Protection During the Summer Travel Season

For a lot of travelers, they are thinking about protecting themselves, their family, and their vacation investment now that the summer travel season is starting. For anyone planning a trip that involves a sizable financial outlay, travel insurance would be a good idea. Other than missed flights, it can cover bungled connections and illness. Taking cancelled trips into consideration not to mention any delays or interruptions, this can be a safeguard for financial loss.

A lot of variations can be seen in travel policies but these usually include sickness, baggage loss and flight insurance, accident, and financial protection in the event of trip interruption and delay. Included in the best policies is medical evacuation and this is actually a feature rarely offered by conventional health insurance plans. Because one or more airplanes or helicopters are used to retrieve the sick traveler, this can be pretty expensive.

Here, the most likely occurrence is trip cancellation due to illness, accident, or weather. In terms of scenarios, another possible one might be trip interruption because a traveler must cut short a trip to go home. Considering the cost of travel insurance, this can amount to 5 to 7 percent of the trip cost per person. If there is a $3,000 per person trip, it can include an additional $150 or $210. Keep reading How to Plan your First Travel Trip to Bahrain

What you should look for is one with a 24 hour hot line providing international access as this is essential for medical emergencies when you are shopping for travel insurance policies. Prior to traveling abroad, you should check the US State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. You can obtain information on crime, medical care, drug supplies, and on areas prone to natural disasters and political instability from them.

For those who are robbed while abroad, most US Embassies and Consulates maintain 24 hour operators or answering services to assist Americans in difficulty. Including dealing with local police, expediting the replacement of a stolen passport, canceling stolen credit cards, and assisting with language problems, they can help you with these. With regard to this, they can instruct travelers on getting money transferred and they could also provide a list of English speaking lawyers and direct travelers to the right source for replacing airline tickets.

For passports that end up being lost, you can get temporary identification from them. Within 24 hours, you can replace a passport but nowadays security reasons changed this. Americans who lose their passports while abroad will be issued new passports with computer generated digital photographs.

In this case, travelers should consider packing a notarized copy of a birth certificate, a copy of the information pages of the passport, and two passport size photos separately from the passport. The process can run faster in this case if the actual passport is stolen. According to the State Department, travelers should also pack photocopies of credit cards, airline tickets, and drivers’ licenses and leave a second set of photocopies behind with a friend or family member.

If you need to file claims when you get home, you should have a copy of the police report. Travelers should not hesitate to contact the nearest US Embassy or Consulate for advice when exposed to political instability abroad. Including those on street safety, driving, and terrorism, you can get tips and advice on foreign travel from the State Department’s publication. It will be possible for the State Department to give you a copy or you can read about it at the State Department’s Web site.