There are so many reasons to buy travel insurance. It’s one of those things you get before you travel so that if anything happens it’s a smaller problem than it would have been without insurance. Travel insurance is about peace of mind. It’s about thinking about possibilities early so you don’t have to think about them once you’re on your trip. Like a lot of travel, it’s about the unexpected.
Travel insurance is vital because it covers unexpected events, reduces emotional and financial stress if your trip gets cancelled or delayed for any reason, and makes sure you’re covered if you need unexpected medical care on your trip.
A few years ago I was set to go on a huge trip to South Africa. I’d booked everything, reserved a safari, and even booked hotels across the country. Right before the trip, however, I got the flu.
It would be impossible to travel, so I had to cancel all of my reservations and flights, hoping I could use the spaces for another time. My flu would have been a huge stressor, if not for my travel insurance plan. It covered trip cancellation and interruption, so I was reimbursed for most of the places I had to cancel.
Nobody wants to consider that their travel plans might not go exactly as planned, but it’s best to be prepared for the very small chance that something will go wrong.
Travel insurance can help you avoid the ultimate regret that comes if you need to cancel your trip or plans change, and it’ll provide a cushion for all of the unexpected situations that happen when you leave your home.
So what is travel insurance?
Travel insurance covers emergencies and unexpected events, and it can also give you a cancel for any reason waiver, including cancel for work reasons travel insurance. That means reasons to get travel insurance are usually illnesses, cancellations, accidents, and anything else that might come up while you’re travelling. It can save you from losing money on cancelled tickets, or provide a good backup if you need to go to a hospital in the country you’re travelling to.
Travel insurance can cover trip cancellation and interruption, lost items, missed flights, and medical costs, but make sure you research to get the best policy for your trip.
You should know what you need to get the best travel insurance coverage for families and trip cancellation that is right for you.
Travel insurance might include:
- Rental car collision damage waiver: avoid paying large deductibles if you have an accident while driving a rental
- Trip cancellation coverage: Medical emergencies, trip cancellation, loss, and damage to baggage
- Trip interruption coverage: if you need to come home due to severe illness
- Flight delay coverage: Compensation for food and hotels if your flight is delayed over four hours, as well as refunds for cancelled flights
- Travel protection plan: In particular if you’re travelling to high-risk areas, this covers things like emergency medical expenses and legal assistance
When should you get travel insurance?
Make sure to buy travel insurance before your trip–the earlier the better to make sure you’re covered for trip cancellation and interruption. Whether you’re looking at couples travel insurance or travel insurance for solo travellers, it’s always good to get a headstart.
Why do you buy travel insurance?
There are many reasons to buy travel insurance, but you also buy travel insurance for peace of mind. It’s something you never want to have to use, but when you do need it and don’t have it, the consequences can be severe.
Travel insurance might cover missed flight tickets, interrupted trips, and other unforeseen situations while travelling.
Is travel insurance a must?
Travel insurance is a must because the moment you leave your house, you need to expect the unexpected. Travel insurance is extra protection. If something goes wrong with your trip, travel insurance can turn a major event into a minor inconvenience. Or if you need to cancel for work reasons, travel insurance can cover you.
But why get travel insurance? There are so many reasons to buy travel insurance to keep you and your family protected, but we’ve compiled the top 10 reasons to invest in a travel insurance policy before your next big trip.
Get travel insurance to cover the unexpected
Travel is full of the unexpected–sometimes that means great food or unexpected encounters with locals, but other times it can mean things that aren’t positive. Other times, the unexpected while travelling can mean huge costs and inconveniences.
We all dread it–losing our luggage, or tripping on a hike and needing to mend a broken ankle.
Those kinds of events can surely put a damper on travel, and travel insurance can cover the value of the lost luggage and its contents, or the medical costs you might incur if you get sick or injured on a trip.
Less stress if your trip gets interrupted
One of the reasons to get travel insurance is that your trip might get interrupted. We’ve learned in the past few years, between staffing shortages, Covid cancellations, and more, that trips can get interrupted for any and every reason. If you need to cancel or end your trip early, travel insurance might be able to pay for the cost of the missed flight or the flight back home.
If there’s a natural disaster like a hurricane and you need to evacuate during your trip, a travel insurance policy might also cover last-minute hotel booking or evacuation travel arrangements. Trip cancellation and interruption will keep your mind at ease in case the unexpected happens.
Manage messy healthcare and treatments in a different country
Many health insurance policies in America don’t cover treatment abroad.
While healthcare varies across countries, the need to access good healthcare should be available when you’re travelling and is one of the most important reasons to buy travel insurance. Not only can a good insurance policy help you pay for unexpected incurred costs at a foreign hospital, but it might also be able to direct you toward the right healthcare system.
You never know what you’ll need, and whether it’s something serious or not, it helps to know that with a good insurance policy, you can go to the hospital in a different country and your insurance will cover it.
Otherwise, those trips could end up being quite costly–tens of thousands of dollars without insurance in some situations! Even worse–it could cost your health. Insurance means that if you do end up needing to use health services, you’re more likely to use them. You don’t want anything blocking you from getting the help you need while you’re on vacation so that you can get treated and then either continue safely on your trip or return home.
One of the best reasons to buy travel insurance is so you don’t stress if you lose your documents
Imagine this scenario…you’re about to head home from a lovely trip. You have your camera full of photos, your bags are packed, and you’re excited to come home and tell everyone about your trip abroad.
But you’re preparing your documents, and getting your tickets together…and you can’t find your passport.
You search everywhere, tearing apart linens, and opening every drawer and every closet in your home. You call every vendor and location you’ve visited. But nothing. Your passport is gone.
Has that happened to you before? It’s something we all try to avoid–but it happens. And it’s possibly one of the most stressful things that can happen on a trip. The good news is that there are ways to ease the stress–and they often start with travel insurance.
A good travel insurance plan can cover the help to get new documents, as well as the cost of those documents, and help you get home with no stress.
Coverage if something gets stolen
I used to have an heirloom necklace from my grandmother. I wore it nearly every day, but on a beach vacation, I decided to leave it in the hotel room and trust the lockbox in the closet.
When I returned with sand in my toes and water in my hair, I opened the lockbox to find that the necklace was gone.
Another time in a large city, I placed my handbag beneath my chair, and my wallet was plucked from my pocket without my knowledge.
These weren’t great experiences–but they were less stressful because I had travel insurance. Although I couldn’t replace an heirloom piece, I was able to get a necklace of equal monetary value, and I was also able to replace the cash I’d lost from my wallet.
Travel insurance gives you peace of mind if you get sick
We’ve learned more than we would have liked to in the past years that illness can interrupt a trip.
Especially if you’re going on a family trip, one childhood cold can dismantle all your best-laid plans.
Between PCR tests to board planes and the dread of having to schlep your family around while their eyes are red and their noses are stuffy, illness can really dampen a trip. Not to mention more serious ailments, or needing to stay in town if a family member gets sick. The bottom line is that people get sick, and sometimes that means cancelling your travel plans. If you have a cancel for any reason waiver with your travel insurance, however, you might be able to take that trip at a later date.
If you have this as part of your travel insurance trip cancellation coverage, however, you might be able to get your money back for expenses and eventually rebook the trip so everyone can attend it in their best health.
Be prepared in case travel providers go out of business
Unfortunately, it is a reality of opening a business that it might one day close–and it might one day impact the customers who are relying on that business for their services.
Travel providers are not immune, and occasionally depending on the country you’re visiting, the company might not be obligated to cover your missed services when they close.
Sometimes airlines go out of business suddenly, or hotels declare bankruptcy that day. With travel insurance, however, any lost funds can get paid back to you.
Put your mind at ease with our reliable Jewish travel agency.
One of the reasons to get travel insurance is so you can be adventurous with backup
It’s become increasingly popular to go on adventure trips, especially with families. Things like zip lining and mountain biking are more common on trip itineraries than they ever have been, and the options for adventure travel around the world are only growing.
But if you plan on skiing, sailing, mountain biking, scuba diving, or ziplining, all of these activities come with certain levels of risk.
Coverage might be able to cover a pair of lost skis at the airport, or an injury sustained while sailing. In any case, you’ll always be happy you had backup.
Thought about going on an adventurous tour of Israel? Check out our Israel tours.
Travel Insurance is A backup plan in the likelihood of geopolitical instability
Nobody goes on vacation expecting civil war, terrorism, or an attack by a foreign power, but some countries are politically unstable and have a higher risk of terrorism.
Especially now, it seems that many countries that were once thought of as safe, stable countries might erupt into violence or protests. While this isn’t happening everywhere, it’s good to be prepared–lest your trip to Paris is interrupted by blocked streets, huge crowds of people, and protestors setting things on fire. In this case, travel insurance could cover trip cancellation.
If you need to cancel your travel plans during a heightened moment of unrest, insurance might reimburse you for the journey so that geopolitical instability doesn’t impact your wallet.
One of the most vital reasons to get travel insurance is access to emergency prescriptions
Many travellers have medicine that they rely on to live and thrive. They need to take it daily, and if it gets lost during travel, the consequences can be drastic. But if you have travel insurance, it will be easier to fill an emergency prescription.
Travel insurance isn’t something we want to think about. Vacation is about great photos, great memories, and a great time with family and friends.
But it’s important to prepare for the worst, and hope we never use it. That’s when travel insurance comes in. It can mean the difference between disaster and inconvenience, and will likely make your vacation more relaxing than it would have been otherwise.
Are you interested in insurance for your next trip? Check out the options on our insurance page.
