Taking a Trip abroad? Pack in Your Travel Insurance

How Important is Travel Insurance While Travelling Abroad

Planning for a vacation abroad? The first thing one does is picks the best tourist spots to visit and packs clothes that are most suitable for those places, anticipating the fun to come. While packing from toothbrush to immigration forms and from couple of books to read to paper maps of cities, one forgets the most important thing, i.e. to prepare ourselves for those situations that can go horribly wrong or in short, we forget to avail for travel insurance.

Imagine a scenario when your flight To Rome gets delayed or you are in France and your luggage is in Germany, or you have only a handful of cash and there is no one that can speak English. Or even worse, you are in Spain, diving underwater. Suddenly you hit a volcanic rock and fracture your leg, and hospitalized, but your insurance company rejects your claim. What these scenarios have in common? They are the major reasons that often lead to big financial blunders. However, there is one thing that you should pack first in your backpack before travelling to your favorite destination–travel insurance.

The coming months are some of the busiest periods for international travel. Students join their overseas colleges; grandparents visit their children during Christmas break; the backpacker set out for new adventures. Most travelers opt for international travel insurances as the cost of medical treatment abroad is extremely expensive. Although you are not suffering from any medical complication, several things can go south on you, such as accidents, natural calamities, and emergency cancellation of flight. If you don’t want your dream trip to become the biggest financial nightmare, here are a few things that will help you select optimum travel insurance plan.

What to Look for in a Travel Insurance?

• Stolen or Lost Baggage

Imagine that when you are so close to the dream of visiting Eiffel Tower on Christmas eve, you realize that your bag of passport and credit cards is lost, and you are stuck in a country, where your total French vocab is limited to “bonjour principessa”. Thus, your travel insurance provider must include theft protection, especially in the times of today, when you consider the skyrocketed dollar prices while buying extremely important items such as a smartphone. Without a proper insurance protection, such devices become responsible for digging a giant hole in your pocket. Additionally, while opting for a travel insurance plan, ask on what conditions they decide that value of the stolen item and maximum cap for reimbursement. There are some insurance companies that offer protection against theft across the world. So, make sure to opt for that inclusion.

• Trip Cancellation or Interruption

Don’t feel bad if you develop a cold feet just before the flight; even an avid traveler has experienced such fear at some point. However, you should not pay for the trip that you never had. Apart from that, there are several reasons for sudden flight cancellations such as unforeseen weather conditions. Thus, you should opt for those travel insurances that cover trip cancellations or trip interruptions. In some cases, travel insurances pay for you if you or your traveling partner falls sick; look for such terms and conditions before signing the deal.

• Evacuation Protection

There are several incidents where a travel insurance company has rejected reimbursement during evacuation emergencies. So, it is necessary to include an evacuation insurance while travelling. This coverage comes in hand when you need medical assistance and travel assistance to get you home safely after an accident. Also, it covers the expenses of the medically equipped vehicle, even a private jet. However, you have to read clause more carefully to know exactly what the comes under the terms of the policy after you get admitted into a healthcare facility.

While opting for evacuation insurance, several companies deny covering expenses of adventure activities such as skydiving or scuba diving as they are considered dangerous. Thus, make sure you opt for the adventure-sport package along with travel insurance plan.

• Flight Insurance

Can anyone escape the wrath of nature?…the answer to this question will be draw a negation from most people. However, you can protect your assets from unforeseen calamities and help you deal with the consequences of natural disasters. Moreover, there are some insurances that offer “crash protection”, but now plane crashes have become so rare that spending money on them makes little sense. However, you must not neglect protection from mishaps that may happen during other modes of transportation such as the cancellation of trains. This way, you can protect your finances from unexpected expenses.

Things that travel Insurance Does not Cover

While flaunting the best features of a travel insurance, agents often overlook several exclusions. It is best to know about every tiny detail about travel insurances and exclusions before you leave for a vacation. Moreover, you should know the maximum amount that you would have to pay after claiming the policy. For further help, here is a list of probable exclusions that you should know…

• As discussed above, skydiving, scuba diving, paragliding, and hang gliding are considered risky sports activities. Thus, any injuries resulted after such participation will be liable for reimbursements.
• Drink and drive accidents or illness caused owing to over-consumption of alcohol or any other narcotic drugs
• If the problem occurs due to your recklessness such as forgetting to collect passport after checking out the hotel, insurance company holds right to deny reimbursement.
• Regular medical check-ups or pre-existing medical conditions

Final Word Before You Say Adiós to Your Home

Unless you are not gifted with superpowers, you can’t escape unhurt during catastrophes and accidents. Although you are now young and feel perfectly healthy, there is no guarantee that you won’t fall sick or get trapped in a foreign country with limited supplies. Thus, get a travel insurance plan that has inclusion of medical and theft protection. According to a research firm, Allied Market Research, the global travel insurance market is expected to garner $28,264 million by 2022, owing to increasing awareness and regular occurrence of natural calamities. Thus, in layman’s terms, travel insurance would be your best traveling partner in a foreign country and it should be the first thing you should consider before you leave your town.