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Travel insurance is one of the last things that people think about when booking their holiday, even when there are plenty of travel insurance compare tools on the Internet at your disposal. Often, travel insurance is even entirely neglected, leaving travellers open to the risk of being left with  expensive medical bills or a gaping hole where a now-cancelled holiday once was – amongst a plethora of other losses and expenses. And you don’t need to neglect your travel insurance to lose out – go for cheap holiday insurance and you could be travelling with inadequate cover. To see a great source of travel insurance click here.

Injury, illness or death
If you’re in a foreign country (even if it’s Western) and you suffer injury or illness without having travel insurance, you’ll be in for a hefty medical bill when you recover. Much worse still, you could be left without treatment if you’re not covered, which could see you suffering further injury or even death. If you’re unfortunate to die on holiday and don’t have travel insurance, then your next of kin will have to pay for your body to be transported home, which can cost a pretty penny and isn’t fair on your loved ones. Medical expenses cover is a recommended £2m.

Delay and/or cancellation
This year’s devastating bout of natural disasters and conflict in Japan and Libya, Egypt and Tunisia (respectively) are all we need to remind us that both Mother Nature is well and truly in control. And it doesn’t matter if you’re going nowhere near any of the latest troubled destinations – they can still have a huge effect on your travel plans. The recommended cancellation over is £3k (or however much your holiday cost, in its entirety), and the delay cover is tipped at £20 per hour for the initial 12 hours of the delay.

Theft or loss
Theft and loss is an incredibly common problem when abroad, because for some strange reason, we tend to let our guard down and do things that we simply wouldn’t at home. It must be the change in the air. We also carry around a lot more valuables and cash than we would tend to at home, which is why the recommended cover for cash is £250.

N.B. If you’re carrying around things like expensive cameras, sunglasses, laptops etc., you should make a point of checking what you’re covered for in case of loss or theft of these items, too. Often, the cover is very minimal. Because you’re on holiday, your belongings are often all kept in your handbag or rucksack, or all in one place, so when one thing goes missing, it’s often followed by a whole host of other valuable items.

Lost baggage
Last year, Gadling.com posted an article entitled “Airlines losing 3,000 bags – every hour of every day”. That’s right – it’s estimated that airlines lose 2.5 million bags every year, which equates to 3,000 every hour, 365 days a year. And these figures came from a very reliable source – SITA, an operator of airline and airport computer systems, which used data from the World Traveller Luggage Database. Recommended minimum baggage cover is £1,5k.

Airline failure and end supplier failure
The unhealthy economy in recent years has seen a huge number of airlines and tour operators go into liquidation. If this happens to your airline, tour operator or hotel (group) and you’ve neglected to get travel insurance (or an adequate level of cover), then you’ll simply lose not only your holiday, but all the money you spent on it, too. Even scarier, if you’re on holiday when the company goes bust, you’ll have to pay out of your own pocket to replace the service of the company that went down.

So don’t risk it all – get your travel insurance sorted, check the policy details before you go, and make sure you take copies of your insurance policy with you everywhere you go, in case the worst happens.