To buy or not to buy?

That is the question...

Ive read many blogposts regarding the purchase of travel insurance. Some people are reluctant to buy while others regard it as necessary. How about u? Why do people purchase travel insurance? Is it worth the money spent? Different people have different perspectives upon this matter. As an avid traveler, i never bought any travel insurance whilst traveling before. I started buying my first travel insurance for my Bali trip in 2011. It was an online travel insurance that has no name at all. I remembered purchasing it for rm9 per pax. So, I spent rm36 for my family. Alhamdulillah, everything went well. Then, over the years, i started reading n surveying. Then only i knew that travel insurance does not only cater for lost baggages or delays only, there are many other benefits of buying one. Do u know that we can get a full reimbursement if we cancel our journey due to unavoidable incidents? Certain policies also take care of your houses if there are burglary cases happening during your travel... How cool is that! Ha..ha.. Don't get me wrong. No company pays me for this write-up, everything  is truly from my own readongs n honest opinion.

So, last December, for my Beijing-Harbin trip, i was so busy looking for the most suitable travel insurance for my family. I read blogs, comments, personal experiences and at last ive ventured rm77 for a family policy from Etiqa Takaful. Why takaful? Because they are very easy to be contacted. Everything was done online. Previously, i had contacted their customer service to inquire on certain things. Little that i know that this decision will benefit me later on. Why did i buy one from an established company? 1. Going to a place with weather of minus 15 with children, I thought this trip was a bit risky. 2. Parents were unwell. There were chances of cancelling the trip if anything unexpected happened.

This sign never fails to capture
my attention everytime i pass by

Bon voyage!

On the 19th of December, we departed from KLIA 2 to Beijing. The flight was smooth sailing, nothing extraordinary happened until a few minutes before landing time. The announcement was made by the captain. It seemed that our flight couldnt land at Beijing Int Airport due to heavy smog. I thought i heard it wrongly but we were diverted to Pudong Shanghai International Airport. WHAT??? This was very unacceptable. We were so close to the ground. So many things came across my mind at that time. Hotel bookings, train booking, our other friend in the other flight n many other things. Mh360 pon i teringat jugak...hahaha... But who are we to stop Allah's will.... so, instead of landing at Beijing Airport, we landed at Shanghai airport. ( nak tergelak pon ada...).

Doraemon theme room.
Very cute n cosy

Air Asia X gave us rooms to rest until the departure of our next flight. We rested for the day and the new schedule was at 6.30pm that day.... there was nothing we could do except to wait for the weather in Beijing to be better. #Beijingpleasebenice

It was in the newspaper! 

Lets think of the bright side, at least we had a nice room to kill our time n this was also my 1st time in Shanghai. We also experienced air turn back...haha.. so that was how it felt...haha... we also made new friends along the way....

Some of our new friends

Upon arrival at the airport hotel in shanghai, i called ctrip and the hotels to amend and cancel some bookings via the hotel's phone. Luckily ctrip reimbursed the train money with some penalties. So, that evening, we departed for the 2nd time to Beijing. And this time, alhamdulillah we landed safely. Everyone cheered and clapped their hands... seronok pulak rasanya... we felt like a family 😙....  I would also like to thank the flight attendances of that particular aircraft (wherever u are)  for doing a splendid job during the whole 2 days. I had never met such Air Asia crew who was as helpful and friendly as this group. Keep up the good work!

Waiting patiently  for our flight to
 Beijing from Shanghai. 

And.... Because of this incident, my flight was delayed for almost 27 hours. Once i got back from Beijing, i contacted etiqa and they advised me on what to do. Upon submission n approval, within 5 days, i had received my money. How much did i get? Lets just say it was more than enough to cover our train penalties and to cover half of  my expenses  to osaka later....hahaha... rezeki jangan ditolak, musuh jngn dicari....

Thats my story of the longest journey to Beijing. And back to my question, to buy or not to buy? U have the answer. It is just a way of precaution in case of emergency. We never know what will happen. So, just be prepared!

Despite the difficulties, 8 of us
Successfully  stepped our feet onto
The ground of Harbin. Alhamdulillah!