As a past travel professional, I heard many, and I stress many horror stories about travellers that didn’t take travel insurance to protect their well-being and vacation investment!

Nothing was worse than getting that phone call from our travel tour operator telling me that our clients had an unfortunate accident, or suddenly became ill, and they did not have travel medical, and not enough money to cover their medical bills at destination, or enough credit on their card to purchase a one-way flight home.

All these incidences were avoidable if they just took the time to understand how extremely important having an emergency medical policy, or trip cancellation coverage while on their vacation.

I know many individuals comment that they never get ill, or injured on past vacations, and my feedback to them is that they have been very fortunate. I myself have never been severely injured, or ill during my vacations, but I don’t take any chances.

Just like home insurance, or car insurance, you never expect your house to burn to the ground, and you certainly do not anticipate ever getting into a car collision. However, we all buy protection for the un-known for these two incidences, correct?

The problem with vacation travel is that many people feel that their holiday is short-term, and the odds of something serious happening are less likely to occur. But if something were to happen where you end up in a foreign hospital, I don’t think you want to find out later that your medical bills have exceeded the value of your house, or your savings account!

Unknown Emergency And Accident Means Just That! You Never Know If And When Something Will Happen

It’s hard to put something in perspective if you have never had an emergency situation with your health, or have had a serious accident. So to help you I will tell you two stories that I have come across with my experience of being a travel agent.

One occurrence was a mother and child was booking a flight to travel home to Jamaica to attend a family wedding. Her travel agent booked their flight, and recommended to her insurance medical and travel cancellation coverage. The women declined, and the agent didn’t express the serious nature of not taking the policy, so in the end the woman had left her office without any medical coverage.

Months later, I had our local travel insurance representative come visit my office, and he told me this story, and the unfortunate result was her young boy had come down with an ear infection prior to their flight to Jamaica, and even though she was consulted by the boys doctor not to take the flight until his condition healed, she ignored the requests!

The mother didn’t have the money to purchase two more flight tickets for another date, and proceeded to take her original flight. The end result was her child ended up losing his hearing due to his eardrum becoming damaged during the flight, a sad story, but an avoidable one if she would have taken cancellation coverage, and re-booked her flight for another day when her son was better.

My next story really touches my heart, because it was a client of mine for many years. My past client god rest his soul, was a typical stubborn man that grew up in a farm community, and had a true understanding of comprehensive coverage for accidents, because he operated many heavy machinery.

When he first came into my office, he was travelling with a group of people including his wife, and when he booked his first vacation package with me, he haggled me to the point where I gave in, and offered him and his guests a substantial discounted price. His group was saving at least $150.00 per person for their vacation package. But when it came to offering him and his travel guest’s insurance policies, he was not budging. For people that know me, I don’t take no for an answer when it comes to your overall wellbeing.

In the end, I won the battle, and he and his wife purchased the travel insurance, and they talked all their guests in getting it as well. This small group travelled to a hot destination every year after, and it seemed that their group started to grow larger every time they came to see me, and all the time they would joke about wasting money on this insurance I always provided to them.

My client after dealing with me for several years now came in once again with the largest group ever, and they all agreed to take a vacation in Cancun. Most have never been to the Mayan Riviera, and they were extremely excited to go there! The problem this time is that with a really large group with many different personalities and characters, my client was less jokingly, and said that he was talking to one of his guests going on this trip with them, and he expressed his opinion that insurance is nothing but a scam, and us travel agents only sell it for the commissions.

As these comments really insulted me, my client’s guest was right! We do make commission off selling travel insurance, but by no means do we offer or sell it for the main purpose of making money. My client was truly influenced by what this other person had commented, and we ended up having a lengthy debate, to the point it was getting a little heated. With over 15 plus couples traveling together this time, was I willing to lose a client and such a large group because of insurance? Oh yeah! Believe it or not, I would drop that business in a heartbeat if I knew they were traveling un-protected, and I told him that directly as he and his wife sat across from me.

In the end, I had won the battle again, my client made many phone calls and also convinced the others to take the coverage, and even though his trip was fully booked with me, he did leave my office feeling a little battered and slightly upset.

In the United States health insurance, unlike many other countries, you can find dozens of Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. Hundreds of regular commercial insurance and so many more health insurance plans like managed-care plans—HMOs, PPOs and PPG's. For some travelers, they may have Medicaid, and for those over 65 years have Medicare. All of these different types of plans have many various benefits, costs, deductibles, exclusions and restrictions.

So think before you travel and check your existing health policy to see what it pays for. It may reimburse you for up to 100% of the cost of emergency medical care when you're out of the country, of course, excluding any deductibles or copayments.

For nonemergency care overseas you may be covered but probably will have to call your insurance company or HMO in the United States for all for treatments that need to be authorized.

Check with your health plan about this before you leave home because failure to get authorization from your HMO or insurance company may mean you will not get reimbursed if you later file a claim.

If your health insurance policy doesn't cover your medical cost abroad, or you do not have any coverage whatsoever, then you should consider purchasing a travel health specific insurance policy.

Even if your present health insurance will pay doctor and hospital bills when you're out of the country, you may want to purchase a travel insurance policy to get other important benefits such as coverage for air ambulance transport and on-site medical expense payment.

With some specific diseases like diabetes, COPD, epilepsy, etc when you're traveling it may not be covered so make sure you first speak we your health insurance agent before you travel and then see what is covered.

Why Travel Insurance?

The D-day is approaching and you are all set to start your travel. You might have cross-checked your luggage, your passport, your visa………..but what about your travel insurance?

While we choose to travel, very few of us realise the importance of travel insurance even though our travel agents tell us a whole saga about its importance. It’s only when we encounter emergency situations like theft, flight cancellation, medical emergencies et al that we realize the importance of it.

Travel insurance is defined as the promise of reimbursement in the case of loss of your health and belongings when you are on a trip.

When we are on for a trip, we open ourselves to many risks and emergency situation which may cause tension and thus make our trip a stressful one.

Let’s find out what all situations you might confront during your travel:

•Cancellation or Delays: If for some unexpected or unknown reason your flight gets delayed or cancelled, your travel insurance will cover you. The cover even includes bankruptcy of the airline.

•Medical Emergencies: If you fall sick or are injured during your travel, your travel insurance will give you financial coverage.

•Loss or Stolen: If your luggage gets lost or stolen during your trip then your travel insurance will cover you as per the plan policy.

While taking up travel insurance cover most of us think about small things like luggage, cancellation and delays. It tends to skip our mind that travel insurance also takes care of major issues like our illness and accidents which we might encounter during our trip. It takes care of hospital and medical treatment while you are abroad.

Travel…… whether for business or pleasure should be accompanied by travel insurance. Travel insurance is specifically designed to cover you against the possible risks you may experience while travelling abroad. Travel insurance makes you prepared to tackle any unexpected situation that may arise while you are on move and gives you peace of mind.

So, next time when you will be on for a trip abroad, make sure to cover up yourself with travel insurance. There are wide number of providers who can offer you travel insurance. The cover and the options will vary according to the company policy.

Travel insurance is often an after thought when booking a trip but can be a life saver if things go wrong, especially if you're half way around the world when it does.

At the very least a good travel insurance policy buys you a little extra peace of mind. But is it a false sense of security? With travel insurance companies estimating that up to 10% of claims are fraudulent, how can you ensure that any legitimate claim you make is taken seriously and paid out in full?

TIP 1. Take a closer look before you buy
Many people assume that there's little difference between most travel insurance policies. In reality, the quality of cover, options included and excesses you'll have to pay will vary. This might seem trivial now but will be crucial should you need to claim.

A lot of disputes arise because people think they're covered and discover too late that they're not.

So before you simply opt for the cheapest premium, take a closer look and make sure you're comparing like with like. In particular, be sure to check:

•Policy excess: don't just compare premiums check how much of a claim you would have to pay. If the excess is £50 per item that means you have to pay the first £50 of any claim for each item you are claiming for.
•The maximum you claim for individual items.
•The level of medical protection you have, particularly in countries like the USA where medical costs can be higher.
•What you're not covered for such as pre-existing medical conditions.
•If you're covered for lost or stolen cash and how much.
•If loss is covered as well as theft.
•If 24-hour emergency assistance is included or optional.

A comprehensive list of insurers can be found in the Travel Insurance Index.

TIP 2. Disclose any existing medical conditions
Your travel insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance company based upon "utmost good faith". As such you have a duty to disclose anything that may affect the acceptance or terms of a policy, any exclusions or its price.

Be completely open and honest about your medical history and any activities you're likely to take part in, whether you think they're risky or not. As with any insurance policy; if in doubt declare it anyway. One of the most common defenses made by insurers when declining a claim is that information was not discolsed or not correctly disclosed. Declare everything and document it.

TIP 3. Take a copy document with you
Most good policy travel insurance documents will confirm the claim procedures to follow in the event of theft or loss, what you are covered for and most importantly who to call in an emergency. Having this information to hand can save a lot of unecessary stress if you need help whilst away.

Traveling can be very expensive. Most people plan their trips well in advance and save money to make the most of their trip. However, a vacation can be ruined in an instant by the unexpected. If a member of the family becomes ill, a sudden storm makes your tropical vacation impossible or there’s an unexpected heat wave during your planned ski vacation, your trip may be ruined. Travel insurance can give you peace of mind that all your efforts will not be wasted.

Travel insurance covers a variety of expenses to save you from wasting the money you invested. Travel insurance covers trip cancellations and interruptions. Travel insurance can also provide you with medical coverage in case of an accident or unexpected illness. Damage to checked luggage is also covered with travel insurance. There’s no faster way to ruin a vacation by arriving only to find the airline lost your luggage entirely. Travel insurance will cover that loss so you can continue enjoying your getaway.

With the recent storm activity that has devastated popular vacation spots around the world, emergency evacuation is a concern. This can sorely strain a tight budget but travel insurance will cover those costs. Travel insurance will also often cover theft or vandalism that may occur. Leaving your hotel only to come back to find your valuables are gone can put a damper on any vacation. Travel insurance will give you the confidence that unexpected emergencies will not ruin the trip you’ve been planning and saving for.

The type and amount of travel insurance you will need depends on the length of stay and your location. You may not need travel insurance to cover terrorist activities when going to Florida but it may be a wise investment if you are exploring the pyramids of Egypt. Check online to compare travel insurance costs and coverage. Also, your travel agent will be able to give you valuable advice on travel insurance including which travel insurance is most popular for your type of trip. Check your credit cards as well to see if they offer travel insurance. Many major credit cards offer reduced rate travel insurance to their members.

Vacations are for fun and relaxation but they can become ruined by strain and tragedy. What happens if an emergency arises and you have to cancel your trip or weather causes your destination to become unreachable? How do you deal with medical emergencies away from home and what will you do about your lost luggage?

These all problems have only one answer i.e. travel insurance, which can take care of all these worries and there are many companies wanting to sell it to you. Most have options that cover trip cancellation, medical expenses, flight changes and more.

Travel insurance is available from many sources, including your tour operators and individual insurance companies. It gives protection against traveling problems like trip cancellation/interruption penalties or the cost of lost baggage. It also provides for medical expenses, medical evacuation and accidental death coverages.

Nowadays, number of companies offers their travel insurance services online to citizens of any nationality worldwide. This would save both time and cost. With online access, you can choose the best company that suits your requirements. Travel insurance online quotes and receive your travel health insurance policy confirmation via email or post. You can also compare each policy and get the information you need to purchase travel insurance with confidence.

It’s very important for you to secure yourself and other things before leaving on vacation. Sometimes the vacations cost thousands of dollars so it is important to have the proper insurance protection.

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As the days grow shorter and summer becomes a memory, many of us will be turning our thoughts towards planning a winter vacation, especially one involving winter sports such as skiing. Travel insurance is an often overlooked part of holiday planning, but if you plan on taking part in sporting activites then it really is essential.

A normal travel insurance policy will probably not be up to the standard you need for winter sports, and if things go wrong you could be left facing a huge bill. So what features should you be looking for in a policy?

- Injury Cover

No matter how accomplished a skiier you are, hurtling down a mountain is always going to be more risky than simply lying on a beach working on a tan. And if you do have an accident, a mountainside isn't the easiest place for medical services to reach. If you're unlucky enough to need a mountain rescue or airlift to hospital, you'll be facing a bill running into the thousands even before you get medical attention. This sort of expense is likely to be specifically excluded on a standard insurance policy, but will be an integral part of almost any winter sports cover.

- Equipment

Most winter sports require expensive equipment, and where there are valuables there's always the chance of theft. Your insurance should provide enough cover to fully replace your equipment with brand new items if necessary, right there at the resort. Even if you plan to hire your equipment, the hire company will probably require insurance - and your own policy is likely to be cheaper than the standard one they'll try to sell you.

- Liability

Even the best skiiers or snowboarders can be involved in an accident in which someone else gets injured. Whether or not an accident is your fault, you could end up being taken to court and this is usually a long and expensive process. A decent insurance policy will cover costs from any legal proceedings and / or compensation payments.

- Closure of Piste

If bad weather (or warm weather!) means that the pistes are closed and you can't ski, your policy should pay you compensation to cover the costs of any pre-booked lessons or lift fees, and many will even include a payment simply to cover the inconvenience of not being able to ski.

- Off Piste

A final point to note is that a standard winter sports policy will probably only cover you for accidents that occur when skiing on designated pistes. If you plan to go off-piste, then make sure your insurance will cover this - you'll probably have to pay a supplement.

As with most kinds of insurance, paying out for travel insurance can seem like a waste of money. However, if you find yourself caught up in an accident on the mountainside then the costs involved can be truly frightening and you'll be glad you took the time to arrange adequate cover in advance!

Nick Hunt is a contributing writer for 1Stop Personal Finance, where you can read more about winter sports insurance in the travel insurance section of the site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicholas_Hunt


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One of the first things you need to decide before taking out any kind of travel insurance is whether or not want to insure yourself for a one off trip or whether it would be more cost effective to take out a longer term travel insurance policy. Some companies will offer you annual cover for not much more cost than if you buy travel insurance for a one off holiday.

In addition, make sure you don’t have travel insurance with your credit card. Although this kind of travel insurance cover might be rather basic you might decide that it is sufficient for your needs.

When you are buying travel insurance you are looking for three different types of cover:

1) Emergency medical treatment
2) Cancellation / interruption cover
3) Personal belongings

The far most important of the three and the one that would cost you the most if you decided to take a chance and travel without insurance is emergency medical treatment. If you are even half considering travelling without insurance just take a minute to check out the cost of medical care in the country you are travelling to and if you then add to it the cost of the flight home, once you are fit to travel, the whole episode could set you back thousands (even run into tens of thousands) for the sake of an incomparably small insurance premium. One word of warning, you might find that pre-existing conditions aren’t covered by your travel insurance.

Cancellation costs are a good cover to have especially if you’ve purchased an expensive once in a life time holiday. Just check out the coverage on your travel insurance before you buy as the insurance will only pay out if you cancel for a reason that is specifically covered by the travel insurance policy.

It’s not usually worth taking out travel insurance just for baggage so this is generally an ‘add on’ to medical or cancellation cover. Like most insurance the amount of cover will be pre-defined when you take out your travel insurance so you need to make sure you have sufficient cover for your needs, especially if you like travel with everything including the kitchen sink! Valuables aren’t necessarily covered automatically so make sure you add them to your policy.

When you visit people, giving presents is an old Russian tradition. When you are invited to dinner bring flowers or a bottle of wine. Arriving empty handed is considered bad taste.

You should have small gifts for all family members you are visiting, especially children. I brought little hand held electronic games for the children of the women I visited.

American cigarettes and whiskey are excellent choices for men who smoke or drink. Quality perfume from the duty free shops is an excellent choice for the women.

For your intended, flowers are number one – especially red roses. Don’t forget to get an odd number of flowers in the bouquet.

Secondly, gold jewelry with diamonds, such as a necklace or bracelet is a good choice. They don’t have to be expensive for her to appreciate them.

Don’t throw a lot of money around or buy her expensive gifts. If she didn’t ask for it, it will make her feel uncomfortable and if she does ask for it, she isn’t the right girl.

That is not to say that you should not buy her anything. Just don’t try to buy her love.

I mentioned it before, but in my way of thinking, the ideal gift for a woman that you are serious about is an English/Russian electronic translator .

I will give you another hint: men tend to think more about the quality of a gift; women tend to be more quantity oriented. You would much rather have a sports car than a bottle of cologne. She, however, gives more weight to ten gifts spread over time than one large gift.

ompanies contend that consumers are not reading or comprehending the terms of travel coverage. As a result, tens of hundreds of claims are denied.To demystify the misconceptions on travel insurance it is important to understand that all insurance policies cover ‘unforeseen” circumstances. However, once an ‘unforeseen” event transpires, insurance companies no longer consider the “freak tragedy” or incident unsuspected. Here’s a perfect example, post-9/11, insurance companies covered the cost of an airplane propelling its force through the World Trade Center (Twin Towers). But now that terrorism is a fundamental possibility, some insurance companies do not cover disasters resulting from terrorist events. Certain insurance companies will not cover airlines, which they deem in financial duress (in example: United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Northwest Airlines).Whether it’s a honeymoon or vacation, here are a few smart consumer tips provided by ConsumersStrikeBack.com on buying travel insurance:Shop early. Some insurance companies have strict exclusions when a travel insurance policy is purchased in too close proximity of the trip. Be sure to buy a policy within the first 15-days of reserving travel accommodations.

Thoroughly peruse before choosing. Meticulously review the policy to understand what is covered and what is not. For example, certain travel insurance policies cover terrorism and others do not.
Never buy travel insurance following the warning of a pre-tragic, setback or natural disaster. Remember, insurance companies are devised to cover u-n-f-o-r-e-s-e-e-n circumstances. Anything unplanned or unexpected is generally covered. When airlines threaten to go on strike, purchasing travel insurance would prove to be an exercise in financial futility. As soon as a strike date is set, insurance companies can deny the claim for a cancelled trip.Another example is if a traveler has a conference in October in Miami, Florida. During the high hurricane season, traveling to the East Coast and Gulf can be risky because certain insurance agencies may not cover travel impeded by harsh weather conditions.

Refer to travel insurance comparison sites. To compare prices and save research time, use travel insurance comparison sites TripInsuranceStore.com, TotalTravelnsurance.com to review exclusions, inclusions, and costs. Since insurance lingo tends to be misleading, be sure to ask a million questions.

To answer the question "is purchasing travel insurance smart?" let's look at what insurance is.

When you purchase insurance - health insurance, homeowner's insurance, car insurance, life insurance, or travel insurance - you're not making an investment. It's not the same as going to the bank and depositing money and expecting to reap financial rewards at some point. No, any insurance including travel insurance is about sharing risk in case of unforeseen catastrophic events.

For thousands of years, risks have been shared during times of tragedy. The first formal insurance company, Lloyd's, was formed in 1769, and their insurance concept remains today - to gather the premiums of clients as a pool of resources to return to clients who experience covered events.

Is purchasing travel insurance smart for you, then? Do you need a pool of resources from others' premiums to help you out in the event of a travel emergency? Or can you take care of any unforeseen circumstance on your own? It's not just about money, either.

To decide if purchasing travel insurance is smart for you, let's take a look at just a few of the things that could happen while you're traveling.

It's your first time in Europe and neither you nor your spouse speak any foreign language and your wallet is stolen. Your credit cards, your airline tickets, your passport and your money are all gone. What do you do now? Money may not be the primary problem here as you can always call your bank and have a wire transfer completed. Or can you? Do you know the international rules and capabilities for this? Where are the banks and do the tellers speak English? What about replacing your airline tickets? What about money to get to the airport and check out of your hotel? Your passports are the primary issue probably. They took a very long time to get. Now you can't get out of the country without them. Where do you go to replace them? If you had known this was going to happen, how would you have answered the question, "is purchasing travel insurance smart?"

Your child is involved in an accident and must have medical assistance but you find out your insurance does not cover you outside of the United States, and medical care is not adequate where you are anyway. How do you get your child back to the United States for medical care? If you had known this was going to happen, how would you have answered the question, "is purchasing travel insurance smart?"