After spending far too much time during 2014 in and out of hospital (more than 20 admissions) with a heart condition, I had a procedure in January 2015 which seemed to do the trick. So, 6 months later, travel was back on the agenda. We managed a trip to Melbourne, a trip to Singapore, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, a cruise from Fremantle to Hong Kong on the Queen Elizabeth and another trip to Melbourne. I was feeling so confident that I booked a trip to Europe including a cruise from Rome to Dubai with my daughter and also another cruise from Hong Kong around Asia and ending in Singapore on the Queen Mary 2 with my husband. It had been 19 months since the last heart episode, so I feel that I wasn’t hasty in planning a trip the two trips.
To help fund this travel, I have been doing a little relief teaching, which is quite well paid and I find it very enjoyable on the whole. One of my colleagues took ill and I was asked to fill in for her absence. I didn't know that in that 10-day period, her 5 classes would have 8 tests which I was expected to mark, as well as prepare classes, answer emails, attend meetings, do yard duty etc. and ensure that all my students received high quality teaching. Most of these (except the latter) are not usual duties for relief teachers. Unfortunately, at the end of the 10-day stint, after quite a lot of pressure from some staff members to get all the marking done and very little support from others, my heart condition returned. The pressure for me to get all the marking done was because it would normally be done by staff members who teach those subjects and they preferred that I do it. I find it a little difficult to be as polite as usual to the two staff members who put me under so much pressure.
I had paid for all of our 8 flights, 16 nights of accommodation in London and Amsterdam, and deposit for the cruise. I hadn’t got around to booking a further 7 nights of accommodation.
And here is my travel mistake. I booked non-refundable nights at the two Hiltons. But I did arrange travel insurance with insureandgo paying a hefty extra amount to cover my pre-existing condition(s). I wrote to the two Hiltons but unfortunately, as I booked non-refundable rooms, all the money is forfeited. Hopefully, all the costs will be reimbursed by the travel insurance company. My only worry is that I don’t remember paying extra to remove the excess, so as the hotel bookings were made in blocks, I’m afraid that I may lose out.
What have I learnt? If there is a next time, as my travel insurance will probably skyrocket, I will book refundable hotel rooms and maybe swap to the lower rate at the last minute. The other option is to book any Hilton hotels using points and money rewards as I understand that they are refundable. And I will wait till about a month or so beforehand to book flights unless there is a great special. I thought we had done well, paying A$875 for flights on QR from SIN -> DOH -> AMS and DXB -> DOH -> SIN. But a couple of weeks ago, the price dropped to $775. I booked 3 seats for the 2 of us to have a bit of room to spread out. I also think that QR had a two for one J special which I would have far preferred.
Is there any good to come out of the situation? It could have been far, far worse if my heart condition returned whilst overseas. I would have been travelling with my adult daughter, but I don't expect her to act as my nursemaid. Part of the cruise was going to Egypt, Jordan, through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and on to Oman and Dubai. Not an area with high quality health care readily available.
