Some travelers are confidently leave the country without a travel insurance because they believe in their great plan that nothing really bad will happen on their journey traveling to another country. If you are sure that the country or more specifically said, the cities that you are going to visit this holiday are safe enough, then it might be OK not to have a travel insurance. But some cities, especially if you are planning on going overland, are just not as safe as you can predict before you come to the real place. Some places are not safe enough to go travel through overland, while some others are probably not hygienic enough if you are not used to it. Therefore illness can happen anytime anywhere. Accident is something that hopefully will not be happen during the holiday trip, but we can only make a plan and never know the future ahead. That is why having a travel insurance will be a nice and wise choice to be bought so that in the matter of bad things happen to you when you are abroad and you do not have much cash with you, then you do not have to be panic as there is one place, one thing you can rely on to help you out of the problem, the insurance company.

Holidays are such a great time to travel overseas. Many people go overseas when they have their spare time. Young people who just finished schools are going overseas for months to a year to get more knowledge and experiences they can get during their travel time before they go back to school. Some people, especially backpackers go with the flow of destinations they would like to visit. Some of these young people would prefer to cut off the budget by not buying overseas travel insurance. As a matter of fact, this would not be a wise choice as when you spend a long time away from your home town with many things you cannot predict. As medical expenses abroad is expensive, buying an insurance would be a good choice since many unfortunate accidents can happen in the future without any further notification.

Having this insurance can be one way out when you are so far away from home and require medical attention urgently. The insurance will cover your expenses therefore you do not have to be too worry when you do not have enough cash at the time and you also know that no family would be panicked when this unfortunate things happen to you.

for students to consider. If exams are failed they may be required by the college or university to sit them again. If the student is already off travelling the world the cost to return quickly for a re-sit could be high. However, be warned that claims on the insurance may be denied if travel insurance is not taken out prior to the sitting of all exams which lead up to the final result.

Insurance terms like curtailment and repatriation do not even enter the equation for most young people when planning a gap year. It is surprising how many don’t know, or care, what the words mean – or might entail. These are just two of the words to be concerned about. Cancellation, of course, refers to insurance cover for an emergency situation arising before the departure date, causing cancellation of travel plans.

Imagine you are a student well into a gap-year backpacking adventure round the world. You’ve had a trouble-free trip so far and are in the last month of your travels in an African country. You fall sick with a fever and violent vomiting and diarrhoea. You and your traveling companion both have backpacker insurance. You have some over-the-counter medicines and medical supplies with you and try everything, but nothing seems to work. Your condition deteriorates and you have to seek help from the nearest medical clinic. The doctor finds that you are severely dehydrated and rushes you by air ambulance to the nearest major hospital.

Your companion gets in contact with the claims handler for your travel insurance and alerts them to the problem. A week later your condition has stabilized, but you are still very weak. The doctors advise you to return home (curtail your trip) to continue with your recovery. The claims handler approves the arrangements for the new return flights for you and your companion.

Now imagine all the above happened and you had decided to save money and not bother with purchasing travel insurance. Who would pay for the air ambulance, hospital care, the curtailment of your trip (change of flights), and repatriation?

It is surprising how many young people take the risk of traveling without travel insurance. The statistics are something like one in five, which means there are thousands of young and vulnerable adults wandering about the world with no help at hand and exposed to all manner of risks. Many think it’s not necessary because they are just backpacking and using hostels. However, their unsuspecting parents would probably end up footing the bill if the worst should happen.

Who would help if you were involved in a traffic accident, terrorist attack, had your backpack and travel documents stolen, or were the victim of a mugging? Most people have no clue how much it would cost for emergency repatriation from the other side of the world – from places like Australia, Africa, and South America.

Backpacker insurance policies vary but are normally heavy on the medical cover and liability and light on baggage cover. Many cover participation in adventure sports (on a limited basis) for activities like scuba diving, wind surfing and bungee jumping. Winter sports cover can be added to the policy for an extra premium. If the USA is on your travel itinerary, expect to pay a bit more for the insurance because of the high cost of medical care. Most backpacker policies do not cover risks relating to work (paid or volunteer) so you will need to shop around for the appropriate type of cover.

Remember the words ‘repatriation’ and ‘curtailment’ and don’t let them come back to haunt you. Repatriation means that in the event of some type of emergency situation your insurance will cover expenses to return you back to your country of origin.Curtailment means cover for expenses incurred as a result of your trip being cut short due to an emergency after you have already left home. Don’t wait until it’s too late to find out what they mean!

Travelling the world before starting university – or after university and before putting your foot on the career ladder – can be a valuable, worthwhile, and fantastic experience. It is false economy, and frankly plain dumb, to save a bit of money by skipping the travel insurance. Why risk spoiling all those wonderful memories – and getting your career off to such a bad start?