If you are traveling, you’ll simply want cheap holiday insurance, the cheapest that you can find. After all, you want to spend the money you’ve carefully saved up on your adventure abroad and the souvenirs to take back home, not on something gloomy like travel insurance that you’ll probably never use. And if it doesn’t cover everything, does it really matter?
Thinking like this could be a costly mistake – being uninsured can lead to big expenses if something goes wrong. Cancellation costs and the loss of personal possessions can be expensive claims, but it is medical bills that can really hurt your wallet, especially if they require helicopter rescue or emergency repatriation. Having the right level of travel insurance is necessary, especially if you want to take part in extreme sports or activities during your holiday.
If you are going backpacking, and you want to know what kind of travel insurance to get, here are the key queries you need to ask yourself.
Where are you going?
Make sure that you have travel insurance for every part of journey. If you are only spending a week in America as part of a six month journey, it might be appealing to avoid upgrading your insurance, America is one of the most expensive places to get insurance for. However, your desire for cheap holiday insurance could come back to haunt you. Medical bills in America and Canada are hugely expensive, and if you have an accident here it could cost between $30 – $50,000!
What activities do you want to take part in?
Most backpackers buy the cheapest travel insurance they can find and still expect to be covered for activities like skydiving, motorcycling and bungee jumping. If you don’t want to do anything too extreme on holiday and would rather lounge on the beach or explore the cities, that’s fine, but if you are an adrenaline junky, make a list of all the activities that you’d like to try while you are abroad and make sure your travel insurance covers them.
Be especially careful, travel insurance often has limitations on particular activities. For example, it often only covers scuba diving down to a certain depth or motorcycles up to a particular engine size.
What are you taking with you?
If you are travelling with nothing more than a sleeping bag, some books, toiletries, a cheap camera and some spare sets of clothes, your cheap holiday insurance will most likely cover the cost of all your possessions. If your essential travelling kit includes a digital camera, iPod, expensive watch or even a laptop, you had better made sure that your possession insurance is going to cover the cost of replacing everything. Add up the value of everything that you are taking. There’s nothing wrong with getting cheap holiday insurance, just make sure it covers what you take with you.
Finding the right ticket can be difficult. Here is some practical advice on purchasing airline tickets:
There can be a vast difference in price for an airline ticket depending on where it is bought, so it is beneficial to shop around. There are several sites on the Internet which compare the best price for a specific itinerary. They are sometimes limited to only citizens or residents of a particular country; use a search engine to find an appropriate one for your country.
Some airlines offer packages where you get a number of domestic flights if you buy the international flight with them. This can be a great value.
If you are travelling for a longer period of time you can check out round-the-world tickets which can be of great value but often have limitations e.g. you must keep flying in the same direction and cannot go back.
It may be cheaper to go to usual destinations during holidays and holiday destinations during the low season.
Some countries require you to have a return ticket in order to let you into the country. If you plan on entering by air and leaving the country by land this can be a problem.
If you miss your flight because you arrive late at the airport or because you mix up the dates of your flight you may be allowed to take another flight either free or for a charge without having to buy a new ticket. It all depends on your airline so try to put on your sorriest face when you go there.
Check with your airline if you need to reconfirm your ticket a few days before you go back. To make sure that person is not you reconfirm your flight and show up early at the airport.
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