Travel Insurance seems to be one of those necessary evils that everyone knows they need but no-one really wants to purchase. Over the last 25 years in the travel business we have seen some horror stories with regard to clients who decide to travel without Insurance. We insure our cars and our property so why not our vacations?

• A good example of when travel insurance is essential is the year that Helena’s father passed away while we were in Florida. Our policy kicked in and we were able to book flights back home for the next day and have them covered by the policy. Without the policy we could easily have been out of pocket by $1500 – $2000.
• I broke my elbow while cycling in Italy many years ago and all the hospital bills were taken care of directly from the Insurance company at zero cost to me. My arm ended up in a cast which would have been very expensive without insurance.
• We had a client with a suspected heart attack on one of our escorted tours. The hospital was beautiful and state of the art but the hospital and ambulance bill in this US city would have been astronomical without the policy the client purchased from us.
• Another client had a heart attack in Amsterdam airport and the Insurance company paid for all their treatment and hospital stay.

These are real people with real examples of why travel insurance was essential to their vacations and I can easily reel off other examples of when travel insurance comes to the rescue. This may not be a popular thing to say but experience over the years tells me that people think these things will never happen to them, but I know from my own experiences that it does.

Many clients believe that they have coverage on their credit card; but do you actually know the extent of the coverage, the limitations, is medical covered, are you covered up to the value of your trip only and does it cover for cancellation or curtailment (if you need to come home early). Its worth checking, it might surprise you.

The idea of travel Insurance is very simple, to provide cover for your trip in the event that an unforeseen event happens such as:

• Coverage for an illness or injury that prevents you from traveling
• Providing coverage if something happens while you are away such as a family emergency.
• Arriving at your destination and your bags don’t arrive
• Providing coverage in the event of a medical issue while away
• Being stuck in traffic and missing your flight

Manulife provide the policies that we use at Vision Travel with a new policy called Premium Protection Plan (PPP) which offers excellent benefits for people up to 74 years old for up to 30 days away with no questionnaire required. In order to benefit from the policy it must be booked 72 hours after confirming your travel / vacation.

This PPP has Cancel For Any Reason included which simply means that if you decide not to travel outside of 8 days prior to your departure you can claim 75% of the non-refundable amount* on the policy – pretty sweet!

 

 

Additionally they offer an All Inclusive policy which includes Medical and Cancellation, a Non-Medical policy which offers Cancellation coverage, a Global Medical policy and many other policies designed for your travel requirements.

Race Registration Fees* – if you are traveling to a race, for example, a Marathon or Ironman you can build the price of the race fee into your policy so that if you need to cancel for an insurable reason you can claim the race fee as part of your claim. This only applies if there are no pre-existing injuries with regards to the claim.

Even if you are traveling into the US for a day trip purchase a policy because in a worst case scenario you could end up in hospital with a hefty medical bill.

We are always happy to provide a quote through Manulife, its quick and easy to do and could save a lot of heartache and financial distress further down the road – please e-mail Helena.millar@visiontravel.ca or call 506 214 1085 for more info, to receive a quote or to purchase a policy.

• *Terms & conditions apply

If in doubt about any of the info above please contact us on 506 214 1085 or e-mail hmillar@thetravelagentnextdoor.com