had tripped too, and the freezer full of food had gone off but that's another story!
I suspect that maybe more than one mouse has caused all that damage but the culprits have fled the scene before you arrived! We had an infestation of mice a couple of years ago in the autumn and our cat ignored them completely. Hope you have a great time in Spain and it's not too hot there. My sister has just come back from her Spanish house and she was complaining about the humidity. Her aircon was on it's last legs and she was worried it would conk out altogether before the new system was put in. She also got bitten a lot. Insects here seem very bad this year too.
There is no escape route - only one door! It is very hot but the benefit of a cave house is that it remains cool indoors in summer, stays in the low 20s. I feel the cold so it isn't unusual to find me wearing a jumper indoors when it is nearly 40 outside! We are too high for mosquitos but do get bitten by tiny little flies, I think they call them no-see-ums in the States and the bite is sore for weeks afterwards.
I think that might be what was biting her. She was worried about one bite on her chest and thought it might be a tick bite as it was not itchy. I have had six tick bites this summer but all of them have itched after removing the tick!
Be very careful with tick bites and watch for any flu-like symptoms or rash; the dogs are covered in ticks here in Spain and I am very canny when I am near them. A close friend of ours was diagnosed after years with Lyme disease and had to give up work. The no-see-ums are called the flying teeth here in Spain!
Back to more important things (unless you are a 🐭 of course) travel insurance! We used to have fantastic travel insurance arranged through the Civil Service Pension Alliance. Soon after I was diagnosed with AF back in 2014 and combined with my wife’s ailments, travel insurance at a reasonable price seem difficult to come by. I found out about the CSPA from someone on this forum and for about £400 we had world wide cover, there was no requirement to declare health issue nor were we required to notify them of any changes or forth coming treatments etc. The thing we had to adhere to was that at no time had we been told to travel, been diagnosed with a terminal condition or diagnosed with any mental health conditions. UTOPIA! Over the years the premium obviously increased but we stuck with them at the start of the pandemic even though it wasn’t possible to travel. As is often said, you don’t know how good travel insurance is until you have to make a claim. Fortunately, we never had to make a claim, but our neighbours were less fortunate. Soon after joining, they had to cancel a trip to America on the Queen Mary plus the flight back and they received a full refund.
The bad news is that this cover is no longer available, we knew it was unlikely to last for ever. We are currently insured with Admiral for annual travel in Europe and that cost £385 and we are getting good reports about Avanti for slightly less but as said, you don’t really know how good any company is until you make a claim.
The Nationwide accounts cost £156 a year for world-wide, we paid about a £200 top-up on insurance for hitting 70 and the motorbike. We are also covered for mobiles (claimed so far for two iphones) and breakdown and recovery in Europe. BUT I am not covered for two conditions so your policy (especially your old one) sounds amazing value, I can understand why it is not longer offered. Thank you, we will.
I also have a nationwide account with insurance as Irene said it’s £156 a year plus £172 to cover my Af and osteoarthritis. We opened the account when they where offering £125 cash back if you swapped to them so that’s a total of £203 for world wide including America but excluding cruises. I’ve not claimed so don’t know how good it is but reviews seemed good
I've used StaySure this year, about £178 for Europe1. To add on Spain they would not cover pre-existing condition! But got that with Travel4Medical for one trip to Spain for £45. All Clear quoted for Spain £125 or £113! They all ask 20 questions everytime you update them, some asking are you waiting to speak to a consultant/Doctor - well usually you are - even for an update. How many unplanned hospital visits have you had! Have you any procedure planned. If you had to answer 1 and 3 - I've no idea if you could still get cover or if so what the cost would be. I've gone via the BHF webiste with all the companies that allegedly cover heart conditions, however, they do but at a huge cost and with exclusions. And often everytime you update them you have to pay more.
Insurance companies want very low risk customers obviously but it leaves many people with no alternative that to fork out large amounts for cover. My daughter has a (very stable) heart condition and when she went to the States for a three month sabbatical with her husband, the travel insurance for her alone was £1300!
My cat loves to bring in live mice and drop them in front of one of the dogs..Naturally all heck brakes loose and the chase is on..usually ends up tearing apart the baseboard heaters...if the lab gets the mouse she usually takes it back outside through the pet door 😊..Best possible outcome..etheral
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