Great Value Travel Insurance

Why Is Holiday Insurance So Important?

No one wants to think about what could go wrong and a good travel insurance policy means that you don’t have to think too long about it. But the reality is, when you’re in unfamiliar places, you’re far more vulnerable to encountering bumps in the road such as cancellations, illnesses and lost or stolen possessions.

Put simply, a travel insurance policy provides a financial safety net, so that if things do go wrong you’re not going to be slapped with a massive bill that will at best eat into your travel budget or at worst sacrifice your entire trip and the money already spent on it.

What Kind Of Policy Do You Need?

Typically there are 3 types of travel insurance policies available for you to choose from:

1. Single Trip Travel Insurance - protects 1 trip of up to 87 days making it the perfect choice for one off holidays or weekends away
2. Annual Travel Insurance - protects an unlimited number of trips for one year, each trip consisting of a maximum duration of 45 days. This option is ideal if you travel often as it can often work out cheaper than buying several single trip policies. What’s more, you can be nip off at the drop of a hat knowing you’re covered
3. Backpacker Travel Insurance - protects up to 2 years of continuous travel and is designed specifically for people on gap years, career breaks and travelling the world on an extended trip. It also has the added benefit of covering many work and volunteer activities as well as an unexpected trip home

What Should A Good Travel Insurance Policy Include?

Doing a quick internet search it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees! To help you know what to look for, below are some of the basic situations you want to make sure you’ve got covered.

• Medical Emergencies: Being covered for medical expenses is probably the most important element of your policy. Unlike the UK, most countries do not have a free health service similar to the NHS, so you could find yourself facing a medical bill for thousands of pounds if you fall ill or have an accident abroad. Do not underestimate the costs of hospital bills! You want to be able to focus on getting better than worrying about if you can afford the treatment.
• Lost or Stolen Possessions: You may not have a lot of stuff with you, but the bits you do have will no doubt be essential to your trip such as your passport, mobile, tablet or money for example. Losing these or having them stolen will be not only annoying, but could seriously make a dent in your carefully organised budget if you’re forced to cough up to replace the goods.
• Cancellation: Should you fall ill and can no longer go away on your trip or something happens that means you need to cut your trip short your insurance policy will help you recover the costs you’ve already paid. Having to say goodbye to your trip would be hard enough, but saying goodbye to the money as well is avoidable.

Add Extra Cover

You can customise your policy further with pre-existing medical condition cover, sports and a number of other specialist add-ons.

Do You Need to Declare a Medical Condition?

If you have a pre-existing medical condition it’s vital that you declare it or you could invalidate your entire policy. Insurers don’t like to think that you’ve hidden things from them and you may be surprised to find out that many common medical conditions such as allergies can be added without any additional cost. What’s more, you even have the option to declare a condition but then exclude it from your policy. What this means is that you’ve told your insurer about your condition but decided not to cover it, so you will be covered medically for anything unrelated to that condition.

Do You Need Extra Sports or Specialist Cover?

A decent policy will include cover for many sporty or adventure activities as standard. However the more adventurous or dangerous the activity, like winter sports, the more likely it is that you will need to purchase additional sports insurance. You can customise your policy further a number of other specialist add-ons.

• winter sports
• golf
• business
• cruise
• wedding
• excess waiver
• independent traveller

Winter Sports

By adding Winter Sports to your Single, Annual or Backpacker policy you can take part in over 26 winter sports and be covered for:

Medical: you will be covered for emergency medical expenses that occur should you have an accident and require medical attention including cover for mountain rescue, helicopter rescue costs and repatriation

Equipment: Winter Sports cover also provides peace of mind against any theft, loss or damage to your personal or hired equipment as well as any pre-paid fees.

winter sports cover →

Golf

Regardless of your handicap, cover for your golf equipment and pre-paid green fees can be added to your policy giving you nothing else to work on except your game.

Simply add extra golf protection to your Single, Annual Multi or Backpacker Trip policy to add extra protection for:

• Your Personal Equipment up to £1000
• Hired Equipment up to £200
• Pre-paid Green Fees up to £300

golf trip insurance →

Business

Self employed or working for a company, if you travel for work you can add extra protection against accidental loss, theft or damage to your business equipment to your Single, Annual Multi or Backpacker Trip policies.

Business cover protects equipment such as cameras, mobiles, laptops that you may need to work or have with you in meetings.

business trip insurance →

Cruise

Sail the seas worry-free by adding extra cover for missed port, cabin confinement and unused excursions to any of our Single, Annual Multi or Backpacker Trip travel insurance policies.

Cruise cover will add extra protection for:

• Extended baggage cover up to £3,500
• Missed shore trips up to £500
• Cabin confinement (due to illness) up to £600
• Valuables up to £700

cruise insurance →

Wedding

If you're planning on tying the knot abroad, extra cover for accidental loss, theft or damage to your your wedding clothes, rings, gifts and photos can be added to your Single, Annual Multi or Backpacker Trip policy, to help ensure that your special day is everything it’s meant to be.

• Wedding Clothes up to £1500 per person
• Wedding Gifts up to £1000 per couple
• Wedding Rings up to £250 per person
• Wedding Photographs up to £750 per person

wedding travel insurance →

Excess Waiver

Should you need to claim on your travel insurance an Excess is the amount that you'll have to pay before we pick up the rest of the bill.

Avoid paying any excesses by adding the Excess Waiver option to your Single, Annual Multi or Backpacker Trip policy.

find out more →

Independent Traveller

If you've packaged your holiday yourself (without the help of a travel agent) add the Indepentent Traveller add-on will provide cover for additional scenarios such as:

• Extended Cancellation and Curtailment: If you need to cancel or return home early because your booked accommodation becomes unreachable and unusable due to a travel ban or evacuation
• Extended Delayed & Missed Departure: Not only will we pay you for the first 12 hours of delay, we'll also help with pre-paid travel, accomodation & any alternative travel arrangements you may need to make

find out more →

Find the right travel insurance for your needs with Essential Travel's Expert Tips:

What Is a Pre-Existing Medical Condition?

Do you have a pre-existing medical condition that you need to declare to your travel insurance provider? Get advice on pre-existing medical conditions.

read more →

When is The Best Time to Buy Travel Insurance?

Essential Travel recommends the best time to purchase your travel insurance to make sure your holiday is fully covered and you get the most from your policy.

read more →

How Not To Save on Your Holiday Abroad

Learn how to cut costs on your holiday insurance & receive exclusive travel insurance discounts. Cover for medical emergencies, cancellation and lost luggage.

read more →