Travel Insurance: Don't Leave Home Without It

Guest Post by Catherine Lavinia

When you're booking your next holiday, one of the most important things you should plan for is travel insurance. Whether you're planning a quick weekend away, a week in the sun or a full-on winter sports experience, it's essential to book the right sort of travel insurance for you and your chosen holiday.

Travel insurance can provide financial protection against all sorts of scenarios. One of the most obvious is illness. If you fall ill while you're abroad, or if you have an accident and require medical or hospital attention, you can't fall back on the NHS. Instead you'll be liable for hefty hospital fees which could set you back thousands of pounds. So it's well worth ensuring you've got insurance sorted before you go to make sure you've covered for situations like this.

Another benefit of certain travel insurance policies is that it can provide financial protection in the event of holiday cancellation. If you fall ill and can't travel, many policies provide cover that can reimburse or compensate you for missed holidays, which is another good reason to make sure you're adequately covered.

The upshot is that none of us know what's around the corner, so unless you're prepared to shell out hundreds, even thousands of pounds - possibly more - on circumstances that are beyond your control, it is always worth taking out a good level of travel insurance cover to protect you against the unexpected.

If you have booked a holiday through a tour operator, and even if you haven't, you can usually find out more or reserve travel insurance through your travel agent. For instance you can book travel insurance from Thomas Cook at the time you pay for your holiday, or add it on later. Alternatively, get online and use a comparison website to search for travel insurance policies and compare prices from a wide range of providers.