Insurance – Backpacking

Do I really need insurance?

The thing with is insurance is that you are paying for something you hope you will never need to cover you for that event or problem that may never happen.

You may not need to use it does give you that peace of mind albeit an expensive piece of mind!

There are lots of things that “could” go wrong and if they do travel insurance can be a life saver in a nightmare situation.

Insurance is definitely something you should seriously consider before you leave on your trip and it can go some way to ensure you are covered for the things that are most important to you.

What does insurance cover?

It may seem pretty obvious to you what your travel insurance will cover but there is a whole variety of things it can cover and for me here are some of the important ones

• Passports – you cant go anywhere without one of these

• House keys – you get home after a long trip and…Ah man!!!

• Re-patriotism (gets you back home should something nasty happen)

• Your stuff – you need your stuff and if away for a while need more!

• Your money – you really do need this!

• Extreme sports and activities

• Cancelled and delayed flights

• Visa replacement,

• Personal liability,

• Personal accident and injury

Some of these really great extras can help you out big time if you get stuck.

With this in mind and as with most of things relating to your trip its going to have to fit in with your budget and it is going to be something that you want to save money on if you can.

Am I covered already?

There are a number of scenarios whereby you may find you already have some kind of cover for without even knowing about it.

• Some banks provide emergency cash if a debit card is lost or stolen while you organise another

• There are personal healthcare plans which may cover you abroad.

• Roadside assistance may cover you abroad. .

• Your credit card (if you have one) can insure purchase you make on it while you are away.

• Dental plans

You could consider reducing the levels of insurance cover from your policy and save yourself a bit of cash if you find that you are covered for something elsewhere.

As I am sure you can imagine there are loads of different companies selling insurance and loads of different levels of cover with each insurer.

Where can I get insurance?

Really the best way to find what you want is to make a wish list and tick it off with the policy

• What do you want covered?

• What is it worth to you?

• Does the policy cover it?

• How does that compare to the others

• Is the price right / affordable?

• Do I need to re-think the above?

Many insurance companies offer their products on-line and will give you an extra discount if you book on-line as it is cheaper for them to administer.

Check out the links from here and “insure” you get a good deal….

 

Just a few examples of the many different options you have available to you…

Covered To Go