Travel Insurance Destination Report: Africa

Africa – one of the most exotic and fascinating locations on the planet. The continent is home to lions, tigers, and bears … and giraffes, elephants and humans that live in a very different way from us in the West! Travellers to Africa have to be mature, bold, well-planned, tolerant and willing to bend to local ways. They also have to have quite a high level of travel insurance, in order to have a chance of enjoying the vacation rather than spending it worrying. Today we look at the health and safety issues of a few popular destinations within Africa, and the recommended level of travel insurance for them.

Ethiopia

Health

Health is always an issue in Ethiopia. The population is poor and little ‘herd immunity’ exists, so the risk of developing a disease is quite high. The usual issues of travelling in less developed countries are also present in Ethiopia, including:
Click Here To Read More »

Travel Insurance Destination Report: South East Asia

South East Asia is an enormously popular tourist destination. The combination of relatively weak local economies compared to the West, a beautiful climate, delicious food and picturesque settings mean that almost every Western overseas traveller makes it to South East Asia at least once. However it is also a relatively wild place in terms of health and also safety. Today we look through the risks inherent in travel to popular South East Asian countries, and how they should impact on your choices about travel insurance.

Bali

Health

As a developing country, Bali has several disease uncommon in the West as endemic there. Hepatitis A and B, typhoid, tetanus and cholera are actually quite common. All of these can be vaccinated against. Malaria and dengue fever, however, which are also common, have no vaccination. You should avoid insects using repellent and timing your outside time to the least insect-prone parts of the day.

Japanese encephalitis, a rare but dangerous disease, also exists in Indonesia. There is a separate expensive, but definitely necessary vaccination for this. The highest level of medical travel insurance is recommended.

Safety

The Australian government is currently advising citizens to reconsider their need to travel to Bali, because of the very high threat of a terrorist attack.

Fiji

Health

Hepatitis, typhoid, measles mumps and rubella, tetanus all exist in Fiji. Dengue fever and traveller’s diarrhea are also common, but insect avoidance, sensible eating and drinking, and travel vaccinations will help you stay healthy in Fiji. Fiji is actually quite safe, health-wise.

Safety

There are presently unresolved political tensions across Fiji, but mainly in Suva. If you are travelling to Suva, the government’s safety warning level is at the third highest of five levels. For Fiji overall, it is set at 2 out of five, or simply, ‘Exercise Caution’.

Thailand

Health

In addition to the ordinary South East Asian diseases mentioned above, Thailand also has regular cases of Japanese encephalitis, rabies and malaria. There are often animals in the streets, either for sale or wandering about in Thailand – avoid them to stay healthy and avoid making a medical travel insurance claim!

Safety

Most travelers from Australia to Thailand go to Bangkok or Phuket, where the alert level from the government is set at 3 out of 5 – ‘High Degree of Caution’. However for certain provinces – Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla – the highest alert level has been enacted. The government is asking people not to travel to these areas at all, because of terrorist attacks and bombings on almost a daily basis. Some things travel insurance quotes just can’t cover … we recommend following the government’s advice here.

Vietnam

Health

Vietnam is quite close to Thailand, and faces the same health issues as the peninsular country. Get all your vaccinations before you go and practice safe eating and drinking to avoid making medical travel insurance claims.

Safety

The political and social situation in the country is currently quite stable, and the government is simply advising you to exercise caution to avoid becoming the victim of criminal activity. However, the high risk of developing health issues means you should consider getting travel insurance that will cover all financial aspects of illness.

How Travel Insurance Can Give You A Stress Free Holiday

Everyone wants to have a stress free holiday. You go on holiday to get away from the usual challenges and annoyances of life so that you can just relax. The problem is that travelling can bring about stresses that you would not even find in your daily life. This does not mean that you should cancel your holiday or that it will be filled with stress. It only means that when you do go on holiday you should take along travel insurance.

But What Could Happen?

So what could happen on your holiday that would require travel insurance? Basically, what could go wrong when you are on holiday? To begin with, you could fall ill before you even get to go and you may have to cancel your entire trip. This would certainly interfere with your travel plans.

You could have a medical emergency or some sort of accident in the midst of your travels, interrupting your holiday or cutting it short. Depending on where you are, you may need to be airlifted to the appropriate medical facilities. On a smaller scale, your bags could get stolen or could be lost somehow, and these are just a few of the things that could happen.

What Can Travel Insurance Do?

Travel insurance can help you with each of these situations as they happen. While the odds may seem slim that even one would happen in the course of your trip, this is what every traveller thinks until they are faced with one of these calamities. You never think it will happen to you until it does.

Trip cancellation insurance will pay you back the money you lost on fees and reservations if your trip is cancelled because of illness or weather. Emergency medical travel insurance and evacuation insurance will help you with medical bills involving medical emergencies and any necessary evacuation costs. Travel insurance can also help you to recoup the money you lost in the form of your baggage and belongings. Basically, whatever happens on your holiday, there is a good chance that you can find a form of travel insurance to protect you from it.

How Can Travel Insurance Protect You In The Long Term?

While many focus on how travel insurance can help protect you from losing the money you already spent, it is also good to take a look at how travel insurance can protect you from future expenses. Medical bills do not come cheap no matter where you travel. Throw in the costs of an emergency evacuation to proper medical facilities and you could be looking at steep medical bills that could take you a very long time to pay off. Whether you become sick or injured or experience other big bills as a result of problems with your holiday, travel insurance can protect you.

Travel insurance can give you a stress free holiday because it can protect you from what might happen. While you don’t want it to happen and it probably won’t happen, if it does then travel insurance will be there for you. You can have a stress free holiday with travel insurance.

Travel Insurance is Necessary

When you are travelling, you probably let your mind go right to all the good times and activities you have planned or the business matters that you will be handling during the course of your trip. You probably aren’t thinking about what could go wrong. While you don’t want to dwell on what could go wrong, you do want to be prepared for it. The way to be prepared is by having travel insurance.

Why Is Travel Insurance Necessary?

You’re probably thinking that most leisure and business trips go off without a hitch. Nothing happens and nothing goes wrong. Why should you buy travel insurance if nothing has happened before?

No one ever thinks that something will go wrong until it does. Most people think that holidaydisasters will never happen to them. The problem is that they have to happen to someone, and on your next trip it could be you.

So what could happen? You could lose your luggage or other valuables. You could become ill and have to cut your trip short or not be able to go at all. Plus, you would have lost all the money you had already spent on plans or plane tickets because refunds can be hard to come by.

You could also face a medical emergency of some sort. This could be difficult both at the time it happens and later when trying to cope with the bills. With all the things that could happen, you know that you have to take the right precautions.

What Can Travel Insurance Do?

Travel insurance can do many things. What a policy covers depends on that policy but there are many possible areas of coverage. Here are some of the main types of travel insurance that may be covered by a typical policy.

Emergency travel medical insurance covers medical emergencies that happen while you travel. For unexpected medical emergencies this coverage picks up where your regular medical insurance policy left off. You know medical expenses aren’t cheap no matter where you are so they need to be covered.

Medical evacuation insurance covers the expenses related to when you have to be evacuated from a location due to medical problems. This may not happen often but when it does it comes with a hefty price tag. This insurance helps pay for the means of transportation as well as the medical personnel who watch over you.

Trip cancellation insurance covers the money lost when you have to cancel your trip before you get to go and can cover trip interruption too. You will want to look into the reasons for which trip cancellation or interruption is covered. There will be limitations.

Rental car excess waiver helps with costs related to damage to or theft of your rental car. If you’ll have a rental car or vehicle, you’ll want this coverage.

Travel insurance is always a necessity when you go on any kind of trip. There are so many things that could go wrong, and the right travel insurance policy will help to protect you from them. Without travel insurance, you’re just waiting for something to go wrong.

How Travel Insurance Can Save You Money

Travel insurance can definitely save you money, but only if you have taken the time to research a policy that suits your needs! Anytime you are planning to travel, be it for business or for pleasure, you need to purchase a travel insurance policy before your trip begins. Those who are unfamiliar with travel insurance tend to think that it is a waste of money. Seasoned travellers who are familiar with travel insurance, but want to cut corners so that they can save money on their holiday, are making a mistake they will deeply regret if something should go wrong while they are travelling.

A good travel insurance policy could save you hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars. Many people travel with some valuable items, such as laptop computers, jewellery, and certain types of mobile phones and iPods. Would you have the money to replace these items if you should lose them while you were travelling?

On the other hand, what if you reach the airport and discover that your suitcase became lost somewhere en route to your destination? You would have to go out and purchase a couple of new outfits as well as the necessary undergarments and toiletries in order to continue your trip. Travel insurance can reimburse you for valuable items that you lose, or that are stolen from you. It may also reimburse you for any items you bought because of your luggage becoming lost.

Most people would agree that it would be very annoying to lose any of their belongings while travelling. However, your health is even more important than any of these, and travel insurance recognizes this fact. Suppose you have some sort of accident while you are visiting a remote section of a foreign country. It will be incredibly expensive to airlift you via an air ambulance and take you to the nearest hospital.

Medical care in other countries can be very expensive, and you are going to need surgery. In just a very short time, your hospital and medical bills could be up in the tens of thousand dollar range. The medical insurance that you use at home will not cover you while you are out of your home country. How are you going to manage to pay that huge bill? The doctors and hospital will want their money before you are allowed to leave. What will you do? If you had travel health insurance, all of these expenses would be covered for you. That would be a huge money saver!

Suppose you were having a great time on holiday when you got word that there had been a death in your family, and you were needed at home. Of course, you would head for your home as quickly as possible. Would you just have to forfeit the rest of your trip? Not if you had a travel insurance policy! Some policies will even allow you to deduct some of the money you spent to fly back home with, and then will let you continue your holiday. Think of the money this would save!

If you want to make certain that your travel insurance can save you money, make sure that you read the fine print! This information outlines what your policy will and will not cover, and is included with every insurance policy as the Product Disclosure Statement. You can learn a lot about the type of policy you are considering with a careful examination of this document. It is the best way to find out whether or not a travel insurance policy is the right one for you.

Comparing Travel Insurance Policies Online

You have decided that you are going to purchase a travel insurance policy online for your next holiday. Congratulations! You have joined the league of smart travellers with your decision. Buying travel insurance is the best way for you to protect the monetary value as well as the time element you will invest on this holiday.

The time you spend online reading and comparing travel insurance policies in order to decide which one is right for you is truly time well spent. No two travel insurance policies are the same, and the type you choose can vary, depending on what you are planning to do on your holiday.

Do you travel several times over the course of a year, on business as well as on holiday? You would want to look online for a multi-trip travel insurance policy. This type of insurance would protect you for 12 months, no matter how many trips you took. Multi-trip insurance will save you money compared to the cost of taking out a separate policy every time you travel. Perhaps you only travel once a year. In that case, a standard travel policy would serve you well.

Let’s say you are planning a wonderful skiing holiday. While you are comparing policies online, you’ll want to look at insurance companies that are able to offer coverage for expenses that are related to snow skiing. Just in case you have an accident on the slopes, you will want to make sure your travel insurance policy has medical coverage for skiers. A big medical bill after taking a tumble could very well spoil your entire holiday! Of course, you also will want coverage in case something unforseen happens and your trip is cancelled or you crash into someone on the slopes and they decide to sue you. Hopefully, you will not have to make a claim for any of these reasons, but it will be a comfort knowing that you are protected.

When going on holiday with your family, it’s a good idea to plan ahead, and a good travel insurance policy can help you to do just that. What if your trip is interrupted because your flight was cancelled, and the next flight to your destination isn’t until the next day? You and your partner and children will need to have a hotel room for the night as well as a taxi to reach that hotel. Choose a travel insurance policy that will cover a reimbursement of the amount you had to spend for these items.

Once you have determined the type of travel insurance policy that would best suit your needs, it’s time to start looking around online. On most travel insurance sites, you will simply fill out a form with some information such as how many people are travelling, their ages, the dates of travel, travel destination, and the length of your trip. This information is needed to give you an instant travel insurance quote on a policy.

Don’t make the mistake of allowing price to be your guide when doing your policy comparisons. Cheaper isn’t always better! You want insurance that will protect you and give you peace of mind, not a cheap policy that you have a world of trouble out of when attempting to file a claim.

Make sure to read the fine print in the Product Disclosure Statementfor any travel insurance policy you are thinking about purchasing. You need to understand exactly what is and what isn’t covered. Taking the time to read the details can make comparing travel insurance policies online much easier for you, and you won’t have any unpleasant surprises in case you do need to make a claim.

Basics of Travel Insurance

The first thing most people who buy travel insurance online do when they are planning a business trip or holiday is to think about what they want a travel insurance policy to do for them, should they have need to make a claim. Since there is more than one type of travel insurance, and many options that can be added to a basic policy, the wise traveller sits down and figures out exactly what kind of insurance will be needed.

Standard will cover you and your family members for one trip only. This policy usually comes as a package deal that includes coverage for trip cancellation as well as coverage for medical/health services. You can add coverage for medical evacuation, dental, and pre-existing medical conditions, accidental death coverage, baggage and personal effects coverage, rental car and flight accident coverage as well as coverage for certain types of sports and winter sports, backpacking, and other options, too. The optional coverage you can add depends on the travel insurance company you choose.

Annual multi triptravel insurance can be a money saver for people who take more than one holiday each year, or who frequently travel on business. With this type of insurance, one policy will cover you for an entire twelve-month period, no matter how many separate trips you may take. However, this kind of policy usually has some restrictions in place that state how long any one trip can be. The same optional coverage you are able to choose to accompany standard travel insurance is often available for annual travel insurance.

Long Stay or Long term travel insurance This type of insurance is often used to describe a policy for travellers expecting to be away from their home on a trip for an extended period, such as a gap year.

Some travel insurance companies have separate policies for older people who are over a certain age. There is Family travel insurance, for those who will be travelling with a partner and children, and Student travel insurance, for those young people who are going abroad to study.

Adventure travel insurance policies are for those individuals who enjoy activities than can be rather hazardous, such as snow skiing, bungee jumping, scuba diving, mountain and rock climbing, and other extreme sports. Some travel insurance companies will consider an activity as risky, while others will not. You will need to check out the Product Disclosure, which is available on the web site of all travel insurance companies, to find out. This information can tell you many things about a policy you may be interested in purchasing. Research will help you to choose a travel insurance policy that has the options you want and need.

Travel Insurance For Your Children

For any family travelling overseas, their number one concern is to make sure that if anything should happen, their children are covered for any medical or other emergency. A family holiday is supposed to be a time of family bonding and fun. Buying cheap family travel insurance will ensure that you really can rest easy. Children have a way of injuring themselves and getting sick, even at home, so when overseas in a strange environment, just imagine the damage they can do to themselves. Just make sure you have adequate travel insurance so taking your kids on holiday doesn’t damage your wallet too much!

When thinking of a family travel insurance policy, it’s essential to consider some important features of family travel policy.

Definitions of the age of a “child” can vary. The most common upper age limit is 18, but higher ages are possible – again you have to check the fine print. Admittedly, a lot of 18-year-olds don’t want to be considered the “child” of the family – but despite their tender teenage feelings, the family may find the savings worthwhile!

Many travel insurance companies offer free cover for children who are travelling with their parents. Just check the fine print – how many adults, how many children are covered? Also, what is the policy definition of “children” if your children are fostered or you are legal guardians rather than parents? Make sure the policy does cover you.

Family travel insurance is great for a family travelling together. But sometimes, children travel independently – especially where the parents have split and moved to different towns or even different countries. If children make regular independent trips without their parents, then check it out carefully as most Insurers won’t cover children travelling without an adult.

For older kids, it may be better to look at cheap student travel insurance, which will often provide cover tailored to young adults who desire to do adventurous things, such as scuba diving and bungee jumping. While the young independent traveller may not spend a lot on pre-booked itineraries or take expensive jewellery and luggage along for the trip, the cover for hazardous activities is a “must-have” for their travel insurance.

As with all decisions about buying travel insurance, make sure you understand what the policy document does and does not cover. As every family knows, kids can catch anything and seem to have a unique ability to pick up every bug on offer. Make sure they have up-to-date vaccinations before leaving home. Don’t get too paranoid about what they eat, but at the end of the day, a good family travel insurance policy will allow you to relax and enjoy your trip with your children – that’s the whole point of an overseas family trip, isn’t it?

Travel Insurance – Because You Just Never Know

Although we don’t like to plan for it, the reality is that not every holiday goes as well as we hoped for or as well as the TV holiday shows would have us believe. Usually, it is something outside of your control, such as a flight being cancelled because of a mechanical breakdown. The result can be lots of additional costs as you have to rearrange connections, accommodations, and car rental bookings. What if you have an accident, such as breaking a leg in an accident in Bali?

For most people, you will never think of your travel insurance again once you have made the initial purchase. But if the worst does happen – wouldn’t you want a number that you can call and get the support and advice that you need in an emergency in a strange land?

Travel insurance can mean a lot of different things to different people, and as with all insurances, it’s a good idea to read the fine print. Check out exactly what the travel insurance policy you are considering covers. Big-ticket items that a good travel insurance policy should include are:

• Travel accident insurance, which will cover emergency medical expenses if you fall sick or get injured when overseas. This is important for anywhere in the world but absolutely essential in the U.S., where even a brief hospital stay can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
• Luggage insurance, which covers delayed luggage cover and items that are lost, damaged, or stolen when you are overseas. Remember that some high-priced items, such as cameras, may need to be separately specified and paid for.
• Rental car excesses: Anyone who has ever hired a car knows how expensive it is to reduce the excess to something reasonable. If you are planning on hiring a car look out for this cover
• Trip cancellation or curtailment. If you or a close family member gets ill before you leave on your trip, you may lose all of your pre-payments and more if you have a non-refunable ticket – travel insurance would normally cover this, which is why you should get insurance cover when you make your bookings and pay your deposits. Also, if you need to return home early because someone becomes ill at home, insurance can pay for these additional costs.
• Flight delay – depending on your itinerary, a single simple fight delay can have disastrous consequences for your carefully planned holiday. Make sure you take a policy that provides compensation if you miss a connecting flight because of a flight delay. Also look out for the small print here. Some insurers cover just the first outbound flight. There are others such as insure4less that provide cover for missed connections at any point on the pre-booked itinerary

When purchasing travel insurance, it’s important to be honest about where you are travelling and what you are going to be doing on your trip. Some countries have higher risks than others, and if you end up in a difficult situation in a country that you didn’t indicate when you bought the insurance or you are injured doing a dangerous sports activity you didn’t check out when you took cover, don’t expect your travel insurance policy to pay out. Have an honest discussion before you purchase your insurance. Similarly, declare any pre-existing medical conditions which might be relevant; it doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be insured, but if you don’t declare a condition and then get sick, you probably won’t be covered.

Do the right thing and travel insurance will have you covered – after all, you just never know!

Travel Health and Travel Insurance

You probably have health insurance in Australia, right? So, shouldn’t you make sure that your health and emergency medical costs are also covered when you travel abroad? Travel health insurance covers your medical costs when you travel overseas. Your Australian health cover and Medicare are unlikely to cover you for overseas travel and medical costs overseas can be a lot higher than those you are used to in Australia.

Even if you don’t have regular health insurance at home, you should consider travellers’ insurance to cover you for a medical emergency or accident. The reality is that even normally healthy people often get sick or even worse on holiday. Ever noticed how as soon as the pressure comes off and you get to relax, you come down with the flu or worse? Overseas holidays for Australians generally start with a reasonably long flight. Flying is a great way to pick up a disease before you even reach the resort’s poolside bar!

Having arrived at your holiday destination, there is, of course, the usual risks of a climate you are not used to and local food – again, food poisoning is not just a cliché; it can result in a serious medical emergency if you get unlucky.

Often, your average holidaymaker gets into trouble when they go from a sedentary office job in real life to deep sea diving or skiing on holiday. It seems that we all feel invincible on holiday, and in some cases, the joy of the moment overcomes common sense safety precautions. Or our unfit body is just not up to our athletic ideals!

Plus, things do sometimes work differently overseas; for instance, how many tourists have ended up in the hospital because they forget, just for a minute, that they are driving on the wrong side of the road? It’s particularly easy to forget if you hire a scooter, as is commonly done in the Pacific and some Asian countries. Scooters don’t have an offset steering wheel to remind you that you should be keeping right on the road!

Travel health insurance can help if the worst happens while you are overseas. For most people, it won’t happen, but just because you have never had an accident or a serious illness at home doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you at some point. You should not assume that it can’t happen to you on holiday – unfortunately, it can. Being ill or injured on holiday is bad enough, but you don’t want to return home to a lifetime of debt to pay off the bills!

A good travel health insurance policy is a small price to pay for peace of mind. It will cover you not just for serious medical assistance, but also for English-speaking assistance if you need advice for a condition that is worrisome. Is it a bad cold or malaria? If the worst happens, it will pay for the MediVac home too. If that skiing accident resulted in a broken leg – you may need a first-class seat to get home – travel insurance will normally pay for that too.

Travelling is great fun generally, but sometimes, it’s a bit tough on your health. That’s why travel health insurance is a must have for your packing list.