Whether you are going to Thailand for a few weeks or China to walk the Great Wall for the next year, make sure you don’t forget that the most important part of any trip is you. I wrote an article two years ago on Travel Insurance that was important but few people saw it because I was so new to blogging. Read it because it is just as relevant now as it was two years ago.

You are looking at spending thousands of dollars on airline tickets, hotels, new clothes and maybe even some new luggage but you aren’t thinking about the one thing that may save your life and hundreds of thousands of dollars…Travel Insurance. I know what you are thinking, “I’ll be fine, it’s only a few weeks”, what if you aren’t? A hospital stay in a foreign country is stressful enough, trying to figure out how to pay for it when you are injured isn’t going to be fun.

Most travel insurance for a two week trip can be had for as little as $30-$100 and covers everything from emergency medical to flights home. If you go about it the right way you can cover every possible problem of an upcoming trip. Usually most travel insurance companies have modules that you can add in for each type of insurance. You can start off with a basic emergency medical insurance and add in trip cancellation insurance, luggage insurance, flight insurance and just about anything else you can think of.

In countries such as Thailand it’s easy to think that any ailment will be pretty cheap so you could cover any medical expenses out of your pocket, it may be easy to think but you would be dead wrong…and dead could be the operative word here. While minor injuries in Thailand can be taken care of at a clinic for a tiny amount of money the major emergencies will set you back. Yes, they will still cost less than if you were in America but you could be looking at a few hundred thousand baht before all is said and done. At the very least this could be vacation ending.

One mistake a lot of travelers make is in thinking that their medical insurance that they have at home will cover them abroad, it won’t. 100% of all medical carriers will not cover you outside of your home country. Some may offer a travel rider that will cost you more but otherwise you are on your own to cover yourself. And still most people don’t.

I know, you’ll never be that person that gets hurt on vacation. Make sure to send out a press release to wherever it is you are going so everyone else there at the time gets with the program too. You may very well play it safe and not plan on doing anything  adventurous but how do you plan for that other tourist who’s plans have changed to include you accidentally? It may not be what you do but what gets done to you that lands you in the hospital.

Some hospitals may not have what is needed to help you or save your life, the right travel insurance will cover air lifts to other hospitals and or countries if needed and they may even include flying in a family member so you don’t have to go it alone.

I’m not here hawking any specific travel insurance, there are many good carriers out there and I suggest you do your own research to find the travel insurance that fits you and your vacation best. I’m just here to nag you into getting travel insurance because it really is the most important part of your trip, not your Ipod.

I’m bringing this up again now because I realized I’ve been at the clinic or hospital every visit to Thailand. From acute tonsillitis  and severe dehydration to cutting my foot open. I planned for none of it but it still happened. In the past month my girl has been bitten by a snake and in a motorcycle accident, both required hospital stays. Fortunately she is fine but it just goes to show you it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing , accidents will happen.

And like the old saying ” if you fail to plan then you plan to fail”.  Don’t plan to fail, get travel insurance before you go on any trip. You may never use it but that one time you need it you’ll be glad you have it.