Keeping with the travel promotion theme of the last couple weeks, I think now is a great time to bring up travel insurance. Given that Joan and I travel all of our lives, insuring ourselves just makes sense. As I was looking for a new policy, I stumbled across an option for an annual plan that doesn’t charge higher premiums based on age and includes a travel partner for no additional cost!

It may surprise you that I even buy travel Insurance, but since my health plan doesn’t cover me outside the U.S., it’s pretty much a no brainer. In fact, travel insurance covers me whenever I’m over a 100 miles from my home. One thing I learned from some of my older friends, however, is that the cost goes up the older you get. That’s not the case with an annual plan.

In addition to not discriminating against your age, it covers every trip you take for an entire year. If you travel two or three times a year, it’s likely to be cheaper than insuring those trips individually. Since it covers the entire year, it could also include trips you might not normally insure, like a weekend getaway.

The thing that surprised me the most, however, is that I could add Joan to the plan at no additional cost. The only restriction is that you both have to live under the same roof. The advantages of signing up for annual travel insurance are non-debateable. And the best part is that you can stop worrying about your future travel plans.

The last couple of articles I posted highlighted the urgency of traveling now. We’ve heard many say that they don’t want to travel while things are uncertain. While I’ve argued that that is exactly the reason to travel now, it’s important to note that nothing is ever certain.

Even before the current political climate, there was a chance you could have an unexpected experience. Physical injury, sickness, job loss, or need to care of a family member have always been risks to planning a future trip, but that hasn’t stopped people before. Travel insurance has always been around to reduce the financial risk to your travel plans.

One of our employers recently told us that people are less interested in taking international trips because of political and economic instability. As I argued in my post last week, unpredictability is the primary reason to travel now. Nothing is guaranteed, but that has long been the case.

Many of the people we work with book their trips as much as two years in advance. They know things can change, but that’s why they get travel insurance. People book travel in advance so they have something to look forward to, something to work towards. Travel insurance reduces the risk, and with annual plans available, it makes it even easier to start dreaming of your next adventure.

Travel Insurance Calculator

Tips for using:

• Departure and return dates should be for your next upcoming trip, not the whole year. Annual plans will be presented after you hit Buy Now.
• Total trip costs are pre-paid and/or non-refundable costs, like airline tickets and hotel reservations that are non-refundable. These costs do not include projected expenses like meals. For an annual plan, you should still only include non-refundable costs you’ve already paid.
• Initial deposit date is the date you made your first payment towards your trip, like buying airline tickets
• You must buy your plan within 14 days of making your initial trip deposit in order to be eligible for the pre-existing medical condition benefit.
• Important: Once you hit “Get Quote”, you will be shown a single plan. To see more options (with different deductibles) choose “Buy Now” and scroll down to see all available plans.
• When you are asked for Destination and Suppliers (Airline, Hotel), you will only enter for upcoming trip(s) for which you’ve already paid non-refundable deposits. Coverage for any unscheduled trips will fall under your deductible.