I read, I travel, I become… Derek Walcott
The gist of my blog has been to help newbie travelers realize that travelling can be quite easy with proper, prior planning. I have always tried to cut costs related to travel and channel this money towards shopping (cannot blame a girl for that lol). One thing that people tend to overlook is the importance of travel insurance- actually you will not get visas to some countries if you do not have valid travel insurance acquired before you submit your visa application. True story, sometimes at the passport control/immigration police stalls the officers may ask you for your travel insurance, return ticket and accommodation details. It is thus wise to have copies of the aforementioned documents on your person as you travel. You can actually breeze through passport control but it is better to be on the safe side.
You can purchase a single trip cover or an annual multi-trip cover depending on how frequent your travels are. I would suggest to pay for an annual cover if your travels are more than 2 times in an year.
Travel insurance comes in handy in case you lose valuables like your passport, an expensive gadget or even your luggage. Sometimes flights or baggage is delayed and some covers pay a certain amount for each hour or day your flight or luggage is delayed respectively. Air France delayed my luggage for a day so i got to Frankfurt am Main Airport only to realize that my luggage was left in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and my carry-on case had basically stuff that could not help me go by. Fortunately, according to Air France policy, i was reimbursed 100 euros for each day i did not have my luggage as well as per the provisos of my travel insurance cover.
Sometimes due to an unforeseen event, one may miss their flight or have to cancel the said flight. So, imagine having to purchase a new ticket at full price? That is a very misguided decision. Insurance covers may provide for reimbursement for certain incidents so take advantage of what your policy covers.
Can you imagine falling sick abroad? How expensive that bill would be? Or having any kind of medical emergency and your local insurance cover cannot cater for the emergency? Acquiring a travel insurance policy with emergency medical benefits, will help pay for losses and emergencies during your trip.
It is also very important to ascertain which insurance firms are accepted by the specific embassy you are applying at. I have had a case where i was almost purchasing an annual travel cover via Resolution Insurance but out of sheer luck i called to ask for some clarification and the person handling my query informed me for a few days the firm is not issuing Schengen travel covers, and if i did not heed to that advice, my visa application would have been rejected as the cover would not be valid in the Schengen zone. I had to resort to using Heritage Insurance insurance firm. It is important to note though, that Resolution Insurance is my go to firm as their customer care is top notch, their rates are also quite affordable and their covers are pretty easy to grasp.
Some banks offer various cards with various benefits and i happen to have an I&M Bank Platinum Travel card that gives you the option to load your card and have the option of various currencies namely, GBP, USD and Euro. The card comes with a 1 year travel insurance cover.
Taking everything into account, purchasing a travel insurance cover is an expense you should not overlook. Safe travels lovelies!
Travel tales by Sheila 