There is one travel insurance I use and recommend to everyone – and that’s because we had the BEST experience with this travel insurance when my daughter Em was really sick in Japan in 2023 when she was 13. People who follow us on Instagram and Facebook watched as we lived this week of illness and worry about Emmie’s health and saw how incredible the insurer was.
I’ll tell you what happened. Honestly it was such a relief to be in such good hands.
The insurer is Southern Cross Travel Insurance and you can get your quote and insurance here. I 100% recommend them.
Pics are from my stories from back then…I think I deleted all the photos, who wants to reminisce about a scary time like this?
What happened?
Em and I had been on holiday in Hokkaido, Japan. She had been skiing a lot with teen club and in hindsight said she had been having a little trouble with unblocking her ears, but nothing concerning.
We were flying home via Tokyo and everything was fine on the flight until descent – and this felt like the worlds longest descent. She was in agony with her ears, I have never seen her in so much pain. It was so distressing and went on for about 30 minutes, There was nothing I could do although we tried to pop them, I rubbed the side of her face and behind her ears. All I good do was cuddle her while she cried and moaned with the pain. It was awful.
Finally we landed and the pain subsided somewhat but she just was really unwell. It came on so quickly.
We had an overnight stay in Tokyo before our scheduled flight the next day but as soon as I got off that plane I knew there was no way I was putting her on another flight. Luckily I had booked us a fab hotel at Haneda Airport for the night (check it out here, we have stayed there again since and it has the most amazing onsen and is only $150 per night) so we went there and I put her to bed and spoke with the incredible staff about getting her to a doctor or hospital the following day as it was about 10.00pm and everything was closed.
I went online and started an insurance claim and I was able to talk to someone. I was actually quite nervous because we hadn’t been able to see a doctor yet and were missing our flight but they were very supportive and said to go to the hospital and then get back in touch. I just had to message them and they would call me back. It made a very stressful situation much less stressful. We arranged a time for them to call me the next day and then that’s how it continued with daily check ins, email and always feeling supported and safe during what was a scary time. You just don’t want to mess with your child’s health.
The next morning I ran up to the Qantas desk at the airport and told them we wouldn’t be making the flight and then set off with Em to the hospital in a taxi the hotel organised for us.
When we got there they gave us a lovely translator Yoko and we set off to see the doctor. It was a Sunday so the specialist wasn’t there but they helped us and had a look at her. Poor Em was feeling very unwell and it turned out she had two almost burst eardrums that had formed into two abscesses plus a severe viral infection in ear, nose and throat plus chest infection and high temps. Who knew? Not us! But we got Emmie’s Not Fit to Fly letter for insurance and some medication, and then arranged to return the following day.
When we went back Yoko was there again to help us and she helped us through each subsequent appointment. The hospital was very cool. It was a self serve log in and then it would tell us where to go for our appointment and computers would also dile out Em’s medication. It was quite an interesting experience in a retro hotel with kind people.
We had to stay in Tokyo until Em could get a Fit to Fly certificate which would end up being a week for her ears to heal.
In that time the Southern Cross staff member called us daily to check on Em, to see if we needed anything and to see if she was getting better. They were amazing.
They paid for everything – the paid the hotel directly and then reimbursed me for all meals, transport and medicine.
Then they booked us a new flight home with ANA who we had originally flown with, and we were hopeful that we could fly the day before so Em could get home for the Harry Styles concert, so when she got the all-clear to fly they changed us onto a Qantas flight to get her home in time. They didn;t have to do that but they were literally that kind and helpful.
Honestly they were just the best and I think you can’t get a better recommendation than someone who has had to use the insurance and had an excellent experience.
So here’s the link again! Southern Cross insurance – it’s the best!
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