theft insurance

I haven't heard of a separate insurance for your lost stuff in general, but if you have renters or home owners insurance and file a police report if something is stolen they will replace minus deductable. Use caution when claiming against home owners as some claims automatically cancel your policy. You might check with an insurance agent regarding a travel rider (?sp?) Most policies don't cover simple loss as in, "Opps, I lost it."

hi! no, I don't have renters or home insurance.... not sure what the rider thing is but i'll look into it. :-)

Wouldn't you save yourself a lot of money and worry, to say nothing of the extra weight you would be hauling around, by leaving a lot of that stuff at home?

Kendal, you are not going to find a full replacement, temporary policy. It doesn't made economic sense for an insurance company to insure items only during a high risk time. If they did, the premium would be sky high and you couldn't afford it. If you are renting you should have renters insurance and you might be able to get a rider (an add on policy or additional insurance to the base policy) to cover some of these items -- to keep the premium affordable it will have a deductable and a cap --- which is what you have been finding.

To cover a diamond ring you will need a current, independant appraisal and not just your word as to value. Probably don't have time for that. Leave the ring at home. That makes more sense than wearing something that might make you a theft target. A laptop more than a year old is not worth insuring because it has little value. Same for the average digital camera unless it is professional body with high quality lenses. Out of response time.

You should worry more about your ring being stolen and being a theft target than guys bothering you. Leave the ring at home - it's irreplaceable. A computer, etc can be replaced, but not your ring. It's not worth it. As for the PDA, write your numbers all down (you should have all your important contact info in several places anyway, so bringing the PDA for phone numbers seems silly). Get the cheap int'l phone for emergencies, if you lose it, so what? You have your laptop - keep in touch via skype (free!) As other posters said, you won't find plans to cover the whole cost. So leave the ring and the PDA at home, insure for as much as you can afford if you feel you really must, and be careful (use locks, good luggage and daybag, room safes, etc.). Plus, you're going on vacation, you want to enjoy it and not worry about your things. Personally, I'd be more concerned about traveling overseas without insurance for my personal health instead of my things...

Kendall - please consider taking only a few of the items you have listed. Unless you are going to Europe for your engagement party, I would definitely leave the ring at home. I only travel with a few items of relatively inexpensive jewelry - I'm not afraid of theft but I did once leave a ring in a hotel bathroom and never got it back.

Also - are you sure you need the laptop AND the PDA? Even if you find insurance for all of the items it can be very stressful keeping up with everything all the time. My husband did take his laptop a few years ago in order to download and edit our travel pics on a daily basis. He decided that the benefit was small compared to having to take it with him and be worried about it.

well, I'm going for a month, and I need the internet for work and for communication, not to mention updating my travel vlog with videos and photos i'm going to take. The digital camera is brand new (laptop is not). the PDA is sort of an emergency phone. I'm going to try to get a temporary international phone before i leave, but my boyfriend wants me to keep my other phone with me just in case. It's got all my contact numbers in it, too. the ring I probably will leave at home, although I'd like to wear SOMEthing to scare guys away. lol.
I don't have renters insurance because, well, I'm poor. I don't even have health insurance. I rent a tiny room above a garage at the moment, and move almost every year. anyway... ugg. what would be my best option?

Kendal -- leave the ring at home, lighten your load. Thought you were going on vacation. You will not qualify for insurance for the simple reason you are a walking red flag for fraud. The underwiter is going to look at your application and say, "Hmm !!! Has all of this valuable stuff in an apartment but it is uninsured because she cannot afford it. BUT, is going on vacation with all of this valuable stuff and now wants to insure it." Even if you are absolutely beyond honest and a cousin of the Pope, the red flags go up and thought of insurance fraud is raised. Take a mininal policy if you can get it. Otherwise just be careful. If you attractive, you will get hit on regardless of the ring.

well, the ring is more replaceable than my laptop actually... i've got photos of my boyfriends' daughter (who died last year) on it. trying to back those up before i go, along with other important things. i think i have my phone numbers on the laptop too. i was just hoping to get insurance for everything for my entire trip. i'm going to PA to see my family first, and then to europe, and obviously I'll be using my cell there.

i'm staying with a friend in Paris, so there probably won't be a safe or anything, though I am bringing a padlock in case I need it for anything.

i'd love to have insurance on me, too, while I'm gone, which is why I'm looking for a travel insurance that covers me and my things...

it's not like I've got a ton of valuable things. besides my clothes and some books, these are basically all of my belongings. I don't have any furniture or anything. :-P i didn't even get an ipod til i decided to go on this trip and learn french (and even then i got it on ebay!).

If the things on the lap are as important as you say they are what good is insurance going to do. Even if you do get a new laptop you will have still lost all of the files. You should be more concerned about getting things backed up than getting insurance.

yes, i'm trying to back it up on my boyfriend's harddrive today. i've put some of it on CDs a while back, but we're going to try the harddrive thing so I can back up more.

if it does get stolen, as upset as I would be over losing what's on the laptop, i would be needing a replacement, too. i do a lot of work on it, and it would be a double loss if i couldn't have it for that. ya know....?

Kendal -- let me make a very positive statement. I reread allof your posts and detect a thread of fear of being ripped off. Don't know where you are going. But if you exercise reasonable caution, the chances of anything being stolen is fairly remote. Don't hang an expensive camera around you neck or wear flashy jewelery, or keep things in loose bags laying around, etc., We have traveled over 200 days in some of the great pickpocket cities of the world and have never lost a thing. Or even been close or so we think. My perception is LA is probably more dangerous than anywhere you are going.

I have to agree with everyone here. Again, if you NEED your computer for work, I guess you have no choice, but as addicted to my computer as I am, I will be checking in at internet cafes, not taking mine. It isn't worth the weight and worry. And Frank is right. I've had one attempted pickpocket (Rome, right where RS says) which I intercepted, but never have I felt really in danger. I've always chosen to leave my wedding ring at home since it makes me look richer than I am (Ha!) I wear a simple band while traveling but that hasn't stoped hits and I'm not young! At 40 I was chased all over a ferry (Italy to Greece) by one of the stewards!

How are you protecting thest things at home? While I have never had a laptop stolen on the road, I cant' tell you how many of my coworkers have had one taken in home thefts or car thefts.

If you don't have homeowners or renters that covers these things then you are making a misstake. That insurance will generally cover you when you travel also.