Every 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).

Around 15 years ago, at the same time that trips abroad became easier and less expensive and educated Americans began seeking unique and unusual travel experiences, volunteering became a regular part of the national conversation.

Today, around one in three Americans volunteer and most of the growth in volunteer tourism, or voluntourism, has been with short-term commitments defined as a volunteer vacation. For many volunteer travelers, the realization that they get to see the world and experience a closer connection with the local food, music, culture means a lot.

You’re Not in New York for the Weekend

If you’re doing volunteer work, it’s important to focus your packing on what you’ll be doing. Many packing lists you’ll find on the web do not account for the fact that you could be getting very messy and dirty.

A volunteer trip is not a care-free holiday. You must be reasonably self-reliant, able to clean your clothes yourself, able to stay healthy, and have enough variety in your bag to do many different kinds of tasks.

Many short-term volunteers carry an extra bag with supplies or gifts to donate to the people where they are headed. Depending on where you are going and for what reason, this particular step can ensure a lot of good will.

Bring what you need and only what you need

Traveling with as little as possible is great, but it’s essential to have what you need when you get there too. After all, most countries do not have a big-box-sells-everything-cheap store on every corner.

Ask lots of questions before you leave, so you’ll know.

1. Are there laundry facilities nearby?
2. Do I need towels, bedding, sleeping bag, mosquito netting, etc.?
3. If I’m doing outdoor work, do I need work gloves, tools, etc.?
4. Will I be able to recharge my camera, phone, laptop, etc.?

These are critical factors that determine what you put into your bag.

The Absolute Essentials

The following are absolute essentials you must pack:

• Small daypack to carry items to and from the site and on excursions
• Any medicines you need, plus the items we recommend all travelers have in their Travel Medical Kit
• A re-usable water bottle (you can refill as you go)
• A English-to-X language dictionary or translation app (excellent for helping with communication)
• Small flashlight and batteries (you may have to move about in the dark and where electricity is not reliable)
• Toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, razors, etc.
• Sunglasses and a hat
• Laundry detergent (put the powder in a zippered plastic bag and double-bag it)

Of course, depending on your trip, you may want to bring items like binoculars, portable music players, sports equipment, and more, but think carefully about it because every pound matters when you’re carrying it up an unfamiliar road in the dark!

The Clothing Essentials

When it comes to your clothing, choose sturdy, hard-working items that can be easily layered – we know you can figure out the basic stuff, but add these to the pile:

• a light rain-proof jacket for unpredictable weather
• flip-flops for strange shower scenarios
• durable work shoes
• one semi-formal outfit in case of special circumstances
• a bathing suit, if appropriate for your location and the culture

Bring Donations, If Appropriate

Many volunteer programs request that volunteers bring items that cannot be easily purchased in the country where you’ll be volunteering. Sometimes this is as simple as fun items for the kids to play with.

If there’s a need, your program will tell you and you can pack accordingly. If no need is specifically made clear, then tailor what you bring based on the type of work you’ll be doing and who you’ll be working with.

• Building a school in a community with lots of kids? Bring art supplies, markers, coloring books, and things kids will enjoy and may not have on hand.
• Helping animals abandoned in a disaster? Think chew toys, old blankets, and training aids.
• Working with other volunteers from around the globe? Consider a board game or cards – it’s a great way to connect and learn about each other.
• Helping to teach young children? Teaching supplies like pens, pencils, notebooks, and backpacks are a great way to help.

Check your travel insurance

When we took a look recently at some of the volunteer travel opportunities available – and there are many – we noticed that not all of them included travel insurance information with their program. In addition, some offered a one-size-fits-all travel plan that would not meet the needs of travelers with pre-existing medical conditions, like asthma or diabetes, or allow the traveler to enjoy adventurous sports on their trip.

Therefore, we strongly recommend those considering a volunteer trip to carefully examine the travel insurance coverage (if available) and purchase travel insurance for their trip if it’s not included. Type a few trip details into our compare quotes form and get quotes from many companies.

Protect your Travel documents, Credit Cards, Passports, and more

Read these articles for ways to protect your travel documents, your credit cards, and your passport when you travel on a volunteer trip or vacation.

• 4 Best Backup Methods for your Travel Documents – including a list of travel docs to backup.
• A 6-Step Checklist for Traveling with Medications – including a list of medications that are likely to cause you problems at the border.
• 3 Steps to Preventing Passport Theft – including 5 steps to replace a lost or stolen passport.
• Don’t Copy your Bank and Credit Cards: We’ve Got a Much Better System – including step-by-step instructions to keep your cards safe.

 

It’s getting close to ski season in many parts of the U.S. and Canada. About this time every year, travelers start asking what they should remember when they buy travel insurance for a ski trip.

So, what do you need to think about when it comes to insuring this season’s skiing, snowboarding, and even dog-sledding trips?

Cover your head and your bum with travel medical

If you’re traveling abroad, or your health insurance network range doesn’t extend to where you’re traveling, you’ll want to have travel medical coverage in case of an accident.

Most health insurance plans in the U.S. do not extend their coverage outside the U.S. borders – that means a ski accident just over the border in Canada could cost you a fortune.

If you can’t afford a big medical bill because a skiing accident sent someone to a hospital outside his or her health insurance network, a travel medical plan will act as secondary coverage inside the U.S. and as primary coverage outside the U.S. For example, if you’re traveling from Oklahoma to Colorado and your son has a skiing accident that sends him to the emergency room, your health insurance plan would pick up the expenses at the out-of-network rates and your travel medical plan would pick up the rest (up to the policy limit).

See our full review on travel medical insurance for more information.

Get evacuation and repatriation if you’re traveling abroad

If you’re traveling abroad for your ski trip, you’ll want to have a travel insurance plan with emergency evacuation and repatriation coverage. This benefit pays for medically necessary evacuations to a medical facility where you can receive treatment if no medical facility nearby can appropriately accommodate your injuries. It also pays for the recovery of an insured traveler’s body should that person die while on a trip.

Neither of these is a pleasant thought, but when you consider that serious injuries such as paralysis, head injuries, etc., occur at the rate of about 43 per year (according to the National Ski Areas Association) and deaths occur at the rate of about 40 per year, it’s coverage worth having unless you want your family to have to fork over as much as $80,000 or more to get your injured body to a qualified medical center.

It’s important to note that evacuation and repatriation coverage is not useful unless you’re traveling outside your home country because these coverages do not apply within your home country.

See our full review of evacuation and repatriation coverage for more information.

Cover your pre-paid travel costs with trip cancellation

When you’re planning a ski vacation, you may reserve a lodge, plus ski passes, ski equipment, and more. All of those pre-paid non-refundable trip expenses are costs that you may want to insure if something happens to cause you to have to cancel your trip.

Most vacation rentals these days have cancellation policies that look something like this:

If you have to cancel your reservation, we will gladly refund your payment minus a small administration fee with at least 60 days’ notice. If you must make a last-minute cancellation, and we cannot fill your reservation with another guest, you will forfeit your entire payment.

Cancellation policies are standard procedure for inns, bed and breakfasts, vacation homes, condos, and even many hotels.

The pre-paid expenses for a ski trip for a Miami family of four heading to Colorado for a week of skiing could run as high as $3,500. You can usually cancel your car rental and wait to buy your ski passes when you arrive, but the reality remains: that’s a lot of money to lose if someone gets sick, for example. Running the basic trip details through our travel insurance comparison tool, you can see at least two plans are available to cover this trip for less than $100.

 

Cover your travel delays and trip interruptions

Two other coverages are useful for ski trips: travel delay coverage and trip interruption coverage, and we’ll explain why you might want with your travel insurance plan now:

• Travel delay come in many forms (especially in winter months): weather delays, road closings, flight operation delays, and more. This benefit reimburses the traveler for unexpected expenses if your trip is delayed for a covered reason. See the full review of travel delay coverage for more detail.
• Trip interruptions are those unexpected events that cause a traveler to abandon their trip and return home to handle an emergency. The benefit reimburses a traveler for their unused trip costs and often provides additional money for unexpected return airfare – in some cases, it will also bring you back so you can enjoy what’s left of your trip. See the full review of trip interruption coverage for more detail.

These two coverages are great when unexpected things happen after you’ve left home.

Cover your ski equipment and gear

This coverage can be a little confusing for some travelers. Skiing equipment nearly always has to be checked in with the airline – it’s simply too big to fit anywhere else but the hold of the aircraft. Many travelers are aware that the airline coverage for lost, damaged, or destroyed bags is limited and they have strong limits on their liability even if the gear inside the bag is expensive.

This is why professional photographers check their clothes and carry their cameras!

Travel insurance also places a per-item maximum on lost items, so if you’re taking your skis and ski equipment along with you, and you want coverage if it’s lost, stolen, or destroyed, you’ll need to look into a sports equipment rider, which will increase your travel insurance premium a bit.

A few travel insurance companies provide up to $2,500 in sports equipment coverage, but most give an insured traveler $300-$500. See our review of sports equipment coverage, including a list of companies that provide it and how much they’re willing to pay for your ski equipment.

Wear a helmet or don’t wear a helmet?

Recently, a British travel insurance firm – Essential Travel – started requiring skiers to wear a helmet on the slopes or face having their policy invalidated. So far, U.S. travel insurance companies have not pushed the same requirement, but it’s important to note that the following are always excluded from travel insurance plans without special coverage:

• heli-skiing
• extreme skiing
• skiing outside marked trails
• skiing while under the influence of drugs or alcohol*

* This last one is just plain excluded from all plans.

As many families are making their Thanksgiving travel plans now, we want to be sure you take a minute to explore your family travel insurance needs.

Many people think of travel insurance as only useful for those once-in-a-lifetime cruise or safari trips, but accidents happen everywhere and the worst thing you could experience this holiday weekend might not be indigestion.

These are the trips where you want to consider your travel insurance options:

If you’re traveling a really long way

Some people travel a really long way to be with family for Thanksgiving – so far that they travel outside their health insurance network. Most health insurance plans don’t cover their members outside the border of the U.S., and Medicare stops at the border too (although some Medicare supplement plans have a little travel medical coverage outside the U.S.).

If you’re traveling outside your health insurance network, know that any accident or illness will be covered at out-of-network rates which are much higher than in-network rates. If the entire family is stricken with salmonella, a group trip to the emergency room could mean a hefty hospital bill to pay later. A family of four can get as much as $25,000 in emergency travel medical coverage (per-person) for less than $50 – a great value for the money, and it includes $500,000 in medical evacuation (highly recommended if you’re traveling outside your home country).

If winter weather strikes

A weather-related travel delay is considered a free pass by the airlines. They have no responsibility for seeing that you’re comfortable and sheltered, only that you get on the next possible flight out.

If snowy winter weather strikes your Thanksgiving travel plans, travel delay coverage can help by reimbursing you for unexpected hotel rooms and meals (up to the daily limit) if your trip is delayed for a covered reason and the delay is a minimum number of hours. A hot shower and a hot meal beats camping on cold, dirty airport terminal floor any time. Some plans even cover the kids’ movie rentals!

If the parents/grandparents are coming to you

Call and verify your parents’ coverage if they are coming to you instead. Pre-existing medical conditions are defined as any medical condition – including changes in medication – that occur during the plan’s the look-back period.

So, if they have recently visited the doctor or had their medication changed, be sure their travel medical coverage waives the pre-existing medical condition exclusion. If they experience any medical problems on their visit, you want to be sure they won’t head home with a fat medical bill to pay.

If everyone comes down with the flu and you have to cancel

Add up the cost of your non-refundable airfare, lodging, and other pre-paid costs and decide if you can comfortably wave that money goodbye if you suddenly have to cancel your Thanksgiving travel plans. If one person in the family gets the flu, it’s likely that others will soon follow. Unless the illness is severe enough to warrant hospitalization or a doctor’s orders to stay home, you’ll need ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage to protect your trip costs.

A family of four spending $3,200 in non-refundable airfare and lodging to visit family during the holiday could cover those trip costs for just $146. That coverage includes trip interruption, travel medical, and a lot of other benefits as well.

If your bags get on a different plane

The Thanksgiving travel week is one of the busiest of the year and extra-busy people make mistakes. If your bags get routed onto a different plane than the one you’re traveling on, it could take days (or longer) for your clothes and personal items to catch up to you. You may collect them just in time to return home.

If that happens, you’ll need some cash to get some replacement items to get you through the trip. Baggage coverage and baggage delay coverage gives you a certain amount of cash (depending on the plan) to purchase the essentials. Just before the Christmas shopping season, that extra cash could be a welcome benefit.

If you’re delayed and Buster needs extra kennel time

Travel insurance plans don’t isolate their protection solely on your outbound travel but also when you’re coming home. If a flight cancellation and other delay extends your trip, your coverage extends for a limited amount of time to protect your return travel.

A few travel insurance plans even include extra benefits for pets. When their parent is delayed for a covered reason, reimbursement for extra kennel time is included.

If you decided to skip it all and go skiing instead

It’s important to note that many travel insurance providers consider skiing a high-risk sport and as such, your medical care isn’t covered if you’re skiing on your Thanksgiving trip unless you have the right protection. Again, that may not be an issue if your health insurance coverage is adequate, but it’s important to check.

A holiday trip to the emergency room is no fun at all, but it’s even less fun if it costs you a big bundle of your savings.

When not to buy travel insurance

We’ll be very honest with you – there are a number of trips where travel insurance just isn’t useful:

• If you get a really cheap flight and are staying with family, then you don’t have that much money at risk
• If you’re driving your family vehicle and have reservations that you can cancel at the last minute
• If you used your frequent flier miles to book your flight, then you don’t have much money at risk

If you can afford to lose the little money you’ve spent and your medical emergencies are covered, then skip the insurance and have a great time!

If you decide to buy travel insurance, skip those quick purchase plans offered to you by the online travel suppliers. In nearly every case, the insurance is not what you’d expect and many, many consumers have been left paying for the costs they thought were covered simply because they didn’t take the time to review the plan. Buying your travel insurance from a third-party comparison site (like ours) is the best way to be sure you’ll have the coverage you need when you need it.

A retreat, by definition, is an act of withdrawal often from what is difficult, dangerous or disagreeable and often to a place of privacy or safety. These days, people take retreats for all kinds of reasons: to heal, to practice yoga, to meditate, to learn something new.

So, what really can go wrong on a retreat? Well, lots of things.

A retreat is just like any other form of travel and accidents and illnesses happen anywhere and anytime they like. Travel insurance, like any other insurance plan, is insurance against financial losses due to unexpected events.

So before your next retreat, let’s review what can go wrong on a retreat and how your travel insurance plan can protect you, shall we?

You’re in a car accident on your way to a meditation retreat

Most retreat centers are aware that guests occasionally experience situations that simply cannot be predicted. Of course, a guest would prefer to cancel and receive a refund, so that’s why retreats run by experienced organizers are designed with clear cancellation policies.

Note: As a retreat guest, you should always review the cancellation policies to know your risk. Those cancellation policies should be clearly stated in writing and available for your review.

Most retreat hosts want to limit their loss of income due to last-minute cancellations and so they’ll try to fill the cancelled spot with another guest. If it’s too late for that to happen, however, the guest who cancels could lose hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in retreat costs.

A travel insurance plan with good trip cancellation coverage will reimburse a traveler for their pre-paid trip costs if the traveler cancels for a covered reason – even if they’re in a traffic accident on the way to their retreat.

You break your wrist on a cycling retreat

If your retreat is outside your health insurance network or outside the country, a visit to a local doctor or emergency room could cost you thousands of dollars. Most foreign hospitals require visitors from outside the country to hand over travel medical insurance documents and a credit card before they’ll do much treatment.

If your budget can’t withstand an unexpected trip to a foreign medical facility, travel medical insurance will not only foot the bill, but it will also treat you to a medical evacuation if your condition warrants it and medical treatment can’t be found nearby.

Your passport is stolen before or during your kayak retreat

If your passport is stolen right before an overseas retreat trip, you could lose all your nonrefundable trip costs. If it’s stolen while on your trip, you could face having to navigate a foreign language and try to get it replaced in time for you to meet your return flight home.

Many travel insurance plans cover trip cancellation if your passport is stolen before your trip and you can’t get it replaced in time. Travel insurance plans also come with 24/7 assistance services representatives who can help you replace a stolen passport or credit card so you can return home.

You arrived at your yoga retreat but your bags didn’t

While airports are continually improving their baggage statistics, there’s no shortage of thieves and bandits waiting to score an overstuffed piece of luggage. Your bag can be stolen from the baggage carousel as you navigate a foreign airport, but it can also be stolen from a taxi, slipped away from your side while waiting in line, or sliced open and pilfered on a train.

A travel insurance plan with adequate baggage coverage protects you by reimbursing you up to the plan limit for replacing necessary items, including the luggage itself. 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 retreat without worry.

You suddenly have to turn around and go home

Just because you got there safe and sound doesn’t mean that disasters can’t happen back home. Kids get sick, parents die, fires burn, so there’s always the risk of a frantic call in the middle of the night.

If you have to abandon your retreat to handle an emergency back home, you will lose not only your pre-paid retreat costs, which are now certain to be non-refundable, but also have to pay extra in airline change fees and other unexpected transportation costs.

A travel insurance plan with trip interruption coverage will reimburse you the unused portion of your pre-paid trip costs and help cover those unexpected airline and transportation costs to get you home in a hurry.

Your babysitter cancels on you

If your child’s babysitter calls and cancels on you, your retreat trip is cancelled by default. No travel insurance covers babysitters canceling, but ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage is designed for those instances where a trip cancellation isn’t covered under standard cancellation coverage rules.

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 a retreat trip, it just might be the coverage you can’t go without.

Your surf retreat is the path of an oncoming hurricane

The full hurricane season for the Atlantic and Caribbean every year is June 1st to November 30 – that’s a really long time in which to have the potential of a hurricane wiping out your pre-paid retreat plans.

If your retreat is to be held where hurricanes are common or during peak hurricane months, then you could lose not only your pre-paid retreat costs, but also your non-refundable airfare and other trip costs if you have to cancel your trip to avoid a hurricane.

Even if your retreat isn’t in the path of a hurricane, the travel disruptions that can occur spread widely and you could lose some of your retreat time simply due to delayed travel.

What does Retreat Travel Insurance Cost?

As you might expect, the cost of a travel insurance plan varies based on a number of factors, including:

• Where you’re going
• Your age and health
• How long you’ll be gone
• Your trip activities

It’s important to note that the cost of travel insurance is affected by the coverage you choose, and trip cancellation, certainly ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage, adds to the cost of a travel insurance plan. Otherwise, a retreat traveler can purchase a simple travel medical insurance plan and pay a lot less.

Here are a couple of trip cost examples:

1. Yoga Retreat, Costa Rica
Trip details:

• 1 traveler, 34 years old
• 1 week trip
• Pre-paid trip costs: $3,250
• Trip cancellation included

Just $152-$169 buys:

• ‘Cancel for any reason’ with 50-75% trip costs reimbursed
• 100% trip cancellation
• 150% trip interruption
• $25,000-$100,000 emergency medical
• $50,000-$500,000 medical evacuation
• $600-$1,000 travel delay
• $200-$400 baggage delay
• $1,000-$2,000 baggage loss
• and more

2. Surf Camp, Hawaii (no trip cancellation)
Trip details:

• 1 traveler, 45 years old
• 1 week trip
• Pre-paid trip costs: $4,800
• No trip cancellation

Just $19-$27 buys

• $500 trip interruption
• $10,000 emergency medical
• $100,000 medical evacuation
• $100-$200 baggage delay
• $500-$750 baggage loss
• and more

As always, we recommend that you use our travel insurance comparison tool and type in a few trip details to get price quotes from many reputable companies and choose the coverage options that work for you.