4 reasons why you should get travel insurance (2024)

To this day, I’ve never traveled with travel insurance. To be totally honest, my budgets have always been limited so acquiring travel insurance has never been at the top of the list. After all, what can go wrong? I’m careful. I’m a safety kinda girl…

Travel insurance was generally expensive, and the value was even higher when the “exotic destinations” where I travel, filled with disease, political instability, and even terrorist attacks, entered into the equation. Travel protection for surfers? What’s that?

Today, with trips increasingly accessible, new insurance companies are starting to appear in the market, meeting travelers’ needs and covering situations never previously foreseen. That made me think…

Is it worth buying travel insurance?

I’ve been examining the situations in which insurance can be useful to me, and four aspects lead me to opt for one on my next trip abroad:

1. Surfing accidents

Nobody denies that surfing is a sport that involves some risks. After all, the best waves break over rock or coral bottoms.

For a mere surfer such as myself — who is far from professional — it’s only natural that in a fall, I can hit the bottom and make an excoriation or perhaps worse (knock on wood!). In fact, the same can happen even to those who have a lot of experience.

When we are abroad, in countries in Asia or Africa, for example, going to a public hospital isn’t always well thought out, and a private clinic can cost a real fortune even to stitch a broken head. There goes the travel budget, our savings, the house payment, and the dinners out in the next 20 years!

2. Delays in flights

On one of my last trips, we were held at Lisbon airport for a reasonable period because Dubai’s airspace was closed due to a drone that decided to fly over the airport.

Our two-hour stopover was reduced to 30 minutes, and when we got off the plane, we were received by an airline representative who literally took us running to the boarding gate of our connecting flight, which was on the opposite side of the terminal.

If we had not caught the flight, we would have to sleep in Dubai, we would have missed our ride at the final destination and would be paying a hotel that we were not going to use.

3. Problems with luggage

Another of the recurring situations in a trip involves the loss or delay of our luggage. One time my suitcase didn’t arrive with me, and when it was delivered, it was severely damaged. At the time, it involved a complaint with the airline company, and eventually, they paid me for the damages. An annoying process that I would love to avoid in the future.

4. Disaster or calamity

These are situations we never want to think about so as not to attract bad luck, but the truth is that accidents can happen.

I’ve already boarded surf trips that included sailing in search of waves. I stayed on an island where I woke up with an earthquake shaking my little hut on the beach. In both situations, the boat didn’t catch any storm and was lost, nor did the sea rise to the point of knocking on the cabin door. But what if it had happened? What if the holidays had ended with a rescue?

Anyway, I don’t want to frighten you (or scare myself). If everything were terrible and dangerous, it would be better for us not to leave home. But sometimes, we have to consider the dangers and possible complications that may arise, and why not be prepared for them?

It’s the first time I’m going to travel with insurance, and I sincerely hope I don’t return with stories to tell you about how I used it because of this or that.

So let’s go! Let’s travel!

What about you? Have you bought travel insurance or never bought one? Why? What could lead you to purchase travel insurance? Leave a comment below. I’m curious to hear your opinion on this topic.

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