Travel insurance - what you can't leave home without

Now that the summer has truly arrived, many of you will be off for a well earned break.

However, what is often left to the last minute or (heaven forbid) forgotten about, is arguably the most important consideration to make when planning to travel. I am of course talking about travel insurance.

Any accident, illness or lost belongings overseas can leave you with less than pleasant holiday memories.

Furthermore if you're not prepared, the financial burden won't be welcome either. For instance, if you suffer a heart attack in Spain, you'll be set back £35,000 which you'll have to pay for yourself without adequate cover from your travel insurance.

Although there are countries, such as Australia, which have healthcare arrangements with the UK (which means emergency procedures will be free), other countries such as the USA has no such measures.

However, that doesn't mean that if there are such arrangements, travel insurance isn't needed; only true emergencies are covered for and the additional costs such as search and rescue and the ambulance will still have to be paid for.

Furthermore although on a smaller scale, things like lost luggage and cancellation of a trip (for example if you needed to travel home due to a family member falling ill) will only be covered for if you get suitable travel insurance.

So we've established that travel insurance is a must. But with so many companies competing for your custom, which one do you choose?

Also with all the small print, clauses and conditions involved, how do you choose travel insurance which will provide you with adequate cover to suit your needs during your travels?

Well my first tip is to shop around for the best insurance deal and not be lazy by simply letting your travel agent sort it out (as he or she will often make a hefty profit from this!)

Although the average travel insurance costs £25, research undertaken by Alliance & Leicester has shown that UK holidaymakers pay £1.3bn more than they need to on travel insurance each year.

This is because most people do not realise that buying the insurance separately from the trip itself will save you a lot of cash.

Secondly, you have to remember that the most expensive insurance isn't necessarily the best and in the same way, the cheapest insurance isn't necessarily the worst.

What is most important is a suitable policy that is tailored to your own trip. There are several considerations to make when choosing the policy which fits your needs.

1. How many trips are you intending to make during the course of a year? If it's just a one-off trip then a Single Trip policy is the best option.

However, if several trips are planned than Annual Travel insurance is the right choice. Not only does this save you money but also time as there is the added convenience of not having to worry about the insurance each time you go abroad.

2. A thing to note is the number of days the policy will cover you for.

In some cases this is unlimited, but some policies only cover you for trips shorter than a certain number of days.

Furthermore, whatever travel insurance you decide to take out, think carefully about the dates when it will begin and stop. 12»