The $2,000 Lesson: Why I Never Skip Travel Insurance
Jayne’s family lost $2,000 when COVID canceled their England, Ireland, and France trip one month before departure. What happened, what travel insurance does and doesn’t cover, and how to protect your family’s trip.
I want to tell you about the trip that changed how I think about travel insurance, and why it’s one of the first things I talk about with every family I plan for.
Our dream trip: England, Ireland, and France
My family and I had planned a big trip through England, Ireland, and France. Like a lot of travelers, I did it all myself. I pieced together the airfare, booked our lodging in each country, and arranged the train tickets and car travel to get us from one place to the next.
By the time everything was booked, we had invested about $6,000 of our hard-earned money. Every piece was in place, and we were counting down the days.
Then COVID hit, one month before we left
One month before our departure, COVID-19 arrived and the world shut down. Our trip was over before it began.
What I hadn’t done was buy travel insurance. At the time it felt like an extra expense we probably wouldn’t need. Some of our travel plans were refunded, and others gave us credit toward future travel. But when everything was sorted out, we had lost about $2,000. That money was simply gone.
Why piecing a trip together makes it riskier
Because I had booked every piece separately (airline, lodging, trains, and car), each company had its own cancellation rules. Some offered refunds, some offered credits, and some offered nothing at all. There was no single policy protecting the trip as a whole, and no one in our corner to help sort it out.
That’s the part I think about most when I plan for families now. A multi-country, multi-booking trip has many moving parts, and each one is a separate place where your money can get stuck.
What travel insurance typically covers
Every policy is different, but comprehensive travel insurance plans commonly include:
- Trip cancellation: reimbursement of prepaid, non-refundable costs if you cancel for a covered reason, such as illness, injury, or a death in the family
- Trip interruption: help with costs if you have to cut a trip short for a covered reason
- Emergency medical care while traveling. Many U.S. health plans, and Original Medicare, offer little or no coverage outside the country.
- Emergency medical evacuation, which can be extremely expensive without coverage
- Travel delays, missed connections, and lost or delayed baggage
What it usually doesn’t cover
Standard policies only pay for the reasons listed in the policy. Changing your mind, a general fear of traveling, or many government travel restrictions typically aren’t covered reasons. That’s an important lesson from 2020: a basic policy alone may not have saved all of our money, which is why the next option matters.
“Cancel For Any Reason” coverage
Many insurers offer an optional upgrade called Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR). It lets you cancel for reasons a standard policy won’t cover and get back a portion of your non-refundable costs, often 50 to 75 percent.
CFAR costs more and comes with strict rules. It usually has to be purchased within a short window after your first trip deposit, you typically need to insure the full cost of the trip, and you must cancel a set number of days before departure. For a big, once-in-a-lifetime family trip, it can be well worth it.
My advice for your family’s trip
- Look at insurance as soon as you put down your first deposit. Some of the most valuable benefits, like CFAR and pre-existing condition waivers, are only available if you buy early.
- Insure the full prepaid cost of the trip, not just the flights.
- Make sure every traveler is covered, especially on multigenerational trips where grandparents may have different medical needs.
- Read what counts as a covered reason, and ask questions before you buy.
- Keep every receipt and booking confirmation in one place in case you ever need to file a claim.
Let my mistake save your vacation
I learned this lesson the hard way, and I don’t want any family I work with to lose what we lost. When we plan your trip together, I’ll walk you through your travel insurance options in plain English, so you can decide what’s right for your family before it’s too late.
This article is general information, not advice about a specific policy. Coverage, limits, and eligibility vary by plan and by state, so always review the policy details before you buy.