Tag: travel insurance

Margarita time

Almost that Time! #Blogging Break Approaching and a Tip!

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Just a short note to let you know this will be my last post here until mid-March. As our winter escape to Mexico draws nearer, there are so many loose ends to tie up, not to mention – packing! As some of you who have read my little travel book, Have Bags, Will Travel, you can appreciate that getting ready to travel for me is a temporary full-time job, lol. First I pick all the things I want to take (just about everything except the kitchen sink) then I get out the old scales and start purging backwards what won’t fit in the weight allowance. It’s a science and an art I tell ya!

 

Don’t even get me started with the new Coronavirus .

There isn’t a mask left for sale in the city! We always wear masks when we travel without this new global threat, after contracting Influenza on the plane ride home from Arizona 4 years ago. I had one left in my carryon from last year’s trip and went on a mad hunt to no avail – until I tried my local independent pharmacy nearby where I have a good rapport with the owner, after scouting out several big pharmacies and Walmart. My friendly pharmacist told me he held back one box of surgical masks to sell them individually to those who were in desperate need of a mask – the sick and those traveling on airplanes. He generously sold me 4! No doubts I’ll have lots of travel stories to share upon my return!

This vacation is going to be a luxurious, well-needed busy getaway. We have lots of visitors coming and going to stay with us and many regular snowbird friends who rent in the same complex to socialize with. Plus, I’ve been checking out the real estate market in beautiful Puerto Vallarta where we are contemplating purchasing a condo for ourselves to possibly rent out and possibly even move to in the future, so I will undoubtedly be a busy bee having some look and sees and the lay of the land.

So for those of you who are used to seeing my gravatar around the blogosphere and social media, I won’t be doing my regular visits, but may pop by occasionally when time permits. I also won’t be posting here till I’m back settled because I don’t like to leave comments unanswered. So don’t forget me!

Before signing off here I’m going to leave you all with an important tip when taking out travel health insurance – Do your homework!!! If you’re traveling, never go away without travel health coverage, and never take the first quote!

If your country isn’t offering a good price, check into global travel health insurance companies, where you can search for your best rate. I learned this year how much the insurance company we’ve been using for years ‘exclusive’ members only from our bank was ripping us off – well my husband’s insurance for sure! It’s a fact once seniors turn 80 rates are considerably higher for travel insurance – especially with pre-existing conditions. I trusted my bank for too long. I went on a 2 day comparison search before insuring my husband and much to my delight, I found that our Canadian Blue Cross  gave a fair and just rate in my comparisons. How much of a difference? Are you sitting down? My bank wanted $2500.00 to insure my husband. Thank you Blue Cross. I have never been happier to fork over $720 FOR THE EXACT SAME COVERAGE!!! One third of the price!!! So don’t be fooled for ‘exclusively for you’ bullshit!

So take care everyone. Keep writing and stay safe as I plan on doing both. Adios!

 

©DGKaye

 

 

Random People We Meet

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“Hold the elevator please,” a feeble voice with a Polish accent I could barely hear beckoned as the heavy door had almost shut. As he shuffled in slowly with a wobbly grip on his cane, the man and I exchanged pleasantries and discussed how bitterly cold the weather had suddenly become compared to yesterday’s balmy 10 degrees Celsius.

We both got off on the lower lobby level. I was en route to the management office of the building I am moving into after checking on the latest renos that were done to my new apartment.

Morris introduced himself to me when I discovered that he was going in the same direction as me. He wasn’t able to keep pace with my hurried steps so I slowed to walk along side him as we continued to converse. He began to tell me that it had been two years since he hadn’t gone down south for the winter because he could no longer afford the enormous $20,000 insurance cost to cover out of town medical coverage for five months a year, even though he’s been fine for the past few years after surgery.

“I have a place down in Miami,” Morris told me with his still Yiddish/Polish accent. “I rent it out now and can’t bring myself to sell it.”

He then asked me to guess his age. I could tell by his posture and weakness and the worn look on his face that he was well into his eighties, but I told him he looks seventy-eight. His eyes twinkled with pride as he announced that he was ninety-one years old.

The walk was long through the corridor to the adjoining building where the management office was, so we continued to chat. I told Morris that I was also concerned about when the day would come that my own husband wouldn’t be able to get health coverage for travel with all its stipulations. He asked me with gleaming curiosity how old my husband was because he couldn’t fathom that someone my age would have those concerns yet. I told him my husband is seventy-six.

When I told him how good he looks, he began to tell me bits about his long life and about how much he has seen of the world. And then he told me that he was a holocaust survivor.

I had already acquired a soft spot for this gentle man, but when he told me that he had survived the camps, it struck a deep chord within me. I had studied many books on WWII and the dehumanization of the Jews and being born one myself, when I speak with people who have survived such atrocities, it always boggles my mind how miraculous it is for any Jew to survive that reign of terror.

Morris told me a few stories about where he used to work before he retired, quickly abandoning the brief mentioning of the holocaust. I found him to be meek and humble. I told him that perhaps he should write a book about his eventful life. He retorted, “I don’t think I have the patience to write my whole life, besides, there’s lots that I forget.” I didn’t ask him, but wondered if he really forgot things because of his age, or if he just chose not to remember.

When we reached the management office, I told him it was lovely  to meet him and and hoped to see him again when I moved in. He smiled with his aged eyes again and thanked me for the chat and said he looked forward to seeing me around soon.

DGKaye©2014