Travel Insurance - Be Protected from the Unexpected

November 11, 2014

Mike finds himself unprepared and unprotected from the unexpected 

Over the last year, Adventure Cycling has been recommending people consider purchasing travel insurance with their tour, and many people have started asking questions about it. Hopefully the information provided in this post will help you make an informed decision. 

Should I get travel insurance? 

Travel Insurance is something you shouldn’t purchase without doing research and reading the fine print of the plan. The Adventure Cycling materials lists TripAssure as a suggested travel insurance company, but before you purchase any plan make sure you know what you are purchasing and what it covers. 

Why should I consider it? 

Ask yourself what you are willing to risk losing if you are not able to go on the trip, or if something happens to disrupt the trip. Disruptions can be anything like a personal emergency, family emergency, illness, natural disaster, weather delays, and more. When planning your travels we want you to focus on the success of the trip, but part of a successful trip is being properly prepared. Travel insurance is there to serve as protection and can work in your favor if anything unexpected or unplanned should arise. One of my least favorite parts of the job is not being able to help people out when their situation falls outside the bounds of our Cancellation Policy. Telling someone that they will not be getting their money back when they are cancelling days before the trip starts due to a family emergency, work situation, unexpected illness etc. is really difficult and very unfortunate, but something that can be helped by travel insurance. 

Where do I begin to look?

In my experience, people get frustrated with travel insurance because they bought a plan that turned out not to be what they needed or didn’t cover what they thought. Research a few plans before you purchase to avoid frustrations. Looking for travel insurance can be daunting. There are many companies, and sometimes it’s hard to trust if you are getting a quality package. Also the question lingers, if you had to use them, would the plan cover the unexpected expenses incurred and/or the already spent money?   

Before you start to look for travel insurance with an outside provider, start by looking at what coverage you possibly already have. Here are a few examples of places to look.

1. Your medical insurance: Check to see if your medical insurance covers you in the area that you will be traveling. If your trip takes you out of the country find out if the coverage continues.  Look at the details of medical evacuation, being in out-of-network areas, and what is and is not covered for you. 
2. Your credit card: Many credit cards have information about travel insurance and offer travel insurance. Pull up the details of your credit card or call a representative and talk to them about the details of the travel coverage they offer. 
3. Your car or homeowner's insurance: If you are a member of AAA, USAA or other similar organizations they may have plans and can work with you to find the plan that best meets your needs.  

If you’ve decided to seek an outside provider for a plan, ask friends, family, or others who have purchased travel insurance and their experience with it. Turning to someone you trust can boost your confidence in the product you are purchasing. From there turn to the web. A site like insuremytrip.com allows you to compare plans against one another.  

Travel insurance isn’t only there to protect you; it can also be there to protect your belongings. We often travel with expensive, valuable electronics and on our Adventure Cycling trips, you are traveling with bikes.  Travel insurance can include coverage for your belongings if they are damaged or stolen while enroute or during the trip.

Find a plan that covers your belongings 

While out traveling, always have a copy of your travel insurance with you and keep all receipts. If something  unexpected does happen, working with the plan provider will take some time so be prepared to pay some costs upfront to be reimbursed at a later date when a claim is settled. 

It is our hope that you never have to use your travel insurance. It is our bigger hope that if you do need it, you have it. Travel insurance is never mandatory, but I hope you never have to utter the words, "if only I had travel insurance …"  

Being protected from the unexpected allows Mike to enjoy all the trip has to offer

Post and photos by Lydia Hess 

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ON THE ROAD is written by the tours team — Lydia, Darrah, Mike, Mandy, and Arlen — tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to the Adventure Cycling tours department. Check out our 2015 Guided Tours today!