Flight bookings, hotel bookings, detailed itineraries, researching things to do, shopping for the trip—a lot goes into planning and preparing for an international trip. Amid all this hustle, one important thing that is often overlooked is—travel insurance. Your international travel insurance will be your best friend if anything goes wrong anywhere when you are away from the home. Besides keeping you secured against a wide range of unanticipated mishaps on your trip, international travel insurance is a mandatory requirement for several overseas destinations such as the United States, Spain, Norway, and Sweden, among others. Read on to know all about international travel insurance.
What is international travel insurance?
Many things can go wrong during a trip—lost baggage, misplacing important documents such as a passport, a flight delay causing you to miss your connecting flight, a medical crisis, and more. All these incidents can lead to both financial and mental stress. The situation can get worse when you are in a foreign country. However, a travel insurance plan protects you against all these possibilities. Your travel insurance will not only provide you with the necessary financial coverage but also much-needed assistance in case of a crisis during your trip.
What does travel insurance cover?
While the features of every international travel insurance plan differ from insurer to insurer, listed below are some common inclusions of most travel insurance:
- Covers medical emergencies: Medical emergencies can arrive anywhere, even when you are travelling abroad. It is very easy for a medical emergency to become a financial crisis, especially if you are travelling to a country like the USA. Travel insurance with extensive coverage will offer cashless coverage for unforeseen medical costs. A comprehensive international travel insurance policy will cover pre-existing conditions in addition to the basic outpatient charges. Additionally, your travel insurance will also cover services such as air ambulance so that you can resume treatment in your own country.
- Cover for lost or delayed baggage: Your travel insurance will protect you if your checked-in luggage is delayed or lost in transit. Airlines can give evasive explanations, suggest you wait all day, or refuse to locate your luggage. In such cases, travel insurance will provide financial assistance for buying your trip essentials.
- Loss of passport: Losing a passport while travelling abroad can become an extremely complicated and expensive issue. This is probably the worst thing that could happen to you when travelling. However, with international travel insurance, you will not only be covered for the costs of issuing a duplicate passport but will also get all possible assistance with the process.
- Cancellation or alteration in the trip: If you or a member of your family gets sick or if an emergency arises that requires you to change your plans, you may have to cancel the trip. You would know that cancelling paid travel arrangements is an expensive proposition. Once you purchase travel insurance, you do not have to worry about the consequences of altering or cancelling your international vacation plans on your finances.
- Cancellation or flight delay: There may be flight delays or cancellations while travelling to international destinations. If the flight is delayed, the travel insurance provider will reimburse you for the consequential losses. For instance, you may miss a connecting flight or lose a day’s hotel booking. In addition, flights may be cancelled due to bad weather or a technical scare. These costs must be mentioned in the policy document to be eligible for coverage.
- Assistance in a foreign country: International travel insurance offers coverage in a country where you may not be familiar with the places, procedures, or even the language. Having travel insurance assures you that in the event of an emergency, a dedicated team will be there to help you mitigate the crisis.
- Mandatory requirement: As mentioned earlier, many countries have laws which require travellers to have valid international travel insurance to set foot on their soil. Therefore, while making bookings for your trip, check if your destination country has travel insurance as a mandatory requirement . For instance, entry into the Schengen nations requires travel insurance.
Your international travel insurance plan is your best ally when you are in a foreign country. Travel insurance protects you from a wide range of emergencies. Therefore, purchasing travel insurance before embarking on an international vacation is a wise decision. Given that you can easily buy travel insurance online, there is no way you should keep this essential for the last minute. So, what are you waiting for? Get your international travel insurance policy now and have a stress-free trip abroad.