These days a person can insure virtually anything, whether it be your house and all its contents or your baby finger. We all have different occupations, hobbies, lifestyles and the insurance industry is always ready to accept that certain people have certain priorities. Whether or not these priorities can be insured depends on how much money one is willing to pay. The branch of travel insurance stems from this massive insurance 'tree' but unlike some packages which can seem risky and often unnecessary, travel insurance is a sector which sees more compensation and alleviates more cases of stress abroad than most other sectors.

A minor accident in a far away country can incur hundreds of thousands in cost if the traveller is not covered by travel insurance. In some cases this can exceed the cost of the family home. How much money do you fork out every year on home insurance? Compared life, home, vehicle and medical insurances which are more costly, travel insurance is not only cheaper but also covers a far wider range of potential catastrophes and is thus just as important as the others.

Picture any one of these scenarios: You have your trip all planned out and you're excited to arrive at your seaside destination. You've purchased all the accessories you could think of: toiletries, camera, new shoes, new clothes and you're looking forward to finally using them. On your way to the airport your car breaks down, making you late for your flight. Can you afford to fork out more money for another flight? The airline won't just hand one to you. Not unless you have travel insurance. Travel insurance can cover you for costs in respect of reasonable additional accommodation and travel expenses necessarily incurred to reach the overseas destination on time as a result of the failure of the vehicle in which you are travelling to deliver you to the departure point in time to commence the journey, provided you have allocated sufficient travel time to ensure you met the departure check in time. (terms and conditions apply) I.E. cost of another flight, cost of a taxi to then get you to the airport, cost of hotel room at the airport if you can't fly till the next day etc.

Or let's just say that the traffic jam held you up but didn't stop you getting to the airport just in time to board. In your flurry to get onto the plane, you've mislaid your hand luggage containing your purse, new sunglasses, some extra cash and some in-flight necessities. You're pretty sure you left it at the duty free chemist. There's no turning back now. You're already late and the plane won't wait for you. Do you just kiss that bag goodbye? Not if you have travel insurance. Travel insurance will replace (in the equivalent in monetary value) your bag and its contents including the money.

Okay, so you got on the plane and you managed to keep all your things in tow. So far, so good. You fly out to your exciting holiday destination and your accommodation couldn't be more perfect. Unfortunately for you, though, you've managed to get food poisoning in the hotel restaurant and you end up being moved on from one doctor to the next in the hope of diagnosing your ailment, incurring loads of medical costs along the way. This seems excessive for a case of the tummy aches but in some third world countries, good doctors can be rare and hospital accommodation dire and the most trivial of illnesses can take forever to diagnose. Travel insurance will cover all your medical costs even if the situation escalates and it turns out to be something worse than food poisoning causing you to be hospitalised. Travel insurance will pay for the cost of transporting you home under medical supervision and if you cannot be safely moved, travel insurance will pay for the cost of flying a close family member to your side to support you and be with you until you are well enough to be transported home.

Travel insurance is designed to ease the inconveniences you may encounter and offer you peace of mind so that your nerves don't get the best of you and spoil your time away. At any point during your travels, virtually anything can happen to you and being in a foreign country around people you don't know only makes it tougher trying to ride out the bumps.