Lesson Learned about Travel & Insurance

[Scott Trees]

I wanted to share an experience with our community that completely blind sided me—and ended up being one of the most costly and frustrating days of travel I’ve ever endured.

I was in Spain, finishing up my photo tour, and happened to arrive at the Seville airport just 15 minutes after the entire country lost power. The timing couldn’t have been worse. The airport was absolute chaos—no lights, no announcements, no working monitors. Just a crush of frustrated travelers and canceled flights. It felt like a scene from a disaster film.

Since I was several hours early for my flight, they wouldn’t check my bags yet. Not that it mattered—nothing was operating. I found a seat near the exit door of the check-in area and settled in to wait it out. I had my suitcase, my rolling camera case, and my carry-on right beside me. It was noisy—children crying, people arguing, conversations in multiple languages—and I put on my headset and tried to drown it out while working on my laptop.

Then came a burst of commotion nearby. I looked up, curious, then after only a few moments back down to what I was typing.

That’s when the bottom dropped out.

Something felt… off. I glanced beside me—and my camera bag was gone. Just gone. For a moment, I thought, “Wait, am I imagining this?” Then that horrible, sinking realization hit me: “Oh no. Oh, shit. My case is GONE.”

I jumped up and sprinted out the exit, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever had taken it. I didn’t think—I just reacted—and left my laptop on the chair. When I came back moments later, of course, it was gone too.

It was a clean, well-executed theft—clearly the work of professionals. I later learned that thefts like this are not uncommon at Seville airport. And I, like many before me, was now part of that unfortunate club.

It never occurred to me that someone would be bold enough to steal a camera bag sitting inches from me—but it had been just behind my direct line of sight, and that’s all they needed.

I had an Apple Geo tracker in the camera case. I followed the signal on my phone as it moved away from the airport and then abruptly stopped. After about 10 minutes, they discovered and tossed the tracker out the window. To this day, the tracker still pings from the same spot.

As if that weren’t enough, the real gut-punch came when I contacted my insurance company. Just two months before the trip, I had switched providers and specifically requested coverage via personal articles floater policy for my camera gear, just like I had with my previous insurer. In the past, agents had always placed a binder on a policy immediately. I assumed the same had happened this time.

It hadn’t. The agent never activated the coverage. All my gear—uninsured. Thousands of dollars lost in an instant. I would love to blame the agent, but I have to hold myself accountable as I got busy and did not follow up sending the list of my gear.

To top it all off, I spent 22 grueling hours in that powerless, paralyzed airport trying to get rebooked. In over 50 years of international travel, I can honestly say this was the worst—and most expensive—day I’ve ever had.

I’m now insured through Professional Photographers of America. Their membership fee which is nominal includes equipment coverage of up to $15,000 without requiring a detailed inventory. Additional coverage is available if needed—and you can be sure I have it now.

I hope sharing this helps others avoid the same mistake. Stay vigilant. And double-check your insurance.

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