If you travel abroad to Europe or Internationally then travel insurance is essential, you may not think anything is going to happen to you, but if you do have an accident or are robbed then you could be looking at a big bill at the end of it if you haven’t taken out insurance.

So what does the insurance actually cover? Travel insurance will pay out if you are sick and injured whilst on holiday, also if you lose your luggage, or delayed at the airport. It will also pay out in certain situations if you have to cancel your holiday or cut it short. (It is worth remembering that all insurance policies vary this is a very rough description of what they will cover, you must read the insurance policy term and conditions, to see exactly what is covered, you will probably be surprised what some poilices won’t cover you for).

Travel insurance comes in 2 forms, Annual travel insurance costs a set one off fee and will cover you for multiple trips in a year, usually each trip can be a maximum of 60 days but this varies. Single trip travel insurance will cover you for 1 visit abroad for a set number of days away.

If you plan on going abroad more than twice in 1 year even for a weekend break annual travel insurance will probably work out more cost effective. You can also get family annual travel insurance, which will be cheaper than taking out a policy for each person.

Another tip is make sure you take out the travel insurance as soon as you book the holiday, if you leave it till the day before and have to cancel the holiday you probably won’t be covered.

The best way to find good travel insurance is shop around, the internet makes it easy to view lots of different travel insurance policies and read the terms and conditions, also many insurance policies will try and make you upgrade to the more expensive policy ‘the gold or platinum policy’ in many cases this realy isn’t neccesary.

Where are you travelling to? Travel insurance is broken down into different categories Europe, Australia & Worldwide (including and excluding USA). If you don’t think you will be going any further than Europe don’t waste your, money buying the international one, the only reason it is more expensive is due to increased medical costs in other countries like USA.

As the UK is part of the EU we have a reciprocal arrangement with other EU countries to pay for medical care. Your medical bills will be paid for if you have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which you can apply for online at the Department of Healths website http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAdviceForTravellers/fs/en of from your local post office.

Whilst the EHIC card will cover your medical costs it will not cover for lost baggage, money or any other situation that may arrise, but it is a good extra to have.

Credit Card travel insurance some credit cards offer travel insurance built in for free, usually it is the gold and platinum cards that offer full free cover. The American Express Platinum Card offers full travel insurance for free More Info. So it maybe worth checking out you credit card policy before you buy any insurance.

Things to look for in the policy terms and conditions.

• What are the levels of cover for different types of claim?
• How much is the excess for each item you are claiming?
• Does you policy cover you if you have an accident while skiing, or any other ‘dangerous’ activity?
• Will you be covered if you need to cancel your holiday, like a death in the family etc?
• How much cover do you have on your personal possessions and what is the excess for each item?
• Is you cash covered? Many policies will not cover your cash if it was stolen off you.
• Many items need extra cover, like camcorders, digital cameras, watches, many policies will not cover you for items like sunglasses and ipods.
• Will the medical cover include transporting you back to the UK?

The last thing to say is that many insurance policies will refund a claim when you get back so it will be up to you to pay for any bills when you are abroad, so make sure you have the money to pay for it, also make sure you keep receipts for anything you have had to pay for (medical cover, passport, transport to a hospital) as you will not get your money back without them.

And if you have a medical condtion you must tell the insurance company before hand, if you don’t and something happens that is due to youmedical condition the policy will probably be viod and you won’t be able to claim for anything.

Some cheap good travel insurance I have found.

Single trip insurance

• Directline
• Go travel insurance

Annual trip insurance

• Directline
• Go travel insurance