What You Should Know About Travel Insurance

You're going on a trip. Congratulations! Now what about all those nitty-gritty details you have to think about, like, say, travel insurance?Leave it to Christopher Elliott, consumer advocate, writer and HuffPost blogger, to answer your questions. In his new book, The World's Smartest Traveler, Elliott has piled some of his favorite tips and tricks he's collected over the years to b e a better, smarter traveler. The following is adapted and republished with permission of the National Geographic Society from Christopher Elliott's book How to be the World's Smartest Traveler. Copyright 2014 Christopher Elliott. All rights reserved. Travel insurance can offer peace of mind for your u ing vacation. If something goes wrong—if your trip is interrupted or if you have to cancel—you can recover some or all of your costs. About one in three travelers buys insurance for a trip, according to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association. Should you be one of them? That's known as a "big-ticket" purchase, and it should be insured. and just need the peace of mind that es with having a policy. Even if you can't recover all of your money, you may still be able to take advantage of certain benefits. Cruise lines used to be flexible when it came to allowing passengers to rebook missed cruises. Tour operators were also more lenient in the old days. Not anymore. A policy can protect you. If you're on a tour with a lot of moving parts, then insurance could be useful. When one part doesn't go as planned, the right policy can help you make a quick recovery and avoid a domino effect.Medical providers outside the United States often ask for up-front payments for medical services that can cost thousands of dollars, and travel insurance can guarantee these payments. This is also true for medical evacuations and repatriations, which can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.IF YOU'RE ON MEDICARE and are traveling internationally. You'll want to consider a policy that includes medical expenses, since Medicare doesn't typically cover events outside the country.IF IT'S A SHORT, simple, and inexpensive domestic trip.IF YOU'RE SPENDING LESS THAN $5,000, or if you don't mind losing the value of your trip should something happen before or during your vacation.