Do you buy travel insurance?

We never buy trip or cancellation insurance. Depending on the fine print many travel policies didn't cover the volcano - act of nature. We do buy medical insurance which is very important if you current medical insurance does not cover you in Europe.

We almost always buy travel insurance of one form or another. When our parents were frail, we made sure to have insurance that covered our return home in case one of them died while we were gone. Start at insuremytrip.com and see what kind of policy/coverage you come up with. No, you are not paranoid. Have a good trip.

Julia, There are various types of "travel insurance" including Trip Cancellation, Baggagge Loss and Medical. I assume your referring to Trip Cancellation insurance? If you have access to a copy of "Europe Through The Back Door", there's an excellent description of the pros & cons of various types of insurance in the "Paper Chase" section (~page 35-38). I would HIGHLY recommend Medical Insurance in any case. Regarding which company to use, you might check local Travel Agents or Insurance firms in your area, as they will both probably offer various types of travel insurance. Happy travels!

I always buy because we usually rent an apartment and if something happened and we couldn't go we would still be responsible for the rental amount. I get my tickets using my amex miles and for a small fee buy their insurance as the miles would be refunded if I couldn't go for some reason.

I rarely buy cancellation insurance, but I always get additional med evac insurance. Fortunately, my employer's medical covers me while abroad, so I don't need that kind of coverage.

Your tix may be nonrefundable but you could prob rebook for a fee, ck on your ticket. I would only purchase travel type ins. if I have medical issues or have prepaid with no refund like a cruise, hotel, apt or similiar.

My insurance was under $200 and covers refunds plus emergency evac and car insurance. I don't need medical due to my employer's coverage. Crap happens. This is my first time buying it, but we knew of a couple where the woman hit her head (slipping) and spent weeks in an Italian hospital while they tried to raise money to evac her back here. She passed there, so then they had to spend to bring the body back. If you decide to go for it, go to insuremytrip.com for a cost comparison and then go directly to the provider- it's a bit cheaper that way.

We bought medical/evac insurance with insuremytrip.com, about 48 hours before departing for Ireland Aug of 2009. (24 hours prior to the trip was the cut-off) My wife fell and broke her arm and shoulder on day 5. They covered all the medical expenses involved and also up graded her to first class ($3000 value) as per Drs. orders. We were glad we were covered, and won't ever go over seas with out it! Dan

'What if'...........'what if'....... No I never buy travel insurance. And never will. We live our whole life on 'what ifs' that the reality is, 'is never does'(acutally rarely does). So I take the chance. I am already so insurance poor, that I choose not to buy into the travel insurance trap. (of course, my own opinion)