The "Death-Defying Adventure" Story

It was an ordinary day. Making a list of what Carol and I want to do when we travel back to St. Martin in the near future. Over the years we have tried most all the adventures and tours that they have on the island. Many were very relaxing, but some were pretty stressful. About a month ago I was reading an Arthur Frommer column in our local newspaper about the two activities that you should avoid. For those who don't know Arthur, he is a travel writer, publisher and consumer advocate, and the founder of the Frommer's series of travel guides and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine. He has published many books for budget-conscious travelers and has been one of America's foremost budget travel authorities since the 1950s. And, Carol and I are definitely budget conscious travelers. One of the things to avoid is zip-lining or bungee-jumping. Uh-Oh! We shouldn't have done that, I guess. In 2008 Carol and I went zip-lining in St. Martin. One of the most strenuous things I have ever done, and we were both in our 60s. He writes that when you do these things in the US, they have probably been inspected on a regular basis and are safe, but when you travel to a tropical island, who's doing the inspecting. No one! Lucky for us we survived. Not only that, on the same trip we rode in a rubber raft with a powerful engine in the rear call a Rhino boat. Boy did that fly over the water. And the year before we climbed a waterfall in Jamaica which was also tough to do. I guess we were risking our lives in countries where there probably are no regulations for such adventures. I do remember reading about a young woman who went bungee jumping in Zambia recently who plunged into a ravine when the cord broke, incurring critical injuries. Lucky she was jumping above a river and not over land. She did survive, but still had series injuries. I guess we could have had that happen to us on any of the things we participated in on those islands. I also read about a young couple who were riding on ATVs in Costa Rica earlier this year and the woman, while trying to avoid a motorbike, went off the edge of a cliff, breaking both her arms and one leg. If she had not been stopped by an overhanging tree branch as she fell, she would have died. The hospital in Costa Rica requested $5,000 to treat her and then another $10,000 to cover the surgery. After the initial surgery, the doctor at the hospital told them she would need additional surgery that would cost an additional $20,000. The husband was able to get a medical flight to return them to the US so his insurance would cover the additional operation, but he was not allowed to leave until he had paid the bill for their services. Kinda scary when you think that if we would have fallen while zip-lining and needed hospital aid, what would we have done. Is the aid available in most island nations? Well, I do know that my medical insurance doesn't cover us outside the US so for the past few years have purchased International Medical Insurance through IMG. I usually buy $1,000 deductable, but the insurance covers everything including air medical evacuation. I do want to be able to experience adventures on the different tropical islands that we visit, but don't want to ever again place our lives in the hands of individuals desperate to make a living by providing death-defying adventures to tourists. Life's already too short! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.