How To Deal With An Emergency On Vacation

Emergencies tend to strike at the most inconvenient of times. Even when you’re trying to enjoy a nice family vacation, something has the chance to go wrong. Whether you're going camping or planning to stay in a hotel, you need to be prepared for an unexpected emergency.

Image Courtesy of Pexels

If an emergency occurs when you’re away from home, what can you do about it? Should you pack anything special just in case you might need it? There are things you can do immediately in the event of an emergency, and then follow up with once you get back home. Let’s go through some tips and suggestions. 

Get Insurance First of All

Insurance is the number one way to protect yourself in the event of an emergency while you're on vacation. If you're insured, you can count on being reimbursed for any unexpected expenses you might incur during a vacation emergency. Whether you lose something, have something stolen or need medical care, you can use this policy without fuss. 

Always Have a Relevant Emergency Number in Your Phone

If there’s a medical issue while you’re on vacation, you’ll need to call the national emergency number. This can vary wildly depending on the country you’re in, so look it up before you go and add it to your phone. This way even your kids can easily find the number if they need to call it. 

You may need to visit the hospital at some point, and it’ll be hard to get there if you have no reliable transportation of your own. And if you head off to a country with free healthcare and you have insurance of your own, you won’t have to worry about the cost of a hospital stay. 

Know the Location of the Embassy

If you ever get into trouble while visiting another country, the embassy is the place to go. So it's a good idea to know its location before you leave on vacation. You may need to hop in a taxi or take the bus there during your visit. 

The embassy can help with issues like theft or loss of your passport, which is actually a quite common occurrence. Since you won’t be able to travel home again without a passport, the embassy can issue you an emergency version if you explain the problem. 

Get as Many Details as Possible

If you're involved in an altercation on the road, such as a hit and run accident, you’ll need to get as many details as possible. This can be difficult when there’s a language barrier, but you can still record the time, date, license plate numbers and description of any other drivers that were involved. 

If you were driving a rented vehicle at the time of the accident, these details can be extremely helpful when explaining to the rental company, not to mention any authorities that you'll need to deal with and the insurance company when you get back home again. So do your best to write down as many details as possible.

 

Don't Panic 

 

The most important thing to remember if you get into an emergency on vacation is not to panic. Just follow tips like these and everything will work out just fine. 

 

 

 

This is a contributed post.