My Northwest Passage adventure company insists that I have “Complete” Travel Insurance. I don’t believe in travel insurance. Don’t buy insurance if you can self-insure. I do carry most excellent medical evacuation insurance. I can afford to rescue myself – but if I needed rescuing it would be hard for me to pull off – so – I can just hope someone finds my Global Rescue Card and it gets me back to Virginia. Alive or Dead. (Actually, if I am dead – they can just leave me.)
But, rather than fuss or try to find a loophole – I set out to buy “complete travel insurance”. Carlton would call this “throwing money at a problem”. Well, the first place I checked, a company recommended by Global Rescue, wanted $9,000. And that didn’t include “cancel for any reason coverage”. This was a serious non-starter.
So, Plan B, see if USAA sells “complete travel insurance” or even “incomplete” insurance. The old bat isn’t going to spend $9,000 for insurance. Log on to USAA. My phone doesn’t get the 2FA code. Try again. And again. Get a friend to text me. That works.
Try USAA again. No luck. I decide “screw it”. I’ll worry about that tomorrow. No way I am going to wait until tomorrow to get this sorted. What if some miscreant is messing with my account?
Call USAA. Wait on hold. March around the apartment getting my steps in for the day. Eventually, get connected with a real human person. She hasn’t a clue what’s wrong but she sets my account to get the code by email as well as text. And, I get access to USAA. And my money. The real human person was amazed that I have been with USAA for 64 years. Well, that’s what happens when you are old.
What I am saying here is – 2FA is essential, but it can be a pain. Keep the phone number and account info handy.
You will be hearing more about my “complete travel insurance” quest.