You probably heard a lot about life insurance, car insurance, and home insurance. In case you don’t know, there’s another type of insurance that can protect you and your personal items during travels—travel insurance.
Keep on reading to learn more about this insurance policy and how can you benefit from it.
What Is Travel Insurance?
As the name suggests, travel insurance is a plan that covers the financial risks and losses associated with travelling, either domestically or abroad. Examples of such risks include delayed flights or luggage, lost or damaged luggage, flight cancellations, and medical emergencies.
Here are a few things you should know about travel insurance:
It’s not a one-size-fits-all product. Travel insurance policies have varied benefits, stated exclusions, and limitations. Typically, plans don’t cover everything you might do or experience when you travel, including:
- Seeking medical treatment outside the home country
- Travelling to countries included in the “Do Not Travel list”
- Extreme sports where the chance of death or injury is high
- Pre-existing medical condition and pregnancy-related conditions
- Any behaviour under the influence of alcohol or unprescribed drugs
- Circumstantial exclusions, such as war, military actions, riots, and more
It can’t cover every possible situation. Trip insurance covers losses due to global health emergencies and natural disasters, given that you purchase before such events occur. Most policies also don’t cover lodging or accommodation snafus, ticket scams, overbooked flights, and many other things.
3 Reasons to Insure Your Next Trip
Many people see travel insurance as an unnecessary expense. The truth is, it’s as essential as life insurance. The only difference is that it protects you from the possible uncertainties—be they accidental death or injury, lost or stolen luggage, trip cancellation, and more—while you’re on your travels.
Let’s break down the reasons to ensure your next trip:
1. Travel Worry- and Hassle-free:
Travelling is good for mental health. It helps you take a break from stressful situations, reflect on your personal goals or interests, and feel more relaxed and content, among other benefits.
While travelling is a good stress-reliever, it can pose various risks to health and safety, depending on both the characteristics of the traveller and on the type of travel. For instance, you may get sick due to the sudden change in temperature or get injured during the vacation.
Such medical emergencies can spoil your much-awaited holiday fun. What’s worse is that the money allocated for your vacation will be used to pay for medical expenses.
But if you purchased trip insurance soon after booking your flight, you won’t have to worry about dealing with emergencies while travelling. Most travel insurance policies cover doctor and hospital expenses and work in conjunction with your health insurance.
Not all health insurance plans provide full coverage in foreign countries. In fact, some health plans provide no coverage at all. A trip insurance plan, on the other hand, can cover you for accidents and emergency medical care when you travel in any part of the globe.
2. Protect Your Personal Belongings:
Have you ever lost a phone or other personal stuff during a trip? Believe it or not, you’re not alone. According to the 2015 Statista survey, U.S. travellers have had their items (i.e., smartphones, credit card, debit card, license and passport) lost or stolen while travelling.
The likelihood of losing personal items during a trip is high as sending a text message to the wrong person. Why is that so? It’s because we, people, get distracted when we’re at the height of our emotions. We lose sight of the bigger picture because we’re too focused on one thing—either composing a text or having fun under the sun.
Thankfully, travel insurance assures you that your personal belongings remain protected, even when they went astray. The insurer can help pay for replacement items when your stuff is lost or stolen, provided that you didn’t leave your items unsupervised or unattended.
Below are a few instances that most trip insurance plans cover:
The rental car damage or loss. Comprehensive travel insurance plans have an add-on option for rental car collision coverage if the rental car is damaged in an accident.
Baggage damage. Should your baggage become damaged in transit or airline, your insurance policy will help you get compensation for this.
Luggage delay. If your luggage is delayed, you can be refunded up to the policy’s benefit limit to purchase essential items you need while waiting for your bags to arrive.
3. Manage Trip or Flight Interruptions:
Are you the type of traveller who gets concerned about your trip being cancelled and other interruptions, like losing your entire vacation investment or remaining travel arrangements due to certain reasons? If yes, then you need a trip insurance plan.
Unforeseen circumstances may happen. For example, your family member gets sick, and you have to make last-minute cancellations, or an emergency occurred that you have no choice but to cut your vacation short.
Here’s the good news. Travel insurance can provide reimbursement for trip cancellation as long as the reason for cancellation is covered by your policy. The most common covered reasons include:
- Illness, injury, or death of you, a travelling companion or a family member
- Inclement weather preventing you from reaching your destination
- Sudden terrorist attack or strike at your destination
Travel with Peace of Mind:
Whether you’re planning a short get-away or a long trip abroad, never hesitate to insure your travel. Getting a travel insurance plan can give you peace of mind and let you enjoy your ultimate break from the hustle and bustle of the city.
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Ariana Smith is a blogger who loves to write about anything that is related to technology, She also has interest in entrepreneurship & Digital marketing world including social media & advertising.
