Planning for a big trip requires a lot of planning to ensure that things go smoothly with minimal hiccups. This includes plane tickets, hotel accommodations, itineraries, tour vouchers, so on. But for things that we don’t entirely anticipate, travel insurance comes in to save the day. If you already packed a lot of things for the trip and you’re still asking if it’s worth it to buy insurance, well, here’s a list of when travel insurance is a must:
When Leaving Your Home Country
When you’re leaving your country, getting travel insurance should be at the top of your list. Before you think about canceled flights and whatnot, you should have coverage for anything untowardly that could happen to you while you’re away. The way Post Office Travel Insurance looks at it, travel coverage can protect you from a variety of unforeseen circumstances that can adversely affect your holiday. Also, because people travel for different reasons, periods of time, and company, it’s important that you read through the policies to make sure you get what best suits your needs.
You Paid a Lot For a Tour Package
You’ve always wanted to go to a luxury cruise, you’ve saved up enough money to buy the tour package, and are just eagerly counting the days until you – tragedy strikes. You or one of your family members gets sick, and pushing through with the eight thousand-dollar cruises is not an option. Most of the time, company policies don’t allow for refunds of cancellations made 14 days before the trip. They will sympathize, but you won’t see a single cent of that $8,000 back.
But what if you have travel insurance? Then, you’ll have cancellation benefits, reimbursements of prepaid, non-refundable trip costs for a covered person due to a covered reason. This protects you and your costs from unforeseen events that give you the peace of mind that you’ll be able to recover from your provider when the worst happens.
When Place is Prone to Terrorist Attack
We always want to go to exotic places, filled with history and culture that have influenced the world and its story one way or another. Unfortunately, some of these places are suffering from sporadic terrorist attacks – your country doesn’t ban travel for the moment, but the situation can get volatile. So you decided to push through with your excursion and already bought tickets and all, then a terrorist attack. The event left airports and all borders closed, and any attempt to enter your destination is blocked. Travel insurance allows you to cancel your trip and recover all of your non-refundable costs.
Missed Departure
When you leave for your cruise but are likely to miss it due to a missed connection flight, you’re in for some inconvenience even before you start your much-needed time-off. If you have missed connection coverage, you’ll be able to catch your ship at the next port-of-call through a different flight. You’ll also be given assistance in arranging for any changes needed to be required for the trip.
Canceled flights due to natural disasters are usually not covered by your carrier, so you’ll likely incur additional costs for your planned trip. If you’re covered with insurance, you’ll get a refund for the trip and will be given a new ticket or comfortable accommodation in a hotel.
Mandatory Medical Coverage
Many countries require medical coverage when leaving the country. With COVID-19, this type of coverage has become a mandatory requirement for most countries, regardless of the nature of your trip. Many of your local medical coverage won’t cover medical bills from outside the country, and hospitals would require you to pay cash upfront. Having coverage takes care of any medical bills and other services like transportation, accommodations in a medical facility, and emergency evacuation. You will also get coverage for the cost of repatriation after treatment of covered injury or illness.
Baggage Protection
The main point of taking a vacation far from the stress of your daily routine is to relax and to have fun. Lost baggage and important documents don’t really spell fun, especially when it happens at the start of the trip. Benefiting from a baggage delay coverage allows you to purchase additional essential items if your baggage is delayed or misdirected and the expected time of arrival goes beyond 24 hours. There are some mishaps that shouldn’t spoil your trip, and you can achieve this by having the right coverage.
We’ve discussed the merits of having travel insurance, but believe it or not, there are instances wherein you can forego the extra cost and still enjoy your trip. The two main reasons for having travel insurance is to have financial protection and medical coverage. If you know you can take care of the expenses and have medical coverage to where you’re going, then you might want to hold off on purchasing that insurance. Here are some situations when travel insurance is not important:
Spur of the Moment Domestic Trip
If you get a super-saver late-night trip to any domestic destination, then you don’t really have that much to protect. You also don’t have any prepaid expenses that you’re trying to get coverage for, so it’s okay to forego buying insurance at this time. Your health insurance would also be accepted in your destination, so you’re pretty much safe there.
If You Can Afford Losing Prepaid Expenses
When visiting family and staying in your old home, you’ll automatically have significant costs eliminated. Travel insurance is useful for pre-paid and non-refundable expenses, but if you’re going back to your hometown, then you don’t have many costs that you’ll be unwilling to lose. You might be missing baggage delays coverage, but that alone is not worth it for this type of trip.
Cheap domestic flights costing around $130 is not worth the trouble of buying coverage as opposed to trips with airfare tickets reaching up to $700 plus hotel, tours, and show tickets that could sum up for more than $8,000.
People are often intimidated by the additional costs that come with purchasing insurance. But if you’re able to choose different options that suit your purpose and budget, then it’ll become affordable. The best way to find low-cost travel insurance is to get a quote for your trip and choose from an array of plans available. Knowing when and when not to buy insurance can give you peace of mind that won’t break your budget for the trip.
Photo by STIL on Unsplash
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