Tempted on skipping your travel insurance this year? Think again! With cheap holiday insurance widely available online and typically adding only a few pounds to the cost of your trip, there’s really no excuse not to buy it. If you’re still not sure, here are six stories that might help to change your mind—sometimes fate conspires against you in a particularly nasty way.

Look Out Below!

Here’s a story to make your skin crawl!  A traveler in South Mexico had the misfortune to be the victim of a fly that lays its eggs in living flesh.  The eggs hatched into four worms beneath the skin—three of them were removed easily by a doctor, but the last one was proving more problematic.  The inventive doctor suggested leaving a piece of meat on the leg next to the wound.  Surely enough, six hours later the worm had been tempted halfway out and could be removed entirely.  Medical costs that are claimed on travel insurance usually aren’t as grisly as this!

Scorpion Stowaway

Despite the rigorous security at airports nowadays, occasionally something slips through. A penknife forgotten at the bottom of the bag, a tube of toothpaste that is over the regulation limits for liquids . . . or even a scorpion hiding in your backpack! On a flight from Miami to Toronto, a tiny stowaway crawled out of someone’s backpack and stung another traveler. One can only hope that the unlucky traveler had holiday insurance to cover the medical bills and the likely delay to the flight!

Legless at the Airport

British Airways staff were left red-faced after losing a New Zealand woman’s prosthetic leg, especially since she was traveling to compete in the world athletic championships for the disabled. That’s the kind of personal item that you really want your cheap holiday insurance to cover!

House-Trained Police

Sometimes threats to a traveler’s health, wallet, and sanity can come from the most unexpected sources.  Two police dogs at an airport in Thailand were suspended from duty for making “sexual advances” on passengers and then urinating on their luggage. It may sound like just a funny story, but without cheap holiday insurance the passengers would have to shell out for the replacement clothes and luggage themselves—or put up with some decidedly bad smelling underwear for the rest of their trip…

A Victim of Intrepid Pickpockets or Just the Laws of Physics?

A nervous traveler in Barcelona was warned that muggers and pickpockets were rampant along Las Ramblas, so before venturing out, she filled her underwear with $1500 in Travelers Checks. Naturally, before the day was out they had all disappeared, whether it was into the hands of especially adventurous pickpockets or simply down the legs of her trousers will never be known.

The $150,000 Tick Bite

You should never underestimate the cost of even the most minor holiday mishaps, as an unfortunate gap year traveler in America found out to his peril. Bitten by a moose tick, he then developed Lime’s Disease, a very dangerous condition that can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Several weeks in the hospital meant that he missed his flight back home, but fortunately his travel insurance covered the cost of the medical bills and a replacement ticket—estimated to total over $150,000.

By Patrick Chong