Travelling! Oh, humanity has been in love with travelling ever since they discovered that there are other settlements other than their home village. Of course, people did not have the means to actually travel 2,000 years ago (and when they did, it was usually either for commercial purposes or, war-related purposes). But nowadays, travelling is easier and even more accessible than ever. You can get to the other end of the Earth in a matter of one day at most. You can get cheap plane tickets and inexpensive accommodation. You are free to explore every single corner of this marvellous, luxurious, rich, beautiful, overwhelmingly diverse planet we’re living on.
But you do need travel insurance first. Why? Here are some of the reasons why you can’t skimp on travel insurance:
1. Airline companies and other transportation companies are run by people. Humans, that is. Consequently, their powers are limited in the event of unfortunate surprises that may arise: bad weather conditions, political instability, terrorist attacks and so on. Therefore, if they need to cancel their flight, they will. And you and the other passengers (or, rather said “would-be” passengers) will be left hanging. Travel insurance can cover you up in such cases in the sense that they may even be able to provide you with money to stay somewhere at a hotel for a night – which is more than welcomed under these circumstances. Companies such as Southern Cross Travel Insurance provide comprehensive travel insurance for when things go wrong.
2. Luggage gets lost. Like it or not, this can happen to anyone travelling with any airline company and at any class. If your luggage gets lost and the airline company cannot find it, then the insurance can cover for a set of clothing and other basic necessities you may have had in your luggage. Even more, if you had prescription medication with you in your luggage and you have to take it, the insurance policy can help you with that as well.
3. Things get stolen. You should not start off with the idea that travelling means that you’ll get yourthings stolen. In fact, it is very likely that there are the same chances of you having your purse stolen at home as there are in a foreign country. But what makes the difference is related to the fact that if you are left without your purse, you’re also probably thousands of kilometres away from home with no money and no documents. In the event this happens, the insurance company can help you with money and they can direct you to the nearest consulate that will fly you back home safely.
4. You may have to cancel your trip. Sometimes, people book accommodation and other non-refundable things well in advance and they are very right to do so because, after all, there is a lot of money that can be saved this way. But if you really have to cancel your trip, you will want to make sure that all the non-refundable payments you made will come back to you one way or another and insurance can cover you for that.
