Have you ever bought travel insurance??

[SusanMac]

DH & I are traveling to New Zeland in a few weeks and considering getting travel insurance. We've both been overseas several times w/out it. Maybe we're just getting older and more cautious, I dunno. We'll be doing lots of hiking, kayaking, snorkling, etc. (probably not bungee jumping...I haven't decided yet!)

Anyway, do any of you have experience with this? Any recommendations? How much should I expect to spend? After reading my regular insurance coverage, I have no clue what is already covered (my first step is to call them & ask. OK, my 1st step was to come here :-)

TIA!!

[MISSINDI]

On our last two cruises, we did. I think it ran $145 or so for 3 of us ... not outrageous, but worth it. Hope this helps. :)

[blazedog]

I would call and ask what the coverage is.

My friend tripped in Italy years ago and wound up falling down in a strange way and broke her hip -- She was in her 30's then too. :p

I think Blue Cross covered it but it was an incredible hassle -- the Italian hospital and then the flight home because she needed attendents plus several first class seats (or the equivalent) because she needed to be on her back obviously.

And of course, this was in the pre-HMO days when your coverage pretty much covered you wherever you go -- with HMO's and Preferred Provides, I would assume it gets much stickier.

My understanding is that gap coverage for international travel isn't that expensive because it's the kind of thing that most people don't need.

[slknight]

Doesn't most travel insurance also cover trip cancellations? I would purchase it for this reason. My parents travel frequently internationally. They were supposed to go to Kenya this week, but last week my mother started having heart problems. She is young and has always been in excellent health, so this was quite unexpected. They have had to cancel their trip, and fortunately, because they have travel insurance, they're not going to lose too much money.

[Gail]

I always take out some sort of trip cancellation insurance if humanly possible since I'm sort of always "on call" for an invalid sister and aging mother. Even then, some policies are nebulous about whether illness of someone outside of our immediate household will qualify for reimbursement. Other things they are vague about may be the procedure you need to follow in case of theft or loss, or they conveniently bury the amount to which they will insure lost belongings. It's always helpful to ask a lot of questions before purchasing policies to understand exactly what is and what isn't covered.

[Laurielee]

we did for our trip to Europe, it was travel insurance that included trip cancellation and medical. I got it through our local AAA. I think it was less than $100 for the 2 of us, I did that after Dh stepmother had a massive heart attack on a cruise off of Austria that cost thousands of $$ just to transport her home, and then one of my clients was in the carribean on a moped and got hit and was severely injured, same thing it was thousands of dollars. Not to mention my dad has been such poor health and if I needed to cancel because of that, and so for as little as it costs, I thought it was worth it

Laurie

[SusanMac]

Thanks, everyone! We are AAA members, so I'll be sure to contact them.

For the others, did you get the addition through your regular insurance provider, or a separate company altogether?

[Robyn1007]

My aunt and uncle went to France last year, had their rental car broken into and her purse stolen. It was all covered (including the extra costs to replace their passports and stay an extra day to do it).

[mcgeiger]

I got travel/medical insurance for my trip to Thailand (9 days) and it was $30. There are companies that specialize in travel insurance, as well. Just make sure to get the sports rider since you plan on doing fun stuff, otherwise it might be "too dangerous" and not covered!

[cminmd]

We got travel insurance for the first time for a trip to Mexico that was cancelled by Wilma. It turns out we really didn't need it. The airline cancelled the flight (so full refund) and the hotel let us rebook our week without charge anyway. The real value for us was that we spent the week before the trip carefree instead of wracked with nerves.

[ChristineVA]

My mom purchased it before their Disney cruise. The main reason she got it was for cancellation purposes, but it also covered health problems while there, helicopter airlift of the ship if required, etc. She got it through Travelex (purchased it on-line). I can't remember how much it was, maybe $50 per person. The real stipulation of it was that it had to be purchased right when the trip was booked or just before. If you try to buy it afterwards, you get hit with some restrictions.