SPINALLIFE

I was trying to pass the time so decided to check and find the cheapest quote on the Internet for travel insurance. I don't know what made me curious. It was very unlike me. I had never checked for any other holidays. After all, travel insurance is a rip-off.

The cheapest quote came in at £3.90. My pizza during the party cost double that. I would pay more for a drink at the airport.

Seemed like decent value and there was a handy PayPal button so why the hell not? I put some basic details through the system and had a certificate of insurance e-mailed to me within 5 minutes. Job done, time to have another few drinks before going on our holiday.

I am all too aware how one minor decision, like when I jumped in the pool, can go on to shape your life. I still get chills when I think about the consequences had I fallen asleep or closed the laptop that night

By the time I was back in Glasgow they estimated the cost of my treatment in Spain and the specialist flight home to be just OVER £85,000. All that care plus personal injury compensation covered for £3.90. Travel insurance didn't look like such a rip-off after all.

I could not have covered that cost. My parents who had just moved to their dream house would have had to remortgage. Friends and family would have begged and borrowed just to get me back in the country. I would have been in Spain for weeks receiving the basic level of care until funds were arranged.

The financial impact on my family and friends would have been an enormous burden to bear. The guilt would have eaten away at me and who knows how much damage it would do.

Multiple holidays every year for many many years and this was the ONLY time I bought travel insurance. It doesn't seem like too crazy a notion to consider that fate intervened (replace fate with God or luck or destiny if that's what you believe).

Was I in the wrong all those years? After spending £3.90 to cover £85,000 worth of life-saving treatment I have never been so happy to say that I was completely wrong.

With summer approaching please don't make the mistake of thinking it would never happen to you.