Why do we choose to travel far and wide over this planet of ours? There are basically three types of traveller; the ‘danger lovers’, the ‘unprepared’ and the ‘savvy’ ones. You can identify which type you are by your approach to travel insurance.
Are you one of the danger lovers? Those people who travel for danger and excitement. If they think of travel insurance at all, it is only long enough to reject the very idea, much better to walk the tightrope of illness and accident with no safety net. It adds an edge to everything and leaves friends and relatives to pick up the financial pieces should something untoward happen, which of course it never will, for danger lovers are indestructible and immortal(or so they think!- until a medical emergency abroad occurs).
Or perhaps you are one of the unprepared? These people have medical insurance in place all the time even if they don’t travel at all. But they make the mistake of believing medical insurance to be the same thing as travel insurance. They tend see it as a kind of amulet that wards off all evil spirits, a small investment that not only pays big dividends in the event of illness at home and abroad, but is also an invisible shield against unconsidered blows of fate. Such accidents of fate, like your luggage ending up in Asia when you are in South America, or flights being cancelled due to volcanic eruption, or even fatal speed boat accidents are not covered by the medical insurance that the unprepared so wisely carry in their travel folder.
Or are you a savvy traveller? Savvy travellers are those of you wise enough to think about their own medical condition, personal predilections and matches in a planned way to the journey they are about to make. For you the small travel insurance premium buys a whole holiday full of peace of mind. You prepare for the most likely eventualities of your journey. You give due consideration to all of the options available for insurance cover.
Mixing up travel and medical insurance is a bad error of omission. Often medical insurance does not in fact cover the costs of seeing a doctor in a foreign country because you start sprouting moles in the Mediterranean sunshine’s. Travel insurance cannot relieve the frustration of delayed or cancelled flights, or lost luggage, but it can ease the burden on your wallet.
As a savvy traveller you will take time to explore the market for the coverage that best meets your requirements. You will talk to people who have done your journey before and take their opinion on the dangers facing everybody. You will not rely exclusively on your own ideas, but rather fully understand all the options and possibilities.
As a savvy traveller you will investigate every detail of your chosen insurance cover. It will cover a number of different possible eventualities. Smart travellers maximize their health insurance cover because this is not only the worst nightmare but also the most likely misfortune to face you. A key detail for smart travellers in any policy is medical evacuation, so that they can be assured of treatment in the best place for them in the event of a serious accident or acute illness.
The smart traveller also ensures that their insurance cover is geographically wide enough that they need have no fear of restricting their mind-broadening experience. The savvy traveller asks specifically to be covered in places that they may visit. Many an unprepared person has found themselves out of pocket because their insurance did not specifically extend to a Mayan pyramid or Buddhist temple off the beaten track.
Of course the savvy traveller is a well-connected traveller and their policy will always cover those vital electronic gadgets because without them they would not travel. Such as their laptop, tablet or reader, make sure that you are not left caught out, by falling into one of the top 2 stereotypes!