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Are you fully covered whilst on holiday?

So you have booked the holiday of a lifetime for you and your family and you want to enjoy every single minute of it knowing that if anything goes wrong, as it so often does these days, that you have a fallback plan to protect you and every member of your family that is travelling with you.

What happens if you lose your bags? What happens if your passport gets stolen and money is stolen? What happens if you break your leg the day after you arrive? That’s what travel insurance is for!

Travel insurance is designed to protect you should the unexpected happen whilst you are away from home but, surprisingly enough, very few people actually get it before they travel and often end up wishing that they had. It is often sold in conjunction with package holidays, and some travel companies insist that you take travel insurance out with them as a linked policy. However, you are well within your rights to refuse because travel insurance is an optional service. You should, however, look to take out some form of travel insurance to protect you on your trip.

Travel insurance can protect you against all manner of problems when you are away from home for a set period of time. Your are often covered against lost and damage of your luggage and valuables, unexpected illnesses, accidental injury, your trip being cut short for whatever reason and various other possibilities that have been known to happen, such as hospitalisation for a period of time, for example. Obviously the latter only kicks in when you are abroad, but at least you are absolutely certain that you will not be left stranded in the care of another country’s health system.

As with any type of insurance policy, there are exclusions. However, the exclusions are generally the same from policy to policy with very few exceptions. For example, you are not covered if you undertake dangerous sports such as skiing and scuba diving unless you have a specific dangerous activities policy. It is also not valid if you have to cut your trip short as a result of deportation. However, the main exclusion concerns pre-existing medical conditions. If you do not disclose all ailments and health problems to the insurance company then any health problems you experience whilst on vacation are not covered at all.

There are various types of policy out there so you will undoubtedly be able to find one to suit your needs. You can get single trip policies and multi-trip policies, as well as those that include dangerous activities. The options are endless because you can usually include spouses and children on the same policy for both single and multi-trips.

Make sure that you always read the terms and conditions fully before signing on the dotted line. There are exclusions to be considered, but there are also excesses for certain claims. Some travel insurance policies insist that you are liable for the first $50 or so of any claim. However, if you can find a policy that does not have this then take it! Also, try to steer clear of having an insurance policy with the company that you booked your break with. If they are declared bankrupt before you travel then you will lose everything if you take insurance with them. If you have it elsewhere then you can claim and then book your trip elsewhere with the same money you worked so hard for!

The one thing you should demand from your travel insurance is peace of mind. The last thing you want to be worrying about whilst on vacations is the worst-case scenario. You should not be worried about things going wrong. Instead, you should be enjoying the precious time you have away from the stresses and strains of modern life. A good travel insurance policy can do the worrying for you and help you out should you ever need it. As the age old maxim goes, better safe than sorry!