Mike Henderson's thread on trip insurance prompts me to write this, but I didn't want to step on his thread. Lean back and relax, this will not be short.
My Grand Daughter Brittney is 20 years old, and a college student. She, her mom, and her sister live with us. She found out about a program offered through the University of Virginia called 'Semester at Sea'. This is a 4 month trip on a cruise ship, stopping at various countries, and offering college classes during the cruise. She went from a teenager who couldn't keep a dime in her pocket, to a real miser, saving all the money she could, working part time. We helped out by paying her a bonus for 'B' and above final class grades, and her mom helped out also.
After 2 1/2 years of going to school, working, and saving, she took the trip, which would finish her junior year. She was dropped off in San Diego, where they bussed her to Ensenada Mexico to catch the ship. Her trip took her to Hawaii, Japan, Shanghai China, where she was flown to Bejing.
Back on the ship, they went next to Hong Kong, Cambodia, Viet Nam, India, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana, and Morroco. The last stop was to be England where the semester ended. She and three other girls had made reservations in Hostels to travel to Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, ending in Germany, where her uncle was going to join up with her for a week before coming home. They had the plane and train reservations already paid for.
While on the trip, she rode elephants three times, an ostrich once, went on a safari, parasailed, and met Desmond Tutu, who hitched a ride on the ship. Her special event in Morroco was a camping trip in the Sahara desert, where they would ride several hours on camel back into the desert to a tent camp. There they would stay a couple days and be taught the culture of the locals, mostly Bedoin. She got there on her camel, Phillip, and while there, she tripped over a Persian rug, fell, and broke both ankles.
It took a couple hours to get a car to their location, then she was driven a couple hours over sand before hitting pavement, plus another couple hours to get to Marrakech, where the local medical facility said they could not treat her. The tour bus which had brought them there was still there, and took her for a 10 hour ride to Casablanca where the hospital was. Once there, she had to crawl on her hands and knees up a flight of stairs to get in the building. The tour guide/bus driver wanted to carry her, but he was smaller than she is, and she said 'No way". The hospital did X-rays and confirmed both ankles were broken, and they put casts on them, and put her in intensive care, which also seemed to be the main hallway.
Ship representatives came to give her assistance, and she was allowed to make a short call home, just leaving a message that she broke her ankles and was OK. My immediate thought was that she must have fallen off the camel. (If you ever rode one, you would understand. If not, I can tell you it is a shock when the camel first gets up, and you are thrown forward while he gets to his feet. I rode one in Egypt, and the woman next to me was thrown on her face when the camel got up.)
It was a couple days before we found out what actually happened. The ships crew brought over a satellite phone and left it with Brit to use while in the hospital. They took her back to the ship, where the Captain decided she could not continue, as she could not get a wheelchair in and out of rooms because of the high lip on the doors. He also said it was always rough seas from Morocco to England and it would be very uncomfortable for her. So...back to the hospital where she was put on display again. No one there spoke English, just Arabic or French, so she had no way to communicate. She tells us that the were very displeased that she was there, and did not treat her very well.
NOW.....finally we get to the trip insurance part. The school required that all students take out medical insurance, which we did. Her mom paid an extra $250 or so for the 'premium policy', and it is a good thing she did. That extra policy rider paid for mom to fly to Morocco to be with her, and back. Mom had to pay for her hotel bill, and cab rides, but the air fare was covered. Of course the airline lost her luggage, and when it came in they refused to send it to the hotel, so mom had to take a taxi back and forth to the airport again to get it...at $50 per leg.
Since Brit could not put any weight on either foot for six weeks, the insurance company paid for a nurse to come from California to Morocco to attend her, and accompany her home. She had been in the hospital for a full week. The nurse and Brit rode in Business class so she could have her feet stretched out in front, while mom rode in back in economy. The insurance company also had a medical transport waiting at the airport to take her home.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, ol' Grandpa is going nuts arranging for a hospital bed, wheelchair, and all the other medical stuff she needed. We set her up in our patio/room, since her bedroom is upstairs. We got her home, took her to the doctor for a checkup where they confirmed both ankles were broken, one twice. She was recast the day after arriving, again a week later, and will be recast again tomorrow. They keep taking them off to get clear x-rays then recast them.
Virginia State allowed her to take her last two final exams on line while she is home in bed. She passed both classes with 'B' grades, and is now officially a Senior, and has started taking another on line class while she has a lot of time on her hands.
It has been a hectic few weeks. If you made it this far, I thank you for your time.
Thank goodness for the insurance.
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Originally Posted by Rick Potter
