A friend of mine once told me:
“If you can’t afford travel insurance then you can’t afford to travel…”
I didn’t really understand her at first, but then I did the math and realized if something went wrong on my trip I’d be f#@*ed… When I considered paying the relatively tiny fee to get full coverage compared to the total trip cost, her statement totally made sense.
Fellow travel blogger, Nomadic Matt, also says it well:
“Travel insurance is one of the most important things you’ll need for your trip. You wouldn’t have a car without car insurance, a home without home insurance, and you can’t have a trip without travel insurance.”
A quick “worst case” story:
Another friend of mine was trekking in the Indian Himalayas staying at tiny little inns with very breathtaking views of the majestic mountains.
Everything was perfect.
But… at the next stop when the bags were being taken from the bus to the hotel lobby, somehow, his didn’t make it! All he had were the clothes on his back and a small bag.
This meant he had to borrow clothes and other India packing list gear from friends until he could buy new stuff in the nearest big city.
The worst part: He didn’t have travel insurance! 🙁 And of course he lost $1000’s of dollars which would have been reimbursed if he had insurance.
Moral of the story:
Whether you’re going to India, Nepal, Thailand or any other long distance destination (including Hawaii), I highly recommend you consider getting a good quality travel insurance plan.
When you travel away from home you need to expect the unexpected… Whether it’s a minor car crash, a sports injury, natural disaster or anything else that can rack up huge bills, you need to be covered.
I personally use Faye Travel Insurance.
I’ve found them to be highly affordable and they have comprehensive plans that cover just about anything that could go wrong while you’re out adventuring around the world.
In case you need some
more convincing:
Below are my top 9 reasons why you need to get travel insurance for your next trip.
Get reimbursed for:
1) Medical emergencies
2) Loss, theft or damage of baggage
3) Trip cancellation, delay or interruption
4) Emergency evacuation
Other reasons why you need it:
5) Enjoy peace of mind while traveling
6) Claim online or call 24-hour phone support
7) It costs a fraction of your total trip
8) You probably can’t afford not to be insured
9) Have the confidence to fully experience your journey
Hi Asher.
Thanks’ for your nice and informative newsletters.
This time you took up the topic: “Travelers Insurance”. A good, and certainly also a very relevant topic to shed some light on – considering that some people, not all, but some, do leave their relatively safe nests at home, without such a thing being arranged before they leave. It is hazardous to do that. Personally I have been to India 12 times, but always with a travelers’ insurance in my valet. I guess that perhaps particularly young travelers may choose to save some money skipping that otherwise important part of the whole travel-budget! But also one of my friends, he’s now 72, do that every time he’s leaving for India. One time he barely managed to get his typhoid-ravaged body back to Denmark, where we live, and was quickly hospitalized, for 40 days, in order to be treated from that illness, which, when we met him at the airport at his arrival, had left him almost unable to either speak, walk or do anything else. He hadn’t any insurance at that time, but – yes, he managed to survive anyway.
– But, and here comes the important point – here in Denmark we have a rescue service called Falck which would be the one that travelers insurance companies usually would use in case people would have to be transported back home, either by train, car – of for that matter even by plane. I got curious about this whole issue and wanted to find out how much, approximately, it’ll cost to bring a person back to Denmark, from India, by plain, in case that’ll be considered a necessity. The guy I talked to did some quick calculations and said that it’ll cost about 800.000 d.kr. (85.000 British Pounds?) to do so, maybe even more. In other words: One would get totally ruined by having to pay that amount of money – simply because one just wanted to safe some few 300 Pounds or so.
So I totally agree with your viewpoints in your news-letter. And I appreciate very much that you take the time to elucidate these things for – perhaps younger, and maybe more careless – people.
However, there was one point in your letter, in the section “Get reimbursed for”, that I think was missing and that was the need for also having a Public Liability Insurance, which always, in our Danish travelers’ insurances, are automatically included. Imagine a bill you could be presented for, in case you, on an Enfield or the like, are pled guilty of being the course or a huge traffic accident in Goa, or on a Himalayan mountain road, with dead people, damaged property etc.? It could become VERY expensive.
Cheers…
Ulrik Stephensen
Copenhagen,
Denmark
Thanks for sharing your experience Ulrik! 🙂
Definitely recommend travel insurance. From the water to the food.. you need to protect yourself.
Yep! 🙂
Asher, thanks for this article. I have been to India about 10 times without buying travel insurance, but you’ve made me realize what a huge risk that is. I hadn’t even considered the need for liability coverage. I am going again in January and will not fail to purchase insurance this time.
Hi David,
Yeah, my first few trips I didn’t have any insurance either but in hindsight it was dumb to run the risk when the cost of the insurance is negligible.
Have a great trip!
Cheers,
Asher.
Travel insurance is something you should buy regardless of your destination but I think when it comes to India (or most of south east Asia for that matter), the risks are significantly larger. Tourists are seen as easy targets for theft.
Yes, travel insurance is one of the most important thing while traveling distant places especially another country. Just as you need your passport and visa to travel to other countries, a travel insurance is like that. But, as it is not mandatory, people hesitate to do it paying some money. It can give solace in the time of distress. Also, the travelers should understand the insurance policy very well to avoid any later confusion with the insurance provider.
Thanks for sharing this informative article. This is very useful.
I faced such a situation while travelling in Ladakh in 2018. One of our luggage was somehow missed during our train journey. But at that time i had no idea about travel insurance. Else we could save a lot of money.