What Is Travel Insurance And Why It’s So Important

Today I’m here to discuss with you something important, which is travel insurance because I feel like most people don’t get travel insurance or don’t really understand what it’s for and why they need it.

About 2 years ago, I knew nothing about travel insurance. Sure, I knew it existed, but didn’t really understand much about it. I figured it had something to do with your health while traveling and didn’t really see the point of it, meanwhile, I kept getting sick in almost every country I visited. Luckily for me, nothing ever serious. I didn’t think I needed travel insurance up until I won the Kerala Blog Express which was a press trip to Kerala, India for almost 3 weeks.

India was my first major third world country and I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t freaking out health wise. I’ve heard so many stories from friends and read online, that almost everyone that goes to India gets sick. Knowing that I’ve always had a weak immune system, I was worried.

During that time, one of my friends who’s also a successful travel blogger and who’s visited every country in the world was running a campaign with Allianz Global Assistance.

I always seek advice from him for travel destinations and travel-related topics, since this man has been everywhere in the world, literally. He shared with me that his grandmother once broke her femur in Thailand while traveling on a cruise. She was in the hospital for a week in Thailand and was transported home in a private medical plane from Thailand all the way to the US. Luckily for her, she had travel insurance and it saved her over $50,000. Had she not had travel insurance, she would have had to pay that out of pocket. Most health insurance plans in the US, don’t cover out of state health issues.

What happened to his grandmother could simply happen to anyone, this made me realize of the risk I, and most people take while traveling. Just because we are traveling to exotic locations, doesn’t mean that we are 100% safe. Accidents can happen at any given time.

Besides his grandmother story, I have another travel blogger friend who chipped her front tooth while zip-lining, but had travel insurance and got it fixed and was 100% covered. 2 years ago, my favorite travel blogger couple, Dave and Debbie from The Planet D were traveling through Peruvian Amazon on a cruise. While on the cruise, Dave ran back to the room to grab something and took a terrible fall when he slipped and his spine broke from the fall. Lucky for Dave and Debbie, they also had travel insurance.

You see, anything can really happen in the world of travel.

The best thing about travel insurance that I didn’t know before speaking to my friend, was that travel insurance doesn’t just cover your medical bills, but also other things.

About Allianz Travel Insurance and What Travel Insurance Covers?

My go to travel insurance is Allianz Travel Insurance.

Allianz Travel Insurance is in the USA and the number one go to travel insurance company. They insure 21 million customers annually. Allianz also has offices in 34 countries. They have the resources to help you whenever you need them, wherever you may be. And they’re available 24/7, 365 days a year, with a 24hr hotline.

Allianz Global Assistance has produced the Allianz Travel Insurance Vacation Confidence Index for eight consecutive years. The survey tracks American’s confidence they’ll be able to take a summer vacation and reports how much they intend to spend while vacationing. The 2016 survey, released in late June, found that while fewer Americans will take a summer vacation in 2016, they’ll Spend 11% more than last year. Last year’s survey found that more Americans were planning to take a summer vacation in 2015 and planned to spend less.

After doing some research online, I realized that I wanted health insurance for my trip to India and went with Allianz Travel Insurance.

The reason I love Allianz Travel Insurance so much is that it covers much more than your medical bills. It basically covers everything that could go wrong while traveling and trust me when I tell you, lots can go wrong in the world of traveling and I’ve experienced many of them. Most of which, are out of your control.

Allianz Travel Insurance covers lost baggage, baggage delay, change flight fee, frequent traveler/loyalty plan, missed connection flights, emergency medical and dental care, trip cancellations, travel/trip delay and trip interruption protection.

I think the best part of it all was just how affordable it was to get travel insurance with Allianz. I was shocked just how cheap it was, especially for all I was getting. I paid $26 for 3 weeks of travel and it covered:

• $500,000 of medical transportation
• $1000 baggage coverage
• $300 baggage delay coverage
• $250 change flight fee
• $250 frequent traveler/loyalty plan
• $800 missed connection flights
• $25,000 emergency medical and dental care
• $800 trip cancellations, travel/trip delay, trip interruption protection. 

All you need to do is go to their site, type in where you’ll be traveling to and for how long and it gives you different packages to choice from. You can also buy annual coverage, which can save you a lot of money, for those who do lots of traveling.

On my trip to India, I had a missed connection flight, due to a delay and my flight back home got canceled and moved to the following day. Like I said, anything can go wrong in the world of travel and for a small fee, you will be covered.

Since then, I’ve been using Allianz Travel Insurance and it feels great to know that I have a safety net if things do go wrong. Just like car insurance, health insurance, and home insurance.

I hope this article made you better understand what travel insurance is all about and why it’s so important to have it while traveling abroad.

For more information, visit Allianztravelinsurance.com to learn more.

Follow Allianz on Twitter: @AllianzTravelUS #TravelHappy

*This post is sponsored by Allianz travel insurance. Everything that has been written is from my personal experience and was all written by me. As always, my opinions are of my own.