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<center>![..jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/galenkp/2423sCpxdBz1VngBjQEPLRYW3LFDj5kPc4p88TRGNzbBZgyVnHewaag2bvVU74B2TuRo9.jpg)</center>

<center>*A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.*</center>

<center>**- Robert Baden-Powell -**</center>
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In January 2020 I booked and paid for a six week trip to Scandinavia for June of the same year. I was excited because part of the trip incorporated a return to Finland where my brother @tarazkp lives and I was looking forward to seeing my family, especially my little cute niece @smallsteps and a couple other Hive users that live up that way.

The airfares from Australia to Denmark, via Singapore, were all paid up as was a transit hotel in Singapore and accommodation for the week I'd spend in Denmark. I was leaving some of the accommodation unbooked so I had flexibility on the trip and the Finland element was to be spent with family. Overall I'd spent many thousands of dollars booking the travel and was excited to deploy.

About six weeks later fucken covid-chan struck which meant my travel was cancelled. 

Fortunately, when I booked and paid for the trip, I'd taken the initiative to secure travel insurance; it was several hundred dollars but they say, *if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel.* Planning for the unexpected is my way generally in life, and in respect of travel I'm the same. 

Surprisingly, the airline and the hotel in Denmark refunded my money, albeit it seven months later and after some back and forth dialogues with the Singapore transit hotel I managed to get seventy percent of that accommodation refunded, despite them not wanting to. I could have claimed the rest on my travel insurance but it wasn't worth my time to recover such a small amount.

That was that. No travel and my money back. I put it all in the past and went on with life, until a week or so  ago when I received an email about it.

The insurer, a company I use for most of my insurances, emailed advising I might be eligible for a refund on the travel insurance policy. I was gobsmacked, *an insurance company contacting policy holders to give money back?* Fucken bonkers. *I'd play along*, I thought though. I didn't have anything to lose. 

I clicked the *check eligibility* link and was asked to answer three questions:

* Have you made a claim on this policy in the last 60 days?
* Did you travel on this travel insurance policy?
* Do you intend to make a claim on this travel insurance policy?

My answers were *no, no and no*. 

The next page declared I was eligible for the refund and asked for my bank account details. I'll admit to being a little cautious at that point. I ended up calling the insurance company the next morning to ask if the email was indeed legit. *It was.* Ok, I'll proceed. 

A couple days ago, the funds landed in my bank account. Part of me was a little dubious of it actually happening until it did and even now I'm surprised the insurer refunded me (and others obviously) by choice and without being asked. I always plan for the unexpected, but this is something I hadn't considered, *an unsolicited refund from an insurance company!* Who would have thought.
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Have you ever had a similar thing happen? Have you received an unexpected refund or has an unexpected event happened that made you happy? Feel free to tell me about it in the comments below. 

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Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default; tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind - galenkp

[All original and proudly AI free.]

<sub><sub>Any images in this post are my own.</sub></sub>