You have been working hard for your money all year in order to save up for a wonderful holiday, a long-awaited vacation with the family! Everything is going according to plan, until a volcano decides to erupt and cancel all your connecting flights to Lisbon. That is okay, how bad could it be, right? You could always check out the winter wonderland of Siberia. And then your kid gets really sick and suddenly in need of hospitalization. What would you do?

Buy Yourself Some Peace of Mind

The general consensus is that travel insurance is not really a must-have for most travellers. After all, travelling, in itself, is not really something that you do long-term. Most people just schedule it around a holiday or an extended vacation anyway, so why the need for insurance cover? What you are losing sight of, however, is the possibility of some unseen circumstances getting in the way of your highly-anticipated getaway. If you have purchased travel insurance, these hassles would no longer be as worrisome as they could be, because in the end you will get whatever you paid for, and even more.

What Does It Normally Cover?

There are many unlikely events that travel insurance could take care of for you, and you must consider what you think would be in your best interest before committing yourself to availing a plan. In terms of travel-related issues, most travel insurance have provisions for trip cancellation and delays, as well as missed flight connections which are not entirely your fault. Aside from this, delayed, stolen, or damaged baggage is usually covered as well, granting you some financial compensation when such problems arise. In terms of problems that are related to medical emergencies, it is common for travel insurance to cover medical expenses, many of them even including repatriation of remains for accidental deaths.

What Doesn't It Usually Cover?

You see, travel insurance companies are, in a way, betting that you would not be having any problems during your trip. You as a client, on the other hand, are betting that you would be encountering problems along the way, for which you would have to be compensated with cash. This is how they make their money, by pooling all those client bets. It is, thus, understandable for them not to cover certain areas in which they would obviously lose. These scenarios include travel to high risk countries where you are bound to get into trouble because of the political situation. They also do not cover sickness that is related to some pre-existing condition such as diabetes, because technically, that illness has been present even before signing that insurance plan.

What is the verdict, then? It depends on you. Even a two-day business meeting could go away. Come to think of it, you only have to pay a small amount of money in exchange for your peace of mind. Travel insurance might just save the day. Think of it as a necessary surcharge.