3 March
written by walking_managewp

Travel Insurance – What You Need to Know Before You Go!

Travel Insurance for North Island Guided Walks

Travel insurance can feel like such a gamble sometimes! Don’t be caught out, make sure you’re properly covered on your next North Island guided walk with Walking Legends.

Flights To Great Barrier Island

On our 4-day guided hiking tour of Great Barrier Island, our preferred flight service provider is Barrier Air. Barrier Air is a small regional airline, so they don’t offer insurance as part of their tickets like AirNZ does. Having your own insurance is a good idea to cover things like postponed or cancelled flights to or from the island. Or any extra accommodation, food or rental vehicles required while you wait for replacement flights. Having said that, we’ve never had anyone stuck on the island due to cancelled flights, touch wood!

We recommend you get travel insurance for your North Island hiking tour with Walking Legends or speak to an insurance broker, for professional advice.

Care for Your Valuables

We recommend you don’t bring laptops, iPads or Kindles etc. The safest place for these items is at home. On our lodge-based tours, on the way to the lodge on Day 1, and on the way home on Day 4, we often park up at trail carparks and your gear is left in our van. Some companies won’t insure because our vans obviously don’t have lockable boot compartments! Seems crazy, but hey if I sold insurance I’d probably say that too. If you need to have your laptop with you for work etc, then bring it along. Just be prepared to pop it into your day pack while you’re hiking on Day 1 as that’s the safest way. We can’t guarantee the safety of any gear left in our vehicles while we’re out walking.

Bringing Valuables and Devices on a Hiking Tour

On our hut-to-hut based tours you probably won’t want to bring devices anyway. Not only will there be a blissful absence of Wi-Fi, but their weight might mean a few extra blisters for you, and no one loves a blister!

If something should happen to your valuables while you’re on the trip with us, sometimes your House & Contents Insurance will cover losses. Most policies exclude any valuables that have not been kept on your person. Walking Legends is unable to provide any cover for any valuables lost, damaged or stolen while you’re on the trip. We’ll get you to the nearest police station as soon as we can to lodge a police report to assist in your insurance claims.

Travel Insurance Providers

If you’re looking for a travel insurance provider while you’re on your North Island guided hiking tour with Walking Legends, take a look at Cover More, AA, or Southern Cross. Check the fine print of your policy carefully so you can get busy with enjoying every moment of your hard-earned New Zealand hiking tour!

NOTE: Walking Legends is not an insurance broker, advisor or agent. We don’t sell insurance as part of our guided walk packages, this must be organised independently by each walker. We are simply making a recommendation that we hope is helpful!