If you travel you will want to read this brief Travel Insurance Tips and what are its uses. First and foremost travel insurance is purchased to protect against the unexpected while on a vacation or business.

Whether you are traveling within your own country or overseas for pleasure or work you need to be protected from the risks that can occur while away. You may not even know they exist. These risks can happen before you leave like having to cancel your trip due to some un-foreseen emergency like an accident or death.

Alternatively, once you leave there are many things that can go wrong that travel insurance can help you with lost luggage, medical problems, cancellations, delays, and a host of other unforeseen events.

Most travel insurance was originally purchased at the time of travel planning through your travel agent. This insurance was added to your trip automatically unless you specifically told your agent that you did not want it. Agent insurance generally had very basic coverage and was inadequate for most travelers.

Today there are many options for travel insurance. You can purchase it through your bank, insurance agents, AAA memberships, and online to list a few options. There are many online travel insurance companies that operating on the web that offers excellent coverage. Just do a little research to find the kind of coverage you need and get quotes from online insurance agencies.

When choosing your policy you can vary what coverage you purchase and what limitations you may have. You can purchase travel insurance for only one trip or if you travel a lot you may purchase it for a specific number of trips taken in one year, and there is also insurance available for extended stay vacations which are usually 3 months or longer.

If you choose to go with one trip, coverage there is generally a maximum travel time set out by the issuing agent. You may also purchase travel insurance for a skiing or backpacking trip, and extreme sports. Travel Insurance may be purchased for the whole family, couple or single person coverage, if you have health problems or pre-existing medical problems no problem there is coverage out there for you.

Cost for your travel insurance can very greatly depending on a number of things. Medical History will have a huge effect especially if you would like coverage for pre-existing conditions while you are away. What your coverage includes will affect the cost as well, the most basic the coverage the less it will cost.

So now that you’ve had an some basic Travel Insurance Tips and what are its uses, it should give you a good idea as to what to look for when purchasing your policy. Remember to make sure you have enough coverage in accident benefits, medical and medical expenses, deposit loss and trip cancellation, baggage, personal liability in case you cause an accident and legal expenses.

You may also want to look into baggage delay, trip interruption, trip delay, hospital cash, etc. These are all very helpful coverage’s to have just in case the unexpected happens while you are away. Most importantly it can put your mind at ease while away so you can enjoy yourself and not have to worry about the what ifs leaving you to enjoy your vacation or concentrate on business.

By: Morten Hansen

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The recent Kenya elections have led to huge fallout in the country and beyond. When it was announced that President Mwai Kibaki had won the election by just 230,000 votes (out of 10,000,000 constituents) widespread political fury spread across the country – and violence broke out. Subsequently, all travel to the country was advised against, and a lot of people needed to claim on their global travel insurance, which was confusing given the unusual circumstances. I shall get to that later, but first a little background to the events surrounding the Kenya election.

So far there have been 600 deaths and some 250,000 people (more than the alleged ‘majority’ of Kibaki) fleeing their homes. The reason for this is the continued allegations of vote rigging, and the evidence for it has really begun to pile up, with plenty of strong claims emerging, including the head of the Kenya election commission admitting that one constituency had the surprising and unlikely turn out of 115%! Elsewhere, results were announced differently nationally to their announcement locally, and the results were delayed for 24 hours at a time when Kibaki’s Kenya election rival, Raila Odinga, was leading in the polls. It’s no surprise that suspicion was rife, and equally unsurprising that the suspicion has led to unrest, which has broken out into the violence that has since engulfed the nation.

One area this has affected the most is Kenya’s previously buzzing tourism industry, and is one that is easily the country’s biggest source of foreign income, totalling an estimated £500,000,000 per year. At the start of a year, Kenya could generally expect to be welcoming hundreds of tourists a day – the recent fall out reduced the numbers down to a brave few who had decided to ignore the inevitable warnings from the foreign office about travelling to the country, which was then placed in the ‘civil unrest’ list of places not to visit. Subsequently, the Federation of Tour Operators cancelled all holidays to Kenya, and a lot of people previously booked to visit the fascinating country were left with no option but to cancel, and hurriedly check the small print of their worldwide travel insurance policies!

Well, now the foreign office’s advice has been lifted, and you can begin travelling to Kenya again (though the FCO still advises against travel to Western and Nyanza provinces, the Rift Valley province between Narok and Kitale, the central business district, Kibera, Mathere and Eastleigh areas of Nairobi, Uhura Park and Mombasa Town.) But what if something like this happens elsewhere? What steps should you take if you find sudden and unexpected political fallout affects a previously peaceful country you were due to travel to? While I can’t speak for all global travel insurance providers, this is the line we took with Kenya, and I suspect a similar policy has been adopted by our rivals for their Kenya travel insurance policies:

If you are travelling with a tour operator, they should provide you with a refund or an alternative holiday itinerary in a safer region. If you are travelling independently, then you should be able to easily obtain a refund from your airline, and possibly from your accommodation provider. If for some reason, either of these courses of action fail, and you have a policy with us, then we would offer reimbursement for unused travel and accommodation, under the terms of a Kenya travel insurance policy.

Obviously, I cannot be certain this is the approach other worldwide travel insurance providers will be taking, but I’d imagine the vast majority will be offering something very similar to those unable to travel due to the fallout following Kenya’s election, and this advice should apply in times of future disturbance throughout the world. If in any doubt, you should contact your provider as soon as possible and work out the exact terms of your travel insurance.

By: Patrick Chong

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