Overwhelmed With Travel Insurance Options!!

 Planning ahead is one of the most important things to do when preparing to go on a vacation.  We are planning a trip at the beginning of September and I am finding the preparation time, which is now, to be a bit daunting!!

There are so many things to think about: your destination, hotel, resort or cruise, hot or cold, insurance and what kind? 

I know that we would like to go somewhere warm, probably outside of North America - get out of our comfort zone a little bit.  A cruise would be nice, but I think we may be a bit limited with the activities we get to do, so we are leaning towards a resort. 

We like the Dominican or Cuba right now, and we seem to be able to get some pretty good deals in those areas.  We are not going to book until last minute so we can get ourselves a great, last minute deal.

We have started looking into the immunizations we may need, depending on our destination, and also travel insurance.  There seems to be such a broad array of options out there and I am finding it a bit overwhelming.

With baggage insurance, medical insurance, cancellation insurance etc...it is easy to get lost in the process.  How can we make sure that we are not overbuying insurance?

I believe that everyone who travels should have travel medical insurance, no matter what!! You never know what could happen. Travel medical insurance will cover any unforeseen accidents or medical emergencies that may happen while you are on vacation.

You never plan to have something happen, but it is better to be prepared then to be caught without this important coverage. In my research I have found that some insurance agencies offer single trip or multi trip coverage. If you are someone who travels a lot, whether for business or for pleasure, or if you just like to be spontaneous, you may want to check out the multi trip coverage, which covers you for an entire year.

Then there is the trip cancellation or interruption insurance. Sometimes I wonder how important this particular coverage is. How often do flights get cancelled or what are the odds of me not being able to go on my trip? I guess if we are going with the better to be prepared scenario, then I guess it is extremely important.

Who knows if I may be unable to fly out, due to a medical emergency. Either something could happen to me or a loved one and what could be worse then dealing with an already emotional situation plus the travel professionals on top of it all!! It would be horrible to lose so much money at an already emotional time.

Plus the weather could make a change for the worse, as we have seen lately, with some crazy and unexpected weather!! If the flight had to be cancelled due to some unforeseen circumstance, I would hate to have lost out on the cost of the tickets!! Thus, cancellation/iterruption insurance is extremely valuable to have!!

The other insurance coverage that I think we will get for sure, is the lost or damaged baggage insurance. When we were seeing my son off to Guyana, on a missions trip, we were watching out the windows at the workers who loaded the luggage.

I was floored to see how they handled the bags!! One bag had opened up and stuff was falling out, the workers just shoved it back in and half zipped the bag up. I couldn't imagine going away and buying some souvenirs, then find out that they had been damaged during the trip home. The way that they threw those bags around, I have no doubt that items could be easily broken, even if they had been packed properly!! And hopefully the owner of the opened bag found everything that she had packed and nothing was lost.

After seeing that though, I became very aware at how important that coverage would be. When you have someone handling your stuff, who has no invested interest in it, the coverage is the best way to make sure you are not losing out at the end!

I am not sure if there is any other coverage out there, but these are the 3 types that I think I will definitely make sure we have. Hopefully we can find an insurance institution that can work out a good deal on an all inclusive pacakage of sorts!!

I can hardly wait the 6 months or so before we take our first "out of North America" vacation!!