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Why Buy Travel Insurance:

To demonstrate the importance of purchasing travel insurance, here are some common examples of what could go wrong.

1. It's 10 p.m. and you and your immediate family arrive at the airport for a connecting flight, only to find that your flight has been cancelled. Who can assist you with finding new flights to catch up with your tour?
2. Your bag was lost with your insulin inside. You need help to locate your bag as soon as possible and have your emergency prescription filled. Who do you call?
3. On your first tour to Peru, your passport and wallet are stolen. Where do you turn for emergency cash, and how will you get your passport replaced?
4. If your sister-in-law becomes seriously ill and you must cancel your tour, what happens to your non-refundable deposits or pre-payments?
5. You arrive in Ireland and your luggage doesn't. If it's lost, who will help you find it? If it's delayed, who will pay for your necessities? If it's stolen, who will pay to replace it?
6. You're walking in the mountains in Switzerland and twist your ankle. Who can help you find an English-speaking physician?

If you think these things won't happen to you, so did I.  That is until my wife and I went to Amsterdam.

I had a business trip and arrived from another location to Schipol.  My wife arrived from Washington DC.  I had business there for 5 days and the weekends on either side we were going to take tours and during the week she was going to go to museums that she had always heard about.

Our second day we were stepping out of the garage elevator and she fell and broke her ankle ( I thought it was just spained). Well Europe does have some great health care but its not for free and they don't take Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  They do take Master Card and American Express fortunately.  So after a cast was applied, we returned to the hotel (they were great).  We did not get to the hospital soon enough for immediate surgery and the swelling was now so much that they recommended waiting a week. Found out the same recommendation here in the states as well.  So she spent the next 5 days in bed while I went off and completed my business that I was committed to.  We went out in the evening to restaurants with the help of the hotels wheel chair, had room service sent up and decided to forgo our following weekends tours that were planned and in one case prepaid.  Then came the airline.  Our original seats were in economy, and with her cast and its angles she could not get into an economy seat, so I had to get a business class seat, but oops they were sold out of those.  The First class lay flat seats were great I am sure, but not sure my wife really enjoyed the full value of that first class experience, and again, they didn't take BC/BS either, just American Express. 

I have never traveled without travel protection since, and am ahead of the system.  Contact me to find out what else can happen on Potemkin's steps and how much easier the experience was and how much zero cost can mean!