It’s the end of the year and travel is in the air. Soon you’ll be packing for the vacation of a lifetime because this time, you’ll be bringing your entire family. Your littlest one will be coming along with the older brood and your parents will be coming too and that’s why you’ll need to prepare for Murphy’s Law which says: If anything can go wrong, it probably will.
Travel in itself is a challenge. Travelling with kids is double or triple that. One or all of them might be unable to adjust to the change in weather or worse, come down with diarrhea and vomiting, and send you on a wild goose chase for a doctor in a foreign land who might not speak your language. At the airport, your flight could be delayed or re-routed and you’ll need to entertain cranky children for hours on end, or; if you arrive according to plan, you could find your luggage with all yours and your children’s essentials flown off to another land.
Preposterous? Not at all! These things happen. In fact, they happen so often you’d feel lucky if they didn’t happen. It’s a roll of the dice as they say and you can’t fix nor predict the future, although you sure can do something to lessen the odds of something untoward happening. It’s a known fact that it is no easy feat handling the needs, requirements and paces of different people in different stages of their lives in stressful group journeys such as family travel, but with a little preplanning and forethought ─ especially when it comes to travelling with unpredictable beings such as kids ─ it can be done.
Here are some practical tips:
1. Give Your Schedule a Lot of Leeway: This is because, with children, everything such as checking in, folding and unfolding strollers, feeding, buying snacks and drinks, taking them to the toilet, going through security and boarding, will take twice if not three times longer than if you were to travel alone. Also, don’t stress yourself out trying to pack in three museum visits, four restaurants, a walk in the countryside and a Mardi Gras, all in 24 hours. Children, as with older people, get tired easily. Leaving extra time and adjustment between loose itineraries will create less stress and a more fulfilling trip for you and your family.
2. Pre–Book Ahead: Apart from transport tickets, make sure you already have accommodation and car rental bookings well before taking off from your country of origin. Other items you can book ahead of time include private and public transportation, sightseeing tours, private guides, tickets for theme parks, theatre performances and even meal times at restaurants, especially if your child has special diet requirements. Being spontaneous doesn’t work with kids in tow. They could get tired being dragged around and start getting loud and irritable.
3. Be Prepared with Entertainment and Snacks: Cover all your bases. Make sure you have something on hand to stave off boredom on long journeys, like colouring activities or an iPad loaded with cartoons for the kids. Also, bring lots of snacks because kids could get hungry and hangry in the middle of an activity and start throwing tantrums. Some children, especially picky eaters, don’t take to meals in a foreign land as they taste different from what they have been used to eating at home.
Keep Bugs at Bay: Getting ill on the trip is no fun at all but the likelihood of it happening is high with children. Although they face the same health risks as their parents, their weaker immune systems predispose them to higher susceptibility and more serious consequences. Make sure you, your family and they take all pre-travel shots and vaccinations to keep preventable infections at bay. Don’t eat streetfood, especially dodgy meat. Eat only at clean, reputable restaurants, drink and/or make babyfood and formula milk with boiled or bottled water, and use the hand sanitiser zealously.
Also, bring along a small first-aid kit with medication like Paracetamol, Panadol for adults, diarrhea medicine, antihistamines, a thermometer as well as plasters and ointments to tide you over until you find a doctor.
Buy Travel Insurance: Don’t buy just any travel insurance but a comprehensive one for the family that could cover you and your entire family for any unforeseen circumstance. Especially when travelling with children, try to go with the best family travel insurance there is in Malaysia as it could make the difference between an anxiety-filled trip or a happy one, with peace-of-mind for everybody’s health, safety and finances.
If you are properly protected, you won’t have to worry about the cost of your children getting sick in the new environment. Young children, with their lower energy levels, lower tolerance for sudden changes and immature immune systems, are likely to fall sick; plus they will face safety hazards too as you will be visiting theme and adventure parks where accidents can be rife. In the event that anything happens, and you need medical assistance of any kind, your Family and Children’s Medical bills will be Covered.
This in itself is a “save” because Medical Bills in another Country could be Exorbitant. The different healthcare system and exchange rate could quickly turn the cost of medical bills into huge financial issues for you. But if you have family travel insurance, the only thing you will need to be concerned about is making sure your child or any other family member gets the necessary medical attention they need, as well as a few extras such as Compassionate Visitation Care and Emergency, Medical Evacuation and Repatriation should the need arise.
Even before going, you may already face “anticipatory stress” which could also play havoc on your system. If you or the children fall ill in the run up to the trip itself, you may be forced to cancel the whole holiday. Not only will it disappoint everybody, cancelling travel plans could put you out of pocket in terms of flight, hotel and other cancellation fees and lost deposits. However, family travel insurance will help you Cover these Trip Cancellations.
And then there is the issue of lost personal items, money, documents and baggage. Let’s face it. The more people you travel with ─ whether it’s children or other relatives ─ the more luggage you will have to look after. Of course, you intend to watch over your personal belongings like a hawk but with children running around, you could get distracted. Should there be losses, you could make a Claim for Lost Luggage, Personal Effects, Personal Money and Documents.
Rely on SOMPO Travel Insurance to take care of Family Travel Coverage
Plus ─ You Could also Win a Valuable Prize!
[dropcap letter=”B”]erjaya SOMPO Travel Insurance ensures you can focus on enjoying your holiday and not have to fret about emergencies and unforeseen circumstances. At a glance, here are the key benefits:
Who Does it Cover?
Generally speaking, the policy covers any Malaysians, Permanent Residents, Student Pass Holders, Employment Pass Holders/Work Permit Holders or otherwise legally employed in Malaysia and/or their spouse and children between 30 days and 80 years old (both ages inclusive).
Where Does it Cover?
SOMPO Travel Insurance covers worldwide but excludes Belarus, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe.
When travelling with family and children, SOMPO Travel Insurance offers the:
- Best Family Travel Insurance Coverage: This is because the family plan includes you, your spouse and all your children. There is no limit for the number of children under a family plan.
- Instant Policy in One Minute: No hassles in getting a policy as you can apply travel insurance online here. Everything is clearly explained including FAQs, the different plans and the competitively-priced premiums for each type of plan.
- 24/7 Worldwide Travel Assistance: This is your 24-hour hotline and lifeline in any travel emergency. You never know if you’ll need referral to an embassy or an interpreter or are admitted to the hospital where you may not know the foreign language.
- Child’s Eligibility Age from 30 days old to 23 years old: This is the best travel insurance because now, a baby from 30 days old can travel fully covered. Your older children too are still considered children up to 23 years old.
In SOMPO Travel Insurance, they offer multiple plans that cater to your needs. The comprehensive plan, for example, offers more than 23 benefits including:
Accidental Death and Permanent Total Disablement|Child Education Fund |Medical, Hospital & Other Expenses|Alternative Medicine |Compassionate Visitation Care (due to hospitalisation of the Insured Person)|Medical Treatment in Malaysia|Compassionate Visitation Benefit (due to Insured Person’s death)|Child Care Benefit|Hospital Allowance| Emergency Medical Evacuation & Repatriation|Loss of Baggage and Personal Effects |Personal Money & Documents | Baggage Delay|Travel Delay |Travel Re-Route|Loss of Deposit or Cancellation|Travel Curtailment|Travel Overbooked|Travel Misconnection|Hijacking Inconvenience & Missed Departure|Loss of Deposit or Full Payment due to Insolvency of Airlines|Personal Liability.
What’s more, if you Purchase SOMPO Travel Insurance between 1 Nov 2019 ─ 2 December 2019, you’ll be in the running to WIN a RM200 Uniqlo Gift Card. Hurry Up!
The Prize is: RM200 Uniqlo Gift Card (Total 15 gift cards worth RM3000 to be given out)
To find out more, please visit SOMPO Travel Insurance website.