Advantages of Purchasing Travel Insurance

Cliffs in the Algarve, the far south region of Portugal. You need travel insurance if you fall off these cliffs.
Cliffs in the Algarve, the far south region of Portugal. If you fell off, you’d want to have travel insurance.

Why You Should Purchase Travel Insurance

By Jessica Taryn

No one wants to think that something bad is going to happen to them while traveling, so taking out an insurance policy is sometimes pushed aside in the hope that you won’t need one. But like Allianz Travel Insurance Company says, everyone needs travel insurance, “Because Life is Unexpected.”

Wish I had taken out a policy

“My son had been begging me to take him snowboarding all winter. I had a trip planned for months for me and a few buddies to go hiking in the Tongariro Northern Circuit in New Zealand for eight days, so I figured I would take my son snowboarding and spend some time with him before I left him for over a week.

I was amazed at how good he was, I had never been snowboarding before in my life. In trying to keep up with my son, I fell pretty hard, breaking my left leg. I had to cancel my trip to New Zealand and I lost thousands of dollars.

Rajasthan, India. photo by Tim Leffel.
Rajasthan, India. photo by Tim Leffel.

My friend, who works for a travel insurance company let me know a little too late that I would have been almost entirely reimbursed for my trip if I had taken out a online travel insurance promotion when I booked my vacation.”

-Mike Ferara, 41, Colorado

Sick at Sea

The cruise started off great. But around the third day, we were at sea and my four year old started to feel ill. I hoped it was just a really bad case of seasickness, but I took her to the on-ship health center just to make sure.“We took my family on a cruise that started in Italy and went to the Greek Isles and Turkey for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. Our travel agent asked if we wanted to purchase travel insurance but I figured, nothing will happen and declined her offer, despite her persistence.

The doctor said he was pretty sure it was pneumonia and she was very dehydrated and needed to get to an on-land hospital as soon as possible. We were about two days from our next stop, and the doctor said it wasn’t a good idea to wait, so he called for emergency medical transportation and an air ambulance came and took me, my husband and our daughter to a nearby hospital.

Thank God she ended up being fine once they hydrated her and she got a lot of rest, but it ended up costing us so much money between the air, the hospital fees, and the time we lost on the cruise. I wish I had purchased that travel insurance. I guess you never do know.”

-Carolyn Beatrice, 31, Massachusetts

Luckily, I took out a policy

“My travel agent convinced me to buy an insurance plan before I went to Tunisia ( Africa ). I was going partly for business and partly for pleasure. I was looking forward to the trip, and while I had never been to Africa, I thought it would be quite an experience.

My trip was planned for 6 days and 5 nights. But on the second night, I got a call that my father-in-law had unexpectedly passed away. I had to get on the next flight home to comfort my wife and help prepare for the events of the next few days.

Not only did I lose my hotel payments, and the cost of my original flight, but I had to pay over $1000 for the emergency flight home. My travel insurance company covered the entire thing.”

-Rashad Jones, 38, California

“I was taking my granddaughter to Israel to be bat-mitzvahed at the old synagogue on Masada, a very holy Jewish destination. My wife, my parents and grandparents had been there numerous times and spoke so highly of the country that I was really looking forward to the trip.

I knew Israel was not exactly in the most stable state, but I figured it would be OK. About four days before we had planned to leave, we were watching the 5:00 news and about a quarter of a mile from the exact place we were supposed to stay a hotel were blown up by a terrorist.

I immediately called my travel agent, and frantically explained that I was scared to go. She said she would see what she could do and she would call me back.

The next morning, she called back and told me that the hotel would not reimburse the money, but that the travel insurance policy I had taken out would. So for the extra hundred or so dollars, I spent on this policy, it ended up saving me thousands.”

-Edward Solomon, 66, New Jersey

Digital Cameras are covered

“Obviously, I had to take my digital camera to Milan ( Italy) with me. It was a really expensive camera and had every feature necessary to take amazing pictures while traveling. I also had my iPod in my carry-on and a bunch of magazine and books for the plane ride.

When I got on the plane, the luggage bin above my seat was already full, so the flight attendant helped me place my bag in a bin a few rows behind where I was sitting. I immediately fell asleep on the flight and slept for a few hours.

Finally, the plane landed and the stewardess instructed me to wait until the isles cleared out a bit before trying to go backward on the plane to get my bag. When it was safe to go to the bin, I walked back to where we had placed my bags a few hours earlier, and it was nowhere to be found. The bins were entirely cleared out. I searched every bin around that one, checked the seats and the floor, and even asked the flight staff to help. It was gone. I called the airline the next day and it still hadn’t turned up.

I couldn’t imagine that my travel insurance policy would cover a stolen camera and an iPod, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot. I called them that afternoon, and they said that both were completely covered.”

-Jenna Rayo, 21, Ohio

Jassica Taryn

Jessica Taryn is a former GoNOMAD intern who graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she is now an attorney on Long Island, NY.

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