Cheap travel insurance has a reputation of being quite a dull area to work in. While it does have its dull routine moments, just like any other job, these are made up for by the occasional inspired funny travel insurance stories you hear. It’s hard to say how many of them are either exaggerated, hugely embellished or just plain made up, but I still found a few of these travel insurance stories made me laugh while I was researching this article, and that’s good enough for me.

Here’s 13 funny travel insurance stories. While 13 is traditionally an unlucky number, a fair few on this list will consider themselves very lucky to be covered by understanding travel insurance companies! The remaining ones who were turned down will no doubt have learned an invaluable life lesson!

1. Cheeky Monkeys Cause Havoc

According to this tale (tail?), a group of cheeky monkeys conspired to ruin a couple’s romantic trip to Malaysia. Due to the heat, the couple left the window of their chalet open during the day while they went out, but regretted their decision when they returned to discover their clothes and belongings all over the surrounding resort and neighbouring rainforest. The couple’s insurance company were thankfully understanding and ensured they did not need to keep re-wearing the same clothes for the remainder of their trip!

2. A LOT of Bombay Mix

You know Bombay Mix? The spicy Indian snack food. One traveller claimed to have lost £600 worth of the stuff on his way back from holiday, and tried to claim on his travel insurance. With Bombay Mix costing less than £1 per 250g bag, a conservative estimate is that the man would need to be carrying over 80 kilograms of the snack to have racked up £600 expenses! Quite hard to misplace, you’d have thought, and the travel insurance company agreed, refusing to pay the claim.

3. A sting in the tail

One traveller lost his wallet down a drain, while exploring Natanya in Israel. However, rather than filing a police report and contacting his travel insurance providers, the brave individual tried to fish his wallet out of the drain – only to be stung by a poisonous scorpion which had made the area its home! The man’s treatment (and presumably his missing wallet) was covered by his travel insurance.

4. Geronimo!

Winning the dubious honour of the most unlucky on the list, this family’s camping trip went awry when a parachutist from the nearby airbase missed his target and landed squarely on the family tent. The camping equipment was ruined, and to add insult to injury, they were not covered for accidental damage so had to foot the bill themselves.

5. The joke’s on the burglar?

A fairly routine claim for a stolen cosmetics bag took an amusing twist when it was revealed that the victim had transferred her medical-strength haemorrhoid cream into an empty moisturiser tub earlier in the holiday. While French police remained on the lookout for a suspiciously smooth-faced thief, the woman’s travel insurance company paid up for the missing make-up, perfume and lotions.

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