Travel Insurance & Trip Protection

You’re spending real money on your vacation. Flights, hotels, cruises, park tickets, time off work.
The honest truth: things do go wrong sometimes—illness, injuries, airline chaos, storms, family emergencies.

Travel insurance (also called “trip protection”) is how you protect the money and time you’re putting into this trip so one bad thing doesn’t turn it into a total loss.

This page isn’t legal fine print. It’s a plain-language explanation of what travel insurance usually does, what it usually doesn’t, and how I handle it with every client.

My Policy: I Will Always Offer Travel Insurance

Here’s how I handle travel insurance as your advisor:

  • I always recommend you consider travel insurance, especially for cruises, international trips, higher-cost vacations, and trips booked far in advance.

  • I always give you the option to say yes or no.

  • I’m not here to scare you into buying something you don’t want. I am here to make sure you understand the risk of traveling without it.

Your choices are simple:

  • Yes, I want coverage – we’ll go over options and I’ll help you select and purchase a plan that fits your trip.

  • No, I decline coverage – you are choosing to self-insure and accept the financial risk if something goes wrong.

I document the offer and your choice, so there’s no confusion later.

How We’ll Talk About Insurance During Your Booking

Here’s what to expect when we plan your trip:

  1. Early in the process, I’ll mention travel insurance and why it might matter for this specific trip.

  2. I’ll outline the basic pros and cons so you understand your options.

  3. I’ll provide you with policy information (benefits, limits, and exclusions) so you can review.

  4. You tell me yes (you want to purchase) or no (you’re declining).

  5. If you purchase a plan, I’ll make sure you get your policy documents and know where to find them.

I’m not going to hide it in fine print and pretend we never talked about it. You’ll know exactly what decision you made.

What Travel Insurance Typically Covers

Every policy is different and the exact coverage depends on the plan you choose, but in general, travel insurance is designed to help with things like:

1. Trip Cancellation (Before You Leave)

If you have to cancel your trip for a covered reason, trip cancellation benefits can reimburse you for non-refundable costs you’ve already paid, like:

  • Prepaid flights

  • Cruise fare

  • Non-refundable hotel nights

  • Tours or event tickets

Covered reasons are usually things like serious illness or injury, a death in the family, certain job changes, or major events that make travel impossible. The policy spells these out clearly.

2. Trip Interruption (After You’ve Started Traveling)

If you have to cut your trip short or miss a big chunk of it for a covered reason, trip interruption benefits can:

  • Reimburse unused, non-refundable portions of your trip

  • Help cover the cost to get you home earlier or rejoin your group

3. Emergency Medical Care While Traveling

Your regular health insurance may not cover you well (or at all) outside the U.S. or out of network. Travel medical coverage is meant to help with medically necessary treatment for a new illness or injury during your trip.

This is especially important on cruises and international trips where paying out-of-pocket could be ugly.

4. Emergency Medical Evacuation

This is the big-ticket item most people don’t think about.

If you’re seriously ill or injured and need to be transported to a different facility or back home, emergency evacuation coverage can help with those very expensive costs. We’re not talking “a taxi to a clinic”—we’re talking medical transport and air evacuation if needed.

5. Baggage & Personal Belongings

If your luggage is lost, stolen, or damaged, baggage coverage can help reimburse you for your belongings (up to policy limits). There are usually per-item and total caps, so it’s not a blank check, but it can take the sting out of a suitcase going missing.

6. Travel Delay & Missed Connections

If your flight is severely delayed for a covered reason, you may be reimbursed for:

  • Hotel nights

  • Meals

  • Transportation

  • Certain missed connection costs

Again, there are time thresholds and limits, but it’s designed to help when you’re stuck somewhere through no fault of your own.

Claims: Who Handles What

This part is important and I’m going to be clear:

  • The insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance company.
    They make the final decision on what is or isn’t covered and how much is paid.

  • I do not control the outcome of claims.
    I can’t override a denial or force them to pay something that isn’t covered in the policy.

What I can and do help with:

  • Helping you understand how to set up your policy correctly

  • Reminding you where to find your policy documents and contact info

  • Guiding you on how to start a claim and what documentation you’ll likely be asked for

  • Helping you interpret the big-picture language so you’re not lost in the fine print

But the actual claims process, decisions, and payments are handled directly by the insurer.

“I Thought I Was Covered But I Wasn’t” Situations

This is where people get burned—not because insurance “doesn’t work,” but because they thought it covered everything.

Here are some common surprises:

  • “I changed my mind; I don’t feel like going.”
    Standard cancellation coverage does not pay if you just don’t want to go, don’t like the weather forecast, or decide you’d rather stay home. That’s not a covered reason.

  • “My boss cancelled my vacation.”
    Some policies cover certain work-related changes, some don’t. You have to check the exact wording to see what counts as a covered employment reason.

  • “I knew Grandma was sick when I booked.”
    Pre-existing conditions can be complicated. Many policies have specific rules and look-back periods. Sometimes you need to buy the policy within a certain number of days of your first trip payment to get coverage for pre-existing conditions.

  • “I was drunk and got hurt.”
    Injuries under the influence of drugs or alcohol are often excluded. Same for risky behavior outside normal activities.

  • “I thought my credit card covered all this.”
    Some credit cards offer limited travel protection, but it’s often not as comprehensive as a standalone travel insurance policy—and it may only apply if you paid with that card.

  • “The airline ruined my trip; insurance should pay for everything.”
    Insurance will usually only pay within the specific benefits and limits listed. It doesn’t act as a catch-all refund system for every inconvenience.

The bottom line: insurance covers what it says it covers, nothing more. That’s why reading the benefits and exclusions matters.

When Clients Usually Buy (or Skip) Insurance

This is what I see most often:

Most People Choose Insurance For:

  • Cruises (especially out of the country)

  • All-inclusive and international trips

  • High-dollar family vacations

  • Trips with older travelers or anyone with health concerns

  • Once-in-a-lifetime vacations you really can’t afford to lose

Some People Choose to Skip Insurance When:

  • The trip is inexpensive and close to home

  • They’re comfortable accepting the risk of losing what they’ve paid

  • They have very flexible schedules and can easily rebook without major cost

There is no one right answer for everyone. My job is to lay out the risk, not decide for you.

Final Word: Protecting Your Vacation Investment

You don’t buy travel insurance hoping to use it.
You buy it because:

  • Life is unpredictable.

  • Travel is expensive.

  • And sometimes things happen that you absolutely did not plan for.

My role is to:

  • Make sure you know travel insurance exists

  • Help you understand, in plain language, what it does and doesn’t do

  • Support you in getting set up correctly if you choose to buy it

Your role is to decide whether you’re comfortable traveling without that protection—or whether you’d rather have a safety net in place.

When you receive your proposal and emails from me, you’ll always see travel insurance mentioned. That’s not pressure. That’s me doing my job to look out for your trip and your wallet.