When travelling abroad the most sensible thing you can do is to cover yourself with travel insurance. However, even after covering yourself there are some common mistakes many of us make right from the very start.
The most common mistake made by holiday makers is not shopping around when purchasing travel insurance. Many people find a travel insurance provider and purchase the first thing they find automatically assuming that they will be covered against whatever happens; in many cases they are wrong. With many travel insurance packages there are a list of exclusions for what you are not covered for. To make sure you are protected against the things you will need read the small print and check it is the right package for you before purchasing. If you intend on taking a lot of valuables on holiday with you then cheap travel insurance may not be the way to go.
The next common mistake made is taking part in uninsured activities. High risk activities such as sky diving and bungee jumping may sound fun at first, but if something goes wrong you could find that you’re not protected by your travel insurance after all (although if something were to go wrong during a sky dive I doubt you will ever find out if you are covered or not). Before taking part in any activity, make sure your insurance will cover you in the unlikely event of something going wrong.
Another common mistake we all make is failing to sort out the paperwork. No matter what you are claiming for you will not receive a penny unless you are able to provide sufficient evidence and paperwork to back up your claims. For example, if your luggage is ever lost make sure you get a written acknowledgement from your airline saying so. Without this acknowledgement you have no proof that your luggage actually went missing and you may not be able to claim for it. The same goes if you need to purchase new clothes due to lost luggage. Keep all of the receipts so that you can claim for the cost of replacing your clothes.
Acting negligently is also a common mistake made. By this I mean leaving your room unlocked and wide open then claiming somebody has stolen your things, the response you will receive is that your claim simply isn’t valid. Also, if you have been drinking and something goes wrong, I’m afraid to say that again you won’t be covered. So take care on holiday not to make silly mistakes.
The last mistake commonly made is also the biggest - not having travel insurance in the first place. This is possibly the biggest mistake you can make when travelling abroad. Not insuring yourself for what can be a very small amount is foolish when you can end up paying a lot more for health bills or replacing lost items later on in the holiday.
