Travel Insurance
Why is it that most of us think nothing of buying insurance for a $500 cell phone but question whether we really need insurance for our $5,000 vacation? Travel is like everything else in life; the unexpected happens. And although you may not be able to prevent every unexpected event before or during your trip, you can protect your investment.
We at Destination: Wildlife strongly recommend travel insurance to protect your vacation investment, your family, and your hosts. We work with two leading insurers to offer comprehensive plans, including pre-departure cancellation, medical evacuation services, lost baggage, missed connections, and more.
Don’t Risk Your Hard-Earned Vacation Time & Money
There is a good chance you have invested a great deal of time and money into your next vacation. Many of our readers save for a year or more to book that “bucket-list” trip, but it only takes a moment to lose their entire investment. Medical evacuations can cost tens of thousands of dollars, the same with hospital care in some countries. And what value would you place on a missed airline connection that prevented you from making the departure of your Antarctic cruise?
Can you afford to travel home if a loved one becomes ill while you are tracking spirit bears in British Columbia? Even smaller emergencies like lost luggage in Svalbard or a toothache in the Pantanal can take a big bite out of your travel kitty. Travel insurance can offer trusted assistance in an emergency and help offset these unforeseen events' financial impact.
Travel Insurance is Responsible
One of the tenets of responsible tourism is to be a good guest, and most of us would not think of taking a trip that reduces medical care in a local community. But health care is severely limited in much of the world. If you become injured or sick while on holiday and cannot readily pay for your care, it may impact the care a local resident receives later. Travel insurance is not about worry or fear; it is about having a good backup plan if things go wrong - to protect you and your hosts.
Choosing a Plan
Your travel insurance plan should offer:
►Trip cancellation and interruption benefits
►Lost and delayed baggage benefits
►Coverage for pre-existing conditions, if purchased with initial trip deposit
►Emergency accident and sickness medical coverage
►Medical and security evacuation coverage
►24/7/365 phone assistance
At Destination: Wildlife, we work with two of the leading travel insurance providers in the industry: World Nomads and Allianz. We like that they are both established companies, are leaders in their niche, and receive good reviews for their customer service.
We also highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance at the time you make your initial deposit. Many insurers place limits on trip cancellation benefits and pre-existing conditions if the policy is not purchased with the trip or very soon afterward.
In contrast to other travel insurance companies, World Nomads provides trip insurance plans covering active travel activities such as scuba diving, kayaking, and wilderness treks. They even offer a policy covering almost any adventure sport, including sky diving, stunt flying, and caving.
World Nomads policies provide non-medical evacuation coverage for transportation expenses if there is political unrest or an eligible natural disaster in the country you are visiting.
We also like that you can sign-up, file claims, and extend your coverage from anywhere with an internet connection. There is one caveat with World Nomads: their base plan provides only $2,500 in trip protection.
Allianz is one of the best-regarded travel insurers in the industry, and they are known for their reasonable claims process. The good news is that they offer 10 travel insurance plans; the bad news is that they offer 10 travel insurance plans and deciding between them can be daunting.
One standout feature of Allianz is that they offer reasonably priced annual policies for independent travelers and families that take multiple trips of 45 days or less per year. Depending on your travel destinations & frequency, these annual policies may save you time and money.
Another Allianz advantage is that their OneTrip Premier and OneTrip Prime policies provide the option to receive a flat amount of reimbursement without receipts for trip delay and baggage delay claims.
Deciding between travel insurance plans can be confusing and time-consuming. We would be happy to assist. If we cannot provide what you need, we can probably direct you to a firm that can. If you would like some help, contact us.
Disclaimer
All of the information provided about travel insurance is a brief summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions and termination provisions of the travel insurance plans described. Coverage may not be available for residents of all countries, states or provinces. Please carefully read your policy wording for a full description of coverage.