Travel Insurance

We haven't done a RS tour. but we always get trip insurance for the evacuation coverage. We aren't so concerned with losing the cost of a trip, but a serious illness or major broken leg can lead to huge ($20,000 - $50,000) expenses to get home. A friend broke a hip and her evac from Hawaii to California involved 4 first class seats and an accompaning nurse. OUCH!! Insure what you can't afford to pay for or lose.

Have a great time.

We got the travel insurance. Just like all insurance...it's better to have and not need it, etc. We had mainly for medical evacuation and peace of mind. Will always purchase and pray that we never need it.

I guess we have never thought too much about. Our regular insurance provides enough overseas medical coverage that the sting would be take out of the bill. When we travel with other family members we take the travel insurance because of the additional people in involved. When travel by ourselves we do not. I suppose you call it self insurance. Since we have been on about ten European trips with no problems the insurance savings will easily cover the next problem.

I'm a little puzzled by the interest in emergency evacuation coverage for places like Europe. If I were going to do bungee jumping in Antarctica, I suppose I could see the need. But Europe has medical facilities just as good (some would say better than) those at home. Why would I need to be "evacuated" home to the US, even if something nasty happened? My medical insurance is in full effect in Europe (I just checked, and I'll admit I have good insurance, but I wonder how many other peoples' insurance covers them in Europe, too).

If I break my leg and am stuck in a hospital for a few days, should I really be worried if that means I might be in a hospital in Paris or Barcelona? The food's probably better there than it is in the hospitals near my house!

If you had a serious broken leg or hip that required you to be in bed for several weeks for you to recuperate, no hospital in the world would let you take up a scarce hospital bed for that purpose. Nor would most people want to be stuck in a hospital for several weeks just for their bones to mend. I would think 99.9% of most folks would be more comfortable at home; even if it's halfway around the world.

Personally, I would never leave home without Travel Insurance.

On my most recent trip to Israel, a lady died before the bus loaded for the 1st day of tour.

He son lived in Tel Aviv and had dinner with them the night before. She was on the telephone in the hotel room talking with her son and dropped dead of a heart attack.

We were all on the bus including her husband.

The Travel Insurance (Trip Mate) paid for a 1st class ticket for husband and son(with the body) back to US and reimbursed the the FULL COST of the trip.

It is very expensive to "prepare" a body and to ship it on an airline.

The Travel Insurance agent made "all" preparations including the paper work.

For $139.00 it is must to have Travel Insurance.

My travel companion was injured 3 weeks before the trip and the Travel Insurance paid the difference for a double room in a 4-5 star hotels for me.

Never would I ever travel with the insurance.

I never travel without travel insurance. I also never take the insurance that is offered with whatever tour because I can get just what I want, without coverages I don't want (and at a better price), by buying it through www.insuremytrip.com. My employer's insurance is outstanding, but I always get additional med evac insurance.

And David, having fairly recently broken my ankle, I can tell you that if I had injured myself abroad, there is no way that I could have used my coach ticket home. A first class seat would have been required just to be able to fit my cast and have any degree of comfort. And as Michael pointed out, it could be a matter of weeks that you are laid up, not just days.

Which insurance have you carried & the price? Lots to choose from. Any infor helpful

A woman from our town went on a trip to Italy with a group of friends (we know people who were with them, but it made the local news, too). In the middle of the trip, she slipped on a bus step, fell, and hit her head. She was in a coma for awhile and then ended up dying as they thought she was improving. Before she died, there were fundraisers to bring her back home, and then they put some of that money towards getting her home. They said in the article that they were in good health so passed on the travel insurance.

We had a girl in our fieldschool who arrived with a severe sunburn (blistered arms), and while the medical care she got was great- we were worried she wouldn't be able to continue for a couple of days. Thankfully, she recovered quickly - but if not, the insurance would have gotten her home.

It's worth it!

RS tours include adequate coverage for our needs, so we haven't obtained any extra for our two tours.

We used World Nomads for our 8 week trip in 2005. For my trip to Israel last November I used Trip Mate which was offered through the Travel company.

We included travel insurance as an extra in our yearly house insurance. That is very affordable, covers the entire family - and you don't have to remember it for every single trip you do. It's there "automatically".

And yes, I can add one of those evacuation stories as well. My uncle broke his hip while biking on Malta. He did spend a few days in hospital there but replacing a hip and recuperate, even if you're only in your 30s, is quite an ordeal. So he got flown home and that is not an easy flight and easily costs as much as a brand new car.

I've never purchased travel insurance for two RS tours. Thanks for posting this question. I now have second thoughts. On both of my previous tours, a person became ill/injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Fortunately, they rejoined the tour and did not have to be evacuated. The guides, hospital and health services were excellent in the UK and Germany. I am going to check with homeowner's insurance about travel insurance included in the homeowner's policy. Thanks so much for the tip. Wishing all of you good health and safety in your travels.

I always opt for insurance after my first overseas solo vacation. I declined insurance believing nothing was going to happen to me since and I was in very good health. Not used to Aussies driving on their own side of the road, I was looking the wrong way and I almost got run-overed a couple of times.

Halfway thru my vacation, I was walking and tripped all over myself, rolling my ankle. Boy did it really hurt. Even though my ankle was in much pain and swollen for several days, I pushed myself walking around all over the place, visiting the sites and museums and stuff. I didn't allow myself to waste my vacation time recovering in my hotel room.

I usually end up with TravelGuard in one of its many forms, depending on the situation. The nice thing about separate travel insurance (instead of having it as part of your homeowner's, for example) is that it is very limited in time. It's based on the costs you want to have covered, and on your age. You only pay for the amount of time you are traveling, so you don't pay a premium all year for two weeks of travel. It's also customizable, based on what you want to cover. You don't pay for what you don't need.

Nancy,

I suggested the homeowner's insurance mainly because this can be the most convenient AND cheapest option for many people. It may look a bit different for seniors or single people. But if we went for a travel insurance for limited time we'd definitely pay more for our family of 4 than we do right now through bundling all our insurance needs with the same insurance company that does our homeowner's coverage.

Many times limiting your insurance coverage to only what you really need can save you a lot of money. But bundling coverage with one insurer can also be a good strategy to keep cost down.

Hello Tony,

We recently experienced a "potential" total loss concerning a trip to Italy last month due to a serious eye injury of a travel party member. Trip was wiped out only hours away from when it was to start. All of us were totally bummed with the loss of the trip, but thank God we insured the holiday with travel insurance so we faced only a small money loss. A claim was opened, forms were received, filled out and sent back, and in less than three (3) weeks from opening the claim, we received a check for the full amount. We have always purchased travel insurance for all of our holidays in the past with the main reason for the purchase being "peace of mind". Never, ever thought we would ever have to file a claim. My travel insurance carrier-AIG Travelgaurd. Their claim adjusters really stepped up to the plate to make a quick/fair hassle free settlement. By the way, our travel party member is responding to treatment, has returned to work on a part-time basis, and is expected to make a complete recovery.