There’s many moving parts to traveling and going on vacation, especially when it comes to insurance:
1. Lost Baggage & Trip Cancellation – depending on how you book your trip, the airline you use may offer these coverages, plus some other lesser-known coverages of interest, so check the restrictions.
2. Medical – make sure that if you travel out of the US, your health insurance follows you, and to what degree you may or may NOT have coverage.
3. Liability for Damage to Property – for those of us that have rented a property from one of the Home-Sharing Apps, your own Homeowners Policy may only extend a limited amount of Liability AND/OR Property insurance. If the property manager offers any insurance coverage, it may be wise to purchase that “temporary premises insurance.”
4. Stolen Items from Your Room – whether it’s a hotel or a shared home, there may be some limited coverage from your homeowners policy for your belongings. Items may only be replaced with a lower cash value; our recommendation is that jewelry should ALWAYS be insured by listing it specifically (aka “Scheduled”) on a Personal Article Floater Policy, as most of those jewelry losses occur by “disappearing” in the water or sand or ski glove, which essentially means not by “theft.”
5. Negligence Liability – most homeowners policies will follow you and cover some domestic or international risks, but when renting a vehicle, or other form of motor-conveyance, you should consider purchasing some sort of Automobile Liability Insurance through the rental outfit you may be working with.
There’s certainly more to going away than just going away, especially when things go awry, and you look to insurance for a solution. Ocean or River Cruises and Road Trips are not alone from these similar examples above, and sometimes can be more complicated than when traveling by Air.