Should You Buy Travel Insurance?

From our apartment tot he beach in Puglia, on the Glam Italia Tour September 2016

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You’ve probably been working on your summer travel plans already, or maybe just thinking about them. I’m busy putting together this year’s Glam Italia Tours, and today will be sending all my travelers an email about buying Travel Insurance.

When you are traveling internationally it is essential that you buy Travel Insurance.

I always buy travel insurance the same day that I buy my flights. In the time between buying your flights and boarding your plane anything can happen. You can get sick, you could break your leg, you could have a family emergency – there is and endless list of possibilities of things that could potentially prevent you from getting on that plane.

Check out the Top Ten reasons why people buy Travel Insurance and see if it is right for you.

While you are en route to your final destination things can happen. Your luggage might go on it’s own vacation to a different part of the world, you may get stuck in an airport somewhere in between home and your final destination, or you might get sick and not be able to board your next flight.

While you are away there are all kinds of things that could go sideways – everything from not having your luggage, getting robbed, getting sick, breaking a leg. Hopefully nothing will go wrong while you are traveling, but you have to be prepared in the event that it does.

I once caught an upper respiratory infection on a flight to Australia, and got so sick that I wasn’t going to be able to fly home. I ended up getting excellent medical care and was cleared to travel, but without Travel Insurance it could have been financially catastrophic.

We don’t plan on anything going wrong when we travel, but it is a good idea to be prepared just in case.

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For years now I have been using Allianz Travel Insurance for all my international travel. There are plenty of travel insurance companies to choose from, and you do need to do your due diligence when researching your policy. I buy the Allianz Classic Plan, which covers me for lost/damaged/delayed luggage, medical (including transport back home with a nurse if needed), trip cancellation, trip interruption, and several other things.

You do need to read the small print about pre-existing medical conditions on any policy you buy. If you have a medical condition you need to find a policy that covers it, and make sure the company tells you in writing how they will deal with your condition should anything go wrong before you leave or while you are away.

One of my travelers last year didn’t buy her travel insurance quickly enough. She had an asthma attack that hospitalized her and prevented her from traveling, but couldn’t use her insurance to cover the cost of her airline ticket because the attack happened inside the 14 day window that her insurance company had between purchase and ability to claim. Had she purchased her travel insurance more quickly she would have been refunded all her costs except for the deductible.

Make sure you understand what is covered and what is not covered on any travel insurance policy you buy. Compare policies and make sure you have adequate coverage. Find out if your insurance company has global customer support and ask them what you have to do if something does go wrong. Allianz tells me to call them first and let them help me get the right help.

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We don’t plan on anything going wrong when we travel, and hopefully will never have to use our travel insurance, but it is essential to have a good travel policy anyway.