Became deaf in one ear permanently and suddenly while traveling. So yes, remember to always have travel insurance. I know, you’re invincible. Also, Chase Sapphire Reserve was great for reimbursements but AMEX card sucked.

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while as a reason on why travelers should always have travel insurance — even if you’re healthy, young, and generally invincible.

A couple years ago, I suddenly became permanently deaf in one ear — a medical emergency by travel insurance standards. Unfortunately, I had not purchased standalone travel insurance for this one trip (kick myself still to this day), but luckily one of my credit cards had included travel insurance — this is why Chase Sapphire Reserve is so beloved. I had flown home to get treatment, and therefore had to cancel my prebooked transportation, lodging etc. Lucky for me, for the ones I booked via Chase Sapphire Reserve, their generous travel policy reimbursed me back. Unlucky for me, I had booked some via American Express, including the original outbound international flight. Surprisingly, AMEX did not include any travel insurance benefits (maybe the card I had was too pleb). Later, I found out that if I had booked my original outbound international fight via Chase Sapphire Reserve, I likely would have been able to get reimbursed certain medical treatment expenses I had incurred. Such remorse!

Lessons learned: Buy travel insurance and/or make sure your credit card offers included travel insurance benefits. And, fly home or go to the emergency room/hospital IMMEDIATELY if you ever experience these symptoms coupled together: sudden ringing in one ear, feel dizzy/out of balance, cannot hear well with that one ear and it’s feeling stuffed, and it doesn’t clear up within 12 hours (I got treatment within 4 days but did not recover). It doesn’t matter if you’re young, healthy or hadn’t been doing anything that would have caused trauma to the ear (like super loud noises or physically traumatic activities). It just happens sometimes, and it’s still a largely unexplained phenomenon unfortunately.

Submitted May 28, 2020 at 04:48PM by thecloudsthat https://ift.tt/2TRrxqh