Yes, we do still get asked this!!

When I was eighteen, my friend at school went on a skiing holiday to Switzerland with her brother. On the way to the ski resort, their hired car was in an accident resulting in them receiving very serious injuries and a lengthy stay in hospital. This was horrendous for them and their family and made even worse by the astonishing fact that neither of them had taken out travel insurance. Thankfully, both survived but their lives were changed in many ways. The resulting medical bills totalled over £100,000 and, with no insurance, their parents were forced to sell the beautiful family home to pay for them.

One question that we ask you when booking your holiday with us is whether you have adequate travel insurance and amazingly we are sometimes questioned whether it is really necessary.

One huge oversight frequently made is by assuming that the annual cover you have , free with your current account for example, covers everything. Have you checked that it actually does cover where you are travelling to and for how long? You also need to ensure that it covers the amount you are spending for the cancellation cover. You may be booking a cruise at £7,000 per person and only have £5,000 per person cancellation cover. Have you informed the insurers of any change to your health?

Annual insurance is actually a multi-trip cover and not a long-stay cover, so you may be booking a six week holiday and only have cover up to 30 days away.

The EHIC card (whilst we are still part of the EU) is a very useful card to have but it is NOT a substitute for insurance. This will give access to state-run hospitals which can be hard to find and even then, may not cover the cost of your treatment.

Apart from medical cover and cancellation, insurance will also cover other things such as your personal property whilst away.

So, yes, we do still get asked and yes, you do need it. A little bird just told you that you do!!

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About Me

Hi, I'm Alison. My passion for travel really started after training as an interpreter in Spanish, Italian and French. After living in Italy for a year, I started working in the Travel Industry as a reservations consultant for a large Tour Operator nearly 30 years ago and have been addicted…

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