I meant to start this column by mentioning I've never experienced a serious problem while traveling but quickly realized it isn't true. I became ill while flying from New York to Panama a few years ago and wound up in a Panama City hospital.
Turns out I'd suffered what's called "spontaneous pneumothorax," which by definition has no apparent cause and can happen to anyone. I've recovered well since and continue traveling, but my previous situation is just one illustration that despite understandable concerns regarding recent Dominican Republic incidents, there is no one travel destination or circumstance immune from the force of unexpected events.
The reality is anything can happen while traveling. And while this column isn't necessarily about travel insurance, I can't express its importance more strongly. It certainly saved the day for me in Panama.
But my subject today is more about life's unpredictability, and the need to take precautions while simultaneously avoiding a bunker mentality.
Risk is a part of existence. I believe that to avoid travel to places that safely host millions of tourists every year - from the Dominican Republic to Jamaica to Mexico - without a full evaluation of the facts is foolhardy.
Indeed it's ironic Jamaica and Mexico, which have struggled significantly with issues related to crime and security, are popular recent alternatives to Dominican Republic itineraries, according to travel agents contacted by TravelPulse.
The fact is anything can happen anywhere. There's just no way of knowing when a trip may include an unforeseen event.
Several of my industry colleagues have been impacted by such incidents. One of the most serious occurred around 2000 when a friend, then a public relations representative for a cruise line, managed to walk off the gangway into space, as the ramp had been pulled up from the vessel in preparation for departure.
He fell more than 100 feet into New York harbor and was rescued when a local law enforcement professional dived into the water and pulled him out. Years later I found myself working for him as a public relations rep. As he told me the story face-to-face, I realized I'd heard about it at the time while traveling as a cruise writer.
Other fellow journalists have fallen victim to more mundane but no less irritating maladies while abroad. A few years back a friend was the only one among our group of journalists at a St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands resort to be bitten by a bedbug. She emerged with a pronounced, bright red welt on one arm.
I've traveled with writers whose rooms were flooded at a resort in St. Maarten and burgled at a mountaintop hotel in Guatemala. During the same St. Maarten trip I found myself stranded in an isolated boutique hotel on a getaway day with no one at the front desk and no way to summon a taxi to travel to the airport as my flight time approached.
Of course, there's also the Yangtze River cruise during which a misunderstanding nearly led to my arrest. Incredibly, the incident stemmed from a locked bathroom door. Years later while traveling in Puerto Rico I once again found myself briefly locked in a restaurant bathroom!
Keep in mind I've been traveling as a journalist and public relations official for more than 25 years, venturing to some international destination part of nearly every month since. I consider myself fortunate to continue my travels, and there's hardly a place I wouldn't want to visit at least once.
But I'll always purchase travel insurance first.
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