When you are choosing your travel insurance policy or reviewing your existing policy, check the policy document carefully. You must ensure it fulfils your requirements as you determined in buying traveling insurance as well as the following;

Limits of cover on medical expenses. This must be at least £1 million for worldwide cover. Personally, when choosing a travel insurance policy, I prefer a £5 million limit.

Any exclusions for cover on sporting activities. Make sure nothing you might want to do is excluded. If something you know you want to do is excluded but you like the rest of the policy, contact the company. They may cover what you want to do for an additional fee. Please note, if you are going to one of the National Parks and intend to walk, check out the altitude at the trail head or the visitor center from the National Parks Service website. You may find you are walking above an altitude covered by your insurance company and you will need to call them to ensure there are no issues.

Provision of a 24 hour emergency help line and liaison with local medical services should you become ill.

Cover for repatriation of dead bodies (morbid I know but it is surprisingly expensive and catches out several British holiday makers every year).

Once you have chosen your policy, ensure you advise the insurance company about any medical conditions suffered by anyone insured. Failure to do this may invalidate your cover.

Finally, make sure you have a note of any helpline numbers and your policy details in a secure place before you travel. Someone getting sick on holiday is stressful enough without the added hassle of having to panic about not knowing who to call. Also, it is worth keeping a note of these details separate from say a handbag or a purse. If your purse / wallet / handbag gets snatched and you want to let your insurance company know it can make life a little difficult if all the details are in said purse / wallet / handbag…….

When choosing a travel insurance policy, there are a bewildering array of providers.

Good places to look for travel insurance…

Endsleigh Insurance offers a specific policy for independent travellers.

Columbus Direct provide a range of policies with scheduled airline failure as standard and ash cloud cover as an optional extra.

The AA Travel Insurance covers financial failure of pre-booked flights, hotels etc. for independent travellers as standard, with an optional extension for travel disruption caused by strikes, adverse weather, natural disasters and some other hazards.

Hi, we know a lot about insurance but we don’t know much about you! To make sure you get the right cover, it is important that you check any policy carefully and if you have any questions you should talk to an insurance advisor. Louise