Travel Insurance Review

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9 Money-Saving Tips for Traveling Families

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Money-Saving Tips for Traveling FamiliesToday’s traveler knows that the initial price of their airfare is really just a reservation and not a full payment. Extra fees for services such as checking bags, priority boarding, and meals adds approximately 15 percent onto the base fare.

Airlines today are profitable largely due to the revenue streams from these fees and even the low-cost carriers are getting in the game, charging customers higher amounts for flight changes – a fact that makes tech-savvy travelers nuts – and even carry-on bag fees.

All of these changes affect business travelers but they’re also hard on traveling families. Here are 9 tips traveling families can save money on their trips.

1. Try to avoid airline fees

Some of the latest airline fees can hit traveling families hard. Recently, the big three airlines – American, Delta, and United – all announced increased change ticket fees. Their eye-twitch inducing $200 per seat change fee on top of any difference in the fare can hit families traveling together pretty hard when school holidays are delayed or cancelled because of missed school days due to blizzards or super storms.

It’s not just change fees families have to worry about either. Frontier airlines recently announced an incredible $100 fee for carry-on bags that have to be checked at the gate (it’s just $25 if you pay at check-in).

Avoiding the airline fees entirely is nearly impossible, but minimizing them is important to families. Research your options ahead of time and try to minimize airline fees anyway you can.

2. Don’t buy too early

While you may be tempted to get your vacation reservations made early, it’s not the best way to get the best price. The airlines and hotels are intentionally set up for higher prices early on to catch those who must book their travel (business travelers often have little choice about the timing of their trips, for example) and their prices begin to fall as the time gets closer.

Experts recommend shopping for flights well in advance using airline and hotel comparison sites like Kayak.com and Hotels.com. Set up email alerts for the dates and routes you want to travel and then wait and watch. The flights typically begin to fall between 45 and 60 days before you’d like to travel. You’ll notice the trends and have a better idea what a ‘good’ price is versus an average price pretty quickly and you’ll be ready to buy when the right one appears.

3. Go in the ‘off-season’

Yes, this is harder for families tied to school year calendars, but many schools across the U.S. are turning to year-round calendars and this is having an effect on travel. The typical summertime breaks are now scattered across the warmer months of the year and the shoulder seasons often bleed into breaks.

Depending on a whole bunch of factors, you could take the kids out of school and consider the trip an educational experience and some parents resort to doing just that without doing a lot of harm to their kids. Really.

Ideally, traveling during the off-season means going anywhere you want when the crowds are least likely to be there. This means traveling to the Caribbean during hurricane season (June 1st through November 30th), visiting Yosemite in the winter, and heading to Hawaii in September. Any way you can avoid long lines, thick crowds, and higher prices can help stretch the family’s travel dollar.

4. Avoid hotels

Sure, you’re going to have to stay somewhere but hotels are nearly always the worst option for families. There are a range of options for staying in apartments, flats, and even entire houses that cost less than an economy hotel room where everyone’s piled in on top of each other.

If you have a home or apartment here, consider exchanging with another traveler. This is often a great option for traveling families because when they partner with other families, the home is usually set up in a kid-friendly way already. There are many home exchange and vacation rental sites available online.

5. Live like a local

When you avoid staying at a hotel, it’s easier to live like a local. Families can save a lot of money by eating at least some of their meals at ‘home’. Public transportation is often cheaper than renting a car, plus many vacation rentals include bicycles which can give you and the kids some great exercise and a way to explore your destination from ground level. Ask the locals where they like to eat their meals and you’re more likely to find inexpensive and the tastiest options around.

Plus, if you decided to take the kids out of school for this break, you can use your grocery shopping trips to test their language math skills (think reading labels and calculating currency conversions).

6. Go where the dollar goes farther

If the current exchange rate is dashing your dreams of a trip to France, travel somewhere the dollar has better purchasing power. Right now, South and Central America and Canada are great options, but don’t overlook destinations like Turkey, Switzerland, and Croatia – they’ve avoided switching to the Euro and are more budget-friendly. There are many affordable destinations that are rich in culture, history, and natural beauty available on a budget.

Staying inside the U.S. is also a great way to keep costs down. If the kids haven’t yet seen every single national park, it’s a great time to visit them and show your support – especially as they’re working hard to keep the parks open during a budget crisis.

7. Look for cheap and free things to do

Many destinations have local coupon books that give you discounts on attractions. Many larger cities like Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta (to name just a few) have CityPASS. These passes combine offers from a lot of attractions over a period of days and the more people you have, the more you save.

When it comes to finding free things to do, all it takes is a little research. After all, even the famous Louvre in Paris has free admission when visitors fall into certain categories or visit on certain days. City parks, biking and hiking trails, and more – there are always free things families can do to stretch their travel dollars. After all, families where you’re going need to save money too. While you’re living like a local, ask other families what things they like to do and see.

8. Insure your trip

If you do have to cancel your trip for unavoidable reasons, trip cancellation protection means you’ll be able to be reimbursed for your pre-paid trip costs. With many hotels now committed to strict cancellation fees in exchange for lower room prices, many travelers are also stuck footing that bill when they have to cancel.

Often, simply cancelling the trip, making a claim on your travel insurance, and going another time is cheaper than trying to navigate the change fees and cancellation rules. Just make sure you’re cancelling your trip for a reason that’s covered by your travel insurance plan.

Stretch your travel dollars by choosing a family travel insurance plan that covers kids at no extra charge. Just make sure that all the kids are related to you. Travel insurance plan only covers those dependents who are related, i.e., not your child’s best friend.

9. Avoid unexpected medical costs

If you’re traveling outside your health insurance network, take a little time to get travel medical insurance. The cost of medical care is rising around the world and some countries refuse to treat travelers beyond life-saving measures when they’re not citizens of the country.

To get a doctor to treat you at a hospital in Costa Rica, for example, you’ll need a major credit card just to get things started. Travel medical insurance can be as cheap as a dollar day for most travelers, so it’s really a no-brainer.

7 Tips to Pack for 2 (or more) Climates in a Single Bag

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Tips to Pack for 2 (or more) Climates in a Single BagRecently, we heard from a traveler who was starting her trip in Pennsylvania, going to warm and sunny Florida for a few days, then boarding a cruise ship that would take her through the Panama Canal and deposit her in San Diego. After spending some time in San Diego with friends, this traveler planned to fly to Colorado to do some hiking and later head home. The entire trip would last a little less than four weeks.

This traveler’s trip was scheduled for spring, which meant they would be leaving in cold, possibly snowy weather, going to a warmer climate, back to a chilly climate, and then to warm again. She would be traveling in both very high and very low elevations and, of course, there’s no predicting the weather patterns she could encounter along the way. After all, it can get downright chilly in the upper elevations and out on the water on a cruise ship even in the best of weather.

One of the most difficult challenges of packing light occurs when you’re required to pack for multiple climates. Yet some travelers claim they can pack for any type of weather in just a single bag. So we decided to research the expert recommendations and discover the best tricks for packing for multiple climates in a single bag.

1. Start with a packing list

Lots of frequent travelers have these, but even those travelers who take just one trip a year have some experience putting together a packing list. After all, there are those items that you must have: prescriptions, reading glasses, for example, and there are those items that make you more comfortable along on your trip, like an e-reader, for example.

Ultimately, you want to plan and pack for the ideal, best-case scenario and then purchase your way out of a jam when you have to. If all the layers in your bag just won’t keep you warm in a freak snowstorm, for example, then buy a coat.

Think in terms of what you cannot do without and not what would be handy on your trip. After all, they have stores in other countries too and just imagine the fun of exploring a foreign supermarket on a rainy afternoon!

2. Handle the warmest climate first, then the coldest

Start with the warmest climate you’ll encounter and determine what you’ll wear there. These items may include shorts, a swimsuit, light t-shirts, etc. These become one layer of your clothing strategy. Make sure each piece of clothing can be worn alone and that each piece is also thin enough to add extra warmth when paired with other pieces, which you’ll be adding next.

With your warm-weather pile established, tackle the colder climate. A light fleece adds warmth but it’s no match against wind or rain. A light fleece sweater layered over your warm-weather tank top and under a light rain-proof jacket not only looks good, but is warm and comfy in the wind and rain.

3. Think layers and double duty

Wearing layers of clothing is the only way a traveler can effectively pack for both warm and cold weather, dry and damp conditions. The layers trap heat against the body – keeping you warm – and the outer layers can be removed as the heat builds up and you need to cool down.

Clothing items that work double-duty are the best. Think:

  • Light jackets with thumb holes – almost like gloves, hands stay warm

  • Ballet flats – work for day and night and great for walking

  • Silk underwear – great for warmth under other layers and thin, thin, thin

  • Fine gauge sweaters in silk, merino, and cashmere – easy layering and they don’t hold odor the same way synthetics do (easier to wash too!)

  • Tights or leggings – work great to keep warm under pants and skirts and great for light wear too (get the ones that don’t cling to other clothing)

Once you’ve got both your warm and cold weather clothing choices in a pile, it’s time to edit.

4. Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate

Now, it’s time to edit ruthlessly. Any item that is edgy or on the cusp – and you know you may not wear it – gets eliminated. Only those items that can be used many times and with many other items go in the suitcase. If necessary, put the outfits together and see how they work with each other.

These items take too much space in your bag and should be eliminated at all costs:

  • Sweatshirts

  • Blue jeans

  • Sneakers/running shoes

  • Hiking boots

We recognize that many of these are simply go-to staples in the typical American wardrobe. No problem – wear them on the plane instead of packing them and you’ve got the best of both worlds.

You may not need shampoo, conditioner, body wash or a range of other items if you’re traveling to a hotel that provides them and you aren’t too picky. Eliminate them. No need for a hair dryer either – even cruise ships have these. You don’t need towels either – if where you are going doesn’t have them, why are you staying there?

Note: If you really have to have your own towel (perhaps you’re camping for days or on a cruise ship that’s lost power), try some of the high-tech, quick-drying towels on this site.

5. Identify and control the space hogs

What are the space hogs in any suitcase or bag? It’s your shoes and your electronics. After all, they don’t squish as well as a t-shirt does.

When it comes to shoes, the fewer pairs you take, the better. Ask yourself these questions before choosing a pair of shoes for your trip:

  1. Is this pair of shoes necessary?

  2. Does this pair of shoes go well with most of my clothing?

  3. Should I wear these on the plane to save packing space?

Any pair of shoes that ends up in your bag should be used to secure other items so you aren’t wasting the space where your foot normally goes. That’s valuable real estate in a tight market.

When it comes to electronics, separate the cords and chargers and put them into a separate drawstring bag or plastic zipper bags – squeeze out the air to save more space.

Taking extra batteries? See how to safely transport spare lithium batteries.

6. Wash as you go

You can easily wash clothes in the hotel room sink or find a laundry once a week or so to get things really clean. Use a biodegradable soap that is friendly to the environment especially since some areas require it. You can even use shampoo to clean your clothes and you know it will be easy to wash out and not ruin the color – after all, you’re using it on your hair as the perfect testing ground.

Look into taking a packable clothesline on which to hang your washed clothing or simply use the clothes hangers in the hotel closet and the shower bar!

7. Toss along the way

We’ve heard of travelers who swear by this trick. They pack and wear their oldest clothes – especially those ratty t-shirts that are great for sleeping in and take the place of having to pack pajamas – on their trips and simply toss them as they go.

Think about it: these travelers get to go shopping in a new place and fill their bags with lovely fresh items. It’s a great way to recycle your wardrobe and not draw too much attention to yourself as a ‘rich American’ at the same time.

What’s the best travel insurance for a walking tour?

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What's the best travel insurance for a walking tour?In the old days, a traditional tour involved big groups in climate-controlled buses rolling along while the tour guide explained the significance of what you were seeing as you go by. These days, travelers are looking for something more and many turn to walking tours as a way to get more exercise, get closer to the local culture, and really experience the environment in which they are traveling.

Walking tours give travelers the unique opportunity to experience a place in a more intimate way rather than whizzing by with your nose pressed against the glass. As with other forms of slow travel, walking is also a great way to reduce the environmental impact where you travel. If you usually gather a few extra pounds of weight on your vacations, a walking tour is the perfect style of travel and you don’t have to feel badly about that extra glass of wine or dessert in the evening after a day of walking.

There are many types of walking tour groups all around the globe and the features of each vary widely. Some walking tour groups are relatively limited in their services – handing the traveler a map and hauling their luggage from location to location. Others plan and guide all your walks, organize the lodging and meals, and can assist you if you are injured.

A walking tour is a relatively active form of travel and it’s important to realize that accidents and illnesses happen anywhere, anytime. Before you book a walking tour, let’s review what can go wrong and how to protect your trip investment and yourself before you leave.

You break your ankle when you slip off the trail

While walking isn’t a particularly dangerous activity, a walking tour may guide you along city streets or rough trails. Depending on how fast your group is walking and where you are walking, there is always some risk of injury. Those walking the Camino de Santiago, for example, are walking on rugged trails, back roads, paved streets, and various other terrain.

If you are injured in a place where your own health insurance doesn’t cover, you could be facing a relatively hefty medical bill. In addition, and depending on your injury and how long it takes you to recover and the walking tour’s terms and conditions, you could lose the remainder of your walking tour investment.

Having travel medical insurance will protect you from the expensive medical costs and provide an emergency medical evacuation, should you need it. In addition, a travel insurance plan with trip interruption coverage will reimburse you for your lost trip expenses should you be forced to abandon your trip and return home to recover.

Your wallet is stolen as you gaze upon gorgeous frescoes

Recently, the staff at the world-famous Louvre closed the museum to protest the high numbers of aggressive pickpockets who were tormenting the patrons and staff. Losing your wallet and/or passport during any type of tour is common because thieves know what to look for: a busy group of people who are distracted by what they are seeing (see How to spot a pickpocket for useful tips.)

Of course, passports, credit cards, and other travel documents are not typically covered by baggage protection, so it’s important to keep those documents on your person when you travel.

Having a travel insurance plan with passport and credit card coverage means you’ll have help replacing your passport and reimbursement for the fees associated with an emergency passport replacement. You’ll also have help with emergency cash advances and identity theft services to help if your identity is compromised by the theft on your trip.

Tip: See why safe travelers love money belts and here’s how to protect your credit card numbers should you need to get replacements.

Your bags haven’t arrived yet and you start walking tomorrow

While the airlines have gotten better at getting luggage delivered to the right place, there is no shortage of thieves who are only too happy to snag a nice piece of luggage off the conveyor belt before you get to it. Your bags can be pilfered by the TSA’s sticky fingers, slip off the baggage carousel, stolen from the back of the bus, or snatched from behind you while you wait in line.

Having a travel insurance plan with adequate baggage coverage means you will be reimbursed (up to the plan limit) for necessary items, including the bag itself no matter where your bag is stolen during your trip. If your bag gets on the wrong plane and is delayed a few days, you’ll have some cash to purchase the essentials so you can start your walking tour.

Tip: See the 5 things every traveler should know about baggage before taking a trip for more advice to keeping your luggage safe.

Your travel companion is killed by a drunk driver

Many walkers prefer to start walking before sunrise when they’re walking in areas with high heat in the middle of the day. This helps them get to their target destination earlier in the day, so they can take advantage of the air-conditioned rooms or at least a cool shower in the hottest part of they day rather than walking during that time.

If a traveler is killed or dies while on a trip, there are many issues to contend with: the preparation of the body, the cost of transporting their body back home, and the regulations to be navigated when transporting a body. It’s a gruesome thought but emergency evacuation and repatriation coverage can help a traveler’s friends and family avoid those problems.

Tip: If you will be walking in the dark on your walking tour, consider wearing reflective clothing and/or gear to ensure that those driving on poorly lit roads can see you.

Your walking tour is stopped by a mandatory evacuation

Natural disasters occur all the time and depending on where you are walking, you could encounter avalanches, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions among others. When a natural disaster occurs, there are often mandatory evacuations and if your walking tour is derailed by a natural disaster, you could be out a lot of money. Depending on the situation, you could also be facing last-minute airfare costs to get you to safety.

A travel insurance plan with coverage for natural disasters can help you with pre-trip cancellation reimbursement, trip interruption coverage to refund your remaining trip investment, even non-medical evacuations to get you to a safe place.

Tip: If your walking tour travels through an area where natural disasters occur, read your travel insurance policy carefully to understand the coverage you have for those situations.

Your babysitter is sick and you have to cancel

If your child’s babysitter cannot take care of your kids, and you can’t find a replacement you could have to cancel your walking tour. No travel insurance plan will cover babysitters canceling, but ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage is designed for those instances where standard trip cancellation won’t fit the situation.

While ‘cancel for any reason’ is nearly always an upgrade (and therefore costs a little more), if your life circumstances are not as predictable as you might like or you have extenuating circumstances (like an ill parent) that could affect your ability to take your walking tour, it just might be the coverage you can’t go without.

You are hospitalized, leaving the children unattended

Many parents take walking tours with children and if you are traveling with your children, or your children’s friends, it can be nerve-wracking to think about how best to protect them. Of course it’s necessary to include your own children on your travel insurance policy – many travel plans cover kids for free – but also to have any non related children covered with their own plans as well.

Almost worse than having your child in the hospital, if you are hospitalized while on your walking tour and cannot care for your children, what do you do?

A travel insurance plan with ‘return of minor children’ coverage ensures that any dependent kids who are on the same trip with you are returned safely home in the event you are hospitalized more than a certain number of days (usually seven). In addition, with many travel insurance plans, you’ll have the coverage you need to bring a friend or family member to your bedside should you be hospitalized over a certain number of days.

Be sure you have the right coverage for your walking tour

So, what’s the best travel insurance for a walking tour? Depending on the type of walking tour and where you will be walking, you may need to upgrade your plan for adventure activity coverage. After choosing your walking tour, look through the information to determine what type of walking you’ll be doing.

Walking along city streets is very different from hiking a high mountain trail between towns, for example. If you will be doing more rugged types of walking, read through the travel insurance plans carefully – focus specifically on the exclusions section – to ensure that your activities aren’t excluded from coverage.

Even better, give the travel insurance company a call and tell them about your planned trip and ask them to verify that your travel medical and trip interruption coverage will be in effect while you are taking a walking tour.

Tip: Be sure to read the policies for the walking tour company you’ve chosen too. They often have very specific limits to what they can do to help injured walkers or those who have to cancel and you’ll want to protect yourself from those situations with your travel insurance plan.

6 Steps to Avoid Denied Travel Insurance Claims

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Steps to Avoid Denied Travel Insurance ClaimsWith travel horror stories like emergency medical evacuations, stranded cruise ships, and super blizzards, travelers have become more aware of travel insurance and yet they still have a lot to learn.

Unfortunately, the impression that many travelers have is that once they buy the plan, they’re covered for anything that goes wrong on their trip.

Like any other insurance product, your travel insurance is a legal document and there are exclusions and limitations to the coverage you have to understand before you can be 100% confident you have the right coverage.

Here are 6 steps to avoid denied travel insurance claims.

1. Buy your travel insurance policy early

Your travel insurance can’t protect you from things that have already happened. If the hurricane warning has been issued, or your spouse is ill, or the traffic accident occurred, it’s too late to buy a travel insurance policy to cover your trip for those events. Also, several important coverages require the traveler to purchase the plan within a certain number of days of making their first trip deposit, so you want coverage for:

you’ll need to buy your travel insurance early.

2. Insure all your pre-paid trip expenses

Many travelers purchase their flights and then buy their travel insurance, estimating the cost of their remaining travel expenses. This is a great way to lock in your coverage and get access to the time-critical coverages, but you’ve got to circle back and update your coverage for all your non-refundable travel expenses once you have a total or some coverages, like trip cancellation, won’t be active. Not only that, the travel insurance plan won’t send you a check for the portion of your trip you did insure.

You’ve got to check your travel details and total up the trip costs to make sure your coverage is valid. If you estimate high, then finalize your plans during the free look period, you can make changes to your policy and be set to go.

3. Recognize what a pre-existing condition means

A pre-existing condition is defined in travel insurance plans as “any injury, illness, disease or other medical condition that occurs prior to the travel plan’s effective date and for which you had symptoms and sought diagnosis, medical treatment, and/or new prescription medications or a change in your current prescription.”

The definition doesn’t change even if you later find out you had a pre-existing condition and didn’t know it. If you recently visited the doctor for a medical issue (within the last 60-180 days) and don’t have the results from that visit yet, you might want to hold off on buying your travel insurance. At least until you’re sure the reason you visited the doctor isn’t going to result in a diagnosis that may cause you to cancel your trip. If you buy your travel insurance, then find out you have a diagnosis that means you’ll have to cancel your trip, that cancellation won’t be covered unless you bought pre-existing medical condition coverage.

4. Read and understand the covered reasons for cancelling

Unfortunately, many travelers read ‘trip cancellation’ and think that means they can cancel their trip no matter what, but it’s just not true. Travel insurance providers specifically list the reasons a traveler can and cannot cancel their trip and expect to be reimbursed for their lost non-refundable payments.

Read the travel insurance plan documents that are sent to you by email when you buy the plan to understand the reasons you can and cannot cancel your trip. If you want the right to cancel your trip for any reason at all, get ‘cancel for any reason’ as your backup coverage.

5. Get to know the exclusions

Every insurance plan has exclusions and travel insurance does too. We recently heard of a traveler who cancelled their trip because of a job loss, but their claim was denied because they hadn’t worked the required minimum time at the company (1 to 2 years is standard). Understandably, the traveler was angry but the policy was clear. The traveler just hadn’t read it thoroughly. If she’d had ‘cancel for any reason’ her trip would have been covered.

Stop and read the exclusions listed in your travel insurance plan document and think about the things that can go wrong. The exclusions are typically contained in an easily identified part of the travel insurance plan documents, so they’re not too hard to find.

6. If something happens, get all documentation you can

Often, travel insurance companies are forced to deny claims because of a lack of documentation. Many travelers expect their travel insurance company to take their word that the flight was delayed or that their passport was stolen and it’s just not reasonable.

If something happens on your trip and you believe you’ll need to make a claim, get written documentation to prove that loss. If you’re sick, go to the doctor and get a diagnosis in writing – even if it’s the flu and you know how to treat it. Otherwise, the travel insurance company won’t have proof and your claim will be denied.

 

Should Pregnant Travelers Get Travel Insurance?

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Should Pregnant Travelers Get Travel Insurance?Recently, we’ve had a few questions about how to cover pregnant travelers with travel insurance.

Many airlines will refuse to carry women who are in an advanced stage of pregnancy – again, because of the risk that the mother will go into labor and/or need medical attention while in flight. And most travel insurance providers are understandably unwilling to take the extra risk of insuring pregnant travelers because of the increased possibility that the mother will need medical attention. If the traveler wants their travel insurance plan to cover cancellation due to pregnancy, can they get it?

If pregnancy is specifically excluded from all travel insurance coverage, what’s a traveler to do?

Respect the Timing

If the traveler is already pregnant, that’s considered a pre-existing condition and therefore not covered except by adding the pre-existing condition coverage. If the insured is pregnant before the travel insurance plan’s effective date, you’ll need to purchase a travel insurance plan with coverage for pre-existing conditions. If the insured is not yet pregnant, but may become pregnant before or during the trip, understand that trip cancellations and interruptions will not be covered unless there are medical complications due to the pregnancy.

If you recently purchased your travel insurance, and have discovered you are or may be pregnant, your purchase may be within the free look period (typically 10-15 days after the purchase) and you may be able to make changes or cancel the policy for one that has the coverage you need.

Know that Complications due to Pregnancy are Covered

While normal pregnancy is specifically excluded from travel insurance coverage, which means you can’t cancel your trip, end it and return home, or get medical care while traveling unless there are medical complications resulting from the pregnancy.

A complication of pregnancy is defined as “a condition whose diagnosis is distinct from pregnancy but is adversely affected or caused by pregnancy”. So, you’ll have travel coverage for emergency medical treatment if you become pregnant after the travel insurance plan’s effective date and the plan includes ‘complications due to pregnancy’ as a covered event.

Buy ‘Cancel for any reason’ for Trip Cancellation Protection

It’s important for travelers to understand that being pregnant, in itself, isn’t included as a covered reason to cancel your trip. Similarly, if your pregnancy turns out to be a ‘high-risk’ pregnancy and you’re advised not to travel, that isn’t a covered reason to cancel either.

Should Pregnant Travelers Get Travel Insurance

So, if you find out you’re pregnant and decide that a trip to the Bahamas six months down the road isn’t for you, you won’t be covered for that trip cancellation without ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage.

Best Practices for Women Who Are or May Become Pregnant

The following are the travel insurance best practices for women who are or may become pregnant and are planning to travel:

  1. If you’re already pregnant – check that the plan specifically states that complications of pregnancy are covered and that it has pre-existing medical condition coverage. See the details of pre-existing medical coverage for information about timing your travel insurance purchase.

  2. If you might become pregnant – if you want the absolute right to cancel your trip if you become pregnant, you’ll need to buy ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage.

     

4 Benefits to Hiring a Private Travel Guide

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Hiring a private travel guideBefore you start envisioning your standard tour guide standing in the front of a crowded bus full of tourists – much like a moving fish tank for the locals to gawk at – barking out boring facts about things you couldn’t care less about, there are many different types of travel guides.

Many travel guides these days are independent, self-promoting individuals who are experts in a particular area. They usually take very small, intimate groups to see those sights and restaurants that only the locals know. Even travelers who prefer checking out things on their own may find that hiring a private tour guide, especially when you have a short amount of time and don’t know your way around, is the best way to really enjoy your time in a particular place.

There’s no right or wrong way to travel to and in a new region of the world, but how you go about it depends on a few factors:

  • Your budget
  • The amount of time you have
  • What you want to see and do

The kind of travel guide we’re speaking of here is not one of the fast-talking touts who pester anyone with a suitcase at the local point of entry. Instead, we’re talking about a real live local who knows the area you are visiting and can take you to the places you never knew existed – even introduce you to the locals.

1. Immediate access to things you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise

Something you may not know from the travel books is that many museums and monuments round the world work with independent local travel guides whom they can trust to bring in visitors and not require the services of the on-site staff too much and as a result, they’re more willing to allow privileges to those traveling with a known travel guide.

When traveling with a travel guide, you’re often privy to access to things you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. For example, if you’re traveling in Rome and want to see the Vatican, you’ll wait for hours in a line but with a guide, you’ll get in a lot quicker. A local tour guide will also best understand the quickest ways to get around the new area just like you know how best to get around in your home town.

2. The ability to learn about the culture from someone on the inside

One of the first and most important benefits of hiring a local travel guide is the chance it gives you to learn about the culture from someone on the inside.

A good local travel guide will be able to explain the local culture – that is, why people are doing what they do every day – from the insider perspective. They should also make sure you, as a foreigner in a new place, don’t feel out of place.

3. The flexibility to tailor your travel to what you want to see

While most travelers think of standard tour buses packages when they think of the term tour guide, there are many private travel guides who will tailor the experience to include the sights and attractions you want to see instead of taking the standard tourist route.

Hiring a private tour guide gives a traveler an individual experience with a personalized touch and avoids the crowds. Plus, in most cases, the tour price includes discounted admission into the attractions as well as all of the subway, bus, taxi and even boat fares – a fact that can help offset the cost of hiring a private travel guide to the budget traveler.

4. Insight, companionship, and a little more security

In some places of the world, the bureaucracy and red tape makes it difficult for a foreigner to get anywhere; in other places, it’s simply not safe to travel alone. For many travelers – and especially solo travelers – the value of having a local expert show them around and negotiate with the locals is priceless.

Of course, the added security of 1. knowing where you’re going (or at least looking like it with a guide striding by your side), and 2. having another person along with you when you explore means a little extra security. No one plans to get robbed or kidnapped, but it’s much less likely with a local at your side.

When should you hire a private travel guide?

There are some trips when it really helps to hire a private travel guide. These include:

  1. When you have very little time. Business travelers have learned the value of a private tour guide when they have just a little time in a place and still want to have a meaningful experience.
  2. When you are visiting a relatively dangerous or chaotic location. Anyplace with a reputation for being dangerous or unpredictable means a private travel guide can help keep you safe and out of tough spots.
  3. When you are visiting a particularly popular location. A private tour guide will know the tricks and tactics to help yoy get the most out of a heavily visited location by going before or after the crowds, for example.
  4. When you’re on a long stay and want to really know the area. Hiring a private travel guide at the start of a longer stay can help you get your bearings for the area and will often leave you with a list of things to explore on your own.
  5. When you’re taking an adventure trip. Unless you’re an expert at your chosen activity and the local region, weather, and topography, hiring a guide could be a matter of life and death. In some regions, foreign visitors are required to hire guides.
  6. When you want to hand over the boring logistics. The hassle of obtaining tickets, timing reservations, checking operating hours and figuring out the details is easy stuff for any experienced travel guide and often paying them is simply worth it for the value you get.
  7. When the language barrier is too severe. When you don’t speak the local language and the locals are unlikely to speak yours, hiring a private tour guide can be invaluable.

Finding a good travel guide can be a challenge since many don’t have a website or market themselves. Often, however, asking other tourists or the locals once you get there can garner a good recommendations. Some websites have begun popping up to advertise local guides as well as giving you an idea of their credentials.

What should you look for in a travel guide?

A good tour guide will have been living in the region for some time because they chose to. They may have grown up there and never wanted to leave, or they may be foreigners themselves and found the region you’re visiting and became a local. Either way, there’s a reason they are where they are and doing what they do – it’s because the love the area, they know the area, and they like sharing it with others.

Just remember while a travel guide is especially helpful when you don’t know the local language, the common language of smiling and knowing a few basic words and phrases will get a traveler pretty darn far too.

10 Important Tips for Traveling Seniors

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Important Tips for Traveling SeniorsEvery year more baby boomers retire and when asked about their retirement goals, well over half of all retiring seniors say they want to travel.

Many seniors make the mistake of thinking they can’t afford travel insurance, but actually, there are many plans available for seniors. See our complete review of Senior Travel Insurance for more information.

Here are 10 important tips for seniors planning to travel soon:

1. Choose an appropriate destination

Senior travelers have different risks than younger travelers do and it’s important to manage those risks for your health, your family, and your financial security.

Choose a destination that suits your interests but also your preferred activity level. Some seniors are very active and healthy, and so a bike tour through Italy is not out of the question. Just make sure you understand how many miles you’ll be putting on each day and choose an itinerary that allows for rest days.

2. Check your Medicare supplement plan

Check your medicare supplement plan for travel benefits. Medicare doesn’t pay for medical treatment outside the U.S., so many supplement plans have started adding emergency health care to their coverage.

Before you leave, understand your travel benefits by reading the explanation of coverage for details. If you discover you have limited, or worse no, medical coverage where you are traveling, a travel medical plan can fill the gap.

3. Check your medical evacuation coverage

A medical evacuation can cost as much as $200,000 depending on where you are traveling, how far you have to go to receive treatment, and what medical treatment you need inflight.

Medical evacuation, or Medevac, coverage ensures the coordination and the funds necessary for medical evacuations.

4. Check your repatriation coverage

Repatriation is the coverage necessary to arrange and pay for transporting an insured person’s body home should he or she die while traveling outside the country.

Transporting a body means navigating a complicated system of foreign and local laws plus expenses, so be sure your family has help getting your body back by having a travel insurance plan with repatriation coverage.

5. Arrange to carry your medications

Medications are not always easy to obtain in identical or trusted forms in other countries. Even when traveling domestically, experts recommend that seniors carry some, if not all, their medications with them in case of lost or stolen luggage.

Follow these steps to carry your medications:

  1. Order a 90-day supply ahead of time through mail order
  2. Combine the full supply of each medication into a single labeled prescription bottle (to save space)
  3. Carry a copy of your prescriptions as well – just in case
  4. Have travel insurance with good travel assistance services in case your medications are lost or stolen

6. Consider a pre-travel medical exam

Before traveling outside the country, you should see your doctor for a pre-travel exam (ideally at least 4 weeks prior to their trip) to:

  • Assess your general fitness for travel
  • Identify and prepare for any potential medical problems, such as altitude sickness
  • Identify and order any potentially necessary vaccinations
  • Get prescriptions for diseases you may encounter, like malaria

If you have any pre-existing medical conditions or your doctor makes a change in your medication, you will need to purchase a travel insurance plan with a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions.

7. Carry your basic medical info and a travel medical kit

All travelers should carry a personal emergency medical kit – particularly one that meets the needs of the traveler and the medical issues they are likely to encounter at their destination. That travel kit should contain your basic medical info, which includes:

  • The name, phone number, and email of your primary doctor
  • The name, identification number, and phone number of your medicare supplement plan
  • The name, identification number, and phone number of your travel insurance plan
  • A list of allergies and medications you’re currently taking

See this travel safety tip: What’s in your Travel Medical Kit for more details.

8. Decide on annual versus per-trip coverage

Seniors who travel often throughout the year may find an annual plan saves them time and money. There are a few benefits to having the same coverage all year long, including:

  • Less time researching travel insurance for each trip
  • Less time putting together the travel documents for each trip
  • One travel assistance hotline to call – all year long

The key, of course, is to look at where you plan to travel and how many trips you’ll be taking during the year to see if the cost savings work to your advantage. This is where using a travel insurance comparison tool is a great help.

9. Determine your cancellation risk

Many senior travelers are loathe to purchase trip cancellation coverage. After all, it can be expensive and you have no intention of cancelling your trip anyway.

Unfortunately, there are certain situations when it can be helpful, including:

  • If a member of your family gets sick, injured, or dies
  • If a hurricane or natural disaster strikes your destination
  • If a terrorist attack occurs at your travel spot
  • If your home is damaged or burglarized before or during your trip
  • If your passport is lost or stolen before your trip

No one likes to think a disaster like this can happen – especially when you have a trip planned – but they do happen and to ensure you can get all of your pre-paid trip costs refunded, you’ll want trip cancellation insurance.

See What determines my total trip cost for details on what to insure and what to ignore.

10. Getting home may be critical too

Even if you decide you don’t need trip cancellation coverage, it’s important to have a plan with trip interruption coverage. This coverage reimburses you for your unused trip expenses if you have to suddenly abandon your trip and return home (for a covered reason – see #9 above for a list of likely reasons).

Why Cruise Travel Insurance Can’t Rescue Passengers When the Cruise Ship Fails

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Stranded Cruise Passengers can't be rescued with travel insuranceLast week, the Huffington Post published an article with a misleading title: Carnival Cruise Lines and Why Third Party Travel Insurance Pays. The article goes on to imply that third-party cruise travel insurance would have helped those travelers who were stuck on some of the rather epic cruise ship debacles that have occurred lately, including mechanical issues, engine fires, and propulsion problems.

The result of these cruise ship failures have left passengers stranded at sea for days without power or working toilets, and in some cases, being flown home (at the cruise line’s expense) after debarking early.

While the HuffPost article goes on to clarify that neither suing the cruise line nor expecting a lot of concessions from them is likely to get an angry cruise passenger anywhere, it’s important to be clear that travel insurance isn’t going to rescue them either.

Stranded Cruise Passengers Can’t Expect Much Help from Travel Insurance

When you’re stranded on a boat with no power, no running water, no food, and no real answers as to when the situation will end, no one could blame you for wanting to get off the boat immediately and either go home or go somewhere else. After all, vacation time is limited and a cruise vacation is relatively expensive as vacations go, so you’d expect to be able to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, travel insurance – even third-party travel insurance – can’t help passengers in situations like these, and here’s why:

  • Trip cancellation claims have to be initiated before the trip starts. This includes ‘cancel for any reason’ claims too.
  • Trip interruption claims – that is, interrupting your trip and going home, have to be the result of a covered reason for abandoning your trip (you can’t be evacuated simply because you want to go).
  • Evacuation claims are isolated to medically necessary emergencies and, with some plans, security evacuations due to political rioting, terrorist actions, that kind of thing.

None of these coverage options fit the situation the stranded cruise passengers were in.

The Huffington Post article is correct in that insurance packages offered by the cruise lines themselves are not likely to help when the ship breaks down either. While a third-party travel insurance plan is always recommended by those of us here at Travel Insurance Review, as well as by many travel experts, even third-party travel insurance would not have been able to do much to help the travelers stuck in these nightmare vacations.

The fact that Carnival Cruise Lines also gave their passengers future credits and refunds means that the passengers were compensated, i.e., they were made ‘whole’ again. They may have had no fun, been significantly inconvenienced, and were probably downright unhappy about their cruise, but essentially the cruise line made things ‘right’ again to the level they’re required to and travel insurance won’t provide anything on top of that. After all, a cruise ticket is more than your pass to get onboard – it’s actually a legally binding contract that limits the cruise lines’ liability and the cruise lines don’t have to offer angry passengers anything at all.

When IS Travel Insurance Useful to Cruise Travelers?

Here’s how having a comprehensive travel insurance plan can help you when you’ve planned a cruise vacation:

  • If you must cancel your trip before you leave – if you have to cancel your cruise trip for an illness, an accident, or other event, travel insurance will reimburse your pre-paid non refundable trip costs as long as you cancel your trip for a covered reason. The reason you’re cancelling must be covered by the travel insurance plan and the covered reasons are listed right in the plan document. If you want extra peace of mind and the ability to cancel for any reason at all, you can pay a little more and get ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage for up to 100% of your trip costs. See our review of trip cancellation coverage.
  • If you need emergency medical care or an evacuation off the ship – most cruise ships have some minimal medical treatment facilities on board, but if your illness or injuries cannot be treated by the staff, you’ll want to know that your travel insurance company will arrange and pay for your medical treatment and evacuation. See our review of travel medical and evacuation coverage. With emergency evacuation coverage, an insured traveler also gets repatriation coverage which assists their family in retrieving their body if they die on a covered trip.
  • If you miss your connection and the boat departs without you – air travel is more  unpredictable than ever these days and if you miss a connection and the boat departs without you, you could be out thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. The right travel insurance plan will overcome that problem by helping you find alternative flights to catch the boat at the next port. see our review of missed connection coverage.
  • If your luggage is delayed or lost during your trip – when your luggage fails to arrive on time, it can make the first days of your trip very difficult. Travel insurance can help a traveler by reimbursing their purchases for the essentials when their bag is delayed and replacing their personal belongings (including the suitcase) when the luggage is deemed lost. See our review of baggage coverage and baggage delay coverage.

Of course, most travel insurance package plans come with a range of benefits that can also be of use to cruise passengers as well, including:

Unfortunately, what you can’t expect from your travel insurance company – even though you might like to – is that they will rescue you off a ship in the middle of the sea when no one is having any fun.