What you need to do before travelling abroad

Indians love travelling but in that excitement, many of us generally forget to secure oneself from any unexpected events one can face during their travel. These can range from loss of baggage, flight cancellation, accidents, etc. So we need to have travel insurance policies. Here are some handy tips:

SINGLE TRIP

Single trip travel insurance policy provides coverage for one domestic or international trip. Even if one is on a single trip, they can visit multiple destinations or multiple countries.

The policy cover starts from the time one takes his flight from his home country to a foreign destination until the date of the return or end of policy.

Such policies generally cover hospitalization expense, emergency dental treatment costs, loss of checked-in luggage among others. Those who travel occasionally and for a long duration, single trip travel insurance is an appropriate choice.

All insurance companies have a cap on the number of days that are to be counted as a single trip.

MULTI-TRIP

Such insurance plans are generally purchased on an annual basis for a period of 12 months. Multi-trip travel insurance policies generally cover loss of passport, emergency medical expenses, trip cancelation among others. The cover is basically set for 365 days wherein a person can fly abroad as many times as he wants under the same insurance policy.

If you’re someone who goes on multiple official trips in a year or believe in exploring the world, then this is the best option. Some day have time limit so reading the fine print is always advisable.

To be eligible for multi-trip travel insurance one should have a domestic health insurance policy in the country of their origin.

(with inputs from insurance expert Antony Jacob)