Why you shouldn’t travel to Egypt without travel insurance

You spend months planning your trip with excitement, but one unexpected event is enough to complicate it: an illness, a cancelled flight or lost luggage. Here is why travel insurance is essential and why we recommend IATI to our guests from many countries.

Healthcare abroad is not free

In Egypt, medical care for tourists is private and usually has to be paid on the spot: a consultation, some tests or a night in hospital can cost hundreds or thousands of euros. And if you need an ambulance transfer or repatriation to your home country, the bill soars. Your national health card or public health cover from home will normally not help you there.

The most common mishaps

You don’t have to imagine the worst. These are the problems we see most often on trips, and a good policy covers them all:

Health problems: gastroenteritis, an ear infection, an infection or a silly fall at the port.
Delayed or cancelled flights, with missed connections and unexpected hotel nights.
Luggage that doesn’t arrive, arrives late or arrives damaged.
Trip cancellation because of an illness, an accident or a family problem before departure.
Theft or loss of documents, money or personal belongings.

What good travel insurance should include

High medical expenses cover: outside your home region, a limit of several hundred thousand euros is advisable.
Medical repatriation to your home country.
24-hour assistance.
Direct payment of medical expenses, so you don’t have to pay upfront.
Luggage and flight delays.
Cancellation, if you want to protect the money you paid for the trip before you leave.

Why we recommend IATI

IATI is an insurer specialised in travel, with policies for residents of many countries. These are the reasons why we recommend it to our guests:

Policies for travellers from many countries: on the IATI website, select your country of residence to see the plans and cover available to you. Cover and limits depend on your country. Below you will find two links: one for residents of the European Union and one for the rest of the world.
High medical cover, repatriation and medical transfer.
24-hour assistance, 365 days a year.
Direct payment: if you call their assistance centre before going to the doctor, they take care of paying the hospital.
Luggage and flight delays, and optional cancellation cover, depending on the plan.

Our tips

Buy it as soon as you book: cancellation cover only protects you if you have it before the problem arises.
Choose your country and the plan that suits your trip, and check the cover and exclusions of the policy before you buy.
Remember that dive insurance is mandatory to board our liveaboards: check whether your policy covers scuba diving or take out specific dive insurance.
Keep your policy and the assistance phone number on your phone and on paper.
Always call before going to the doctor or hospital, so they can arrange direct payment.
Keep all receipts: invoices, medical reports and airline reports.