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Hey Thriftaholics! Welcome back.
If you’ve been following along, you already know that we just tookan 18-day epic adventure through Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. And yes, it was freakin’ amazing.
We got to experience some of the world’s most incredible art, architecture, and landscapes . We even did a pizza and gelato cooking lesson for my daughter’s birthday. The entire trip was incredible, packed with life-changing memories that our family willcherish forever.
While I don’t regret a single dollar we spent, this trip wasn’t cheap. Since we actually had 5 people traveling with us, we shelled out thousands of dollars for the experience. We saved in every way we could, but a trip this large still costs major moolah.
Protecting Our Travel Investment
Of course, when you’re spending this much time and money on a trip, you definitely don’t want to be stuck paying for something you didn’t use. That would be the worst of all worlds. You wouldn’t just miss out on all the fun, you’d end up footing the bill for it too! No thanks.
Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing if something was going to derail our plans. So, we searched through the best travel insurance companies and finally decided on purchasing an annual plan for this year. That way, we couldrecover at least some of the money we spent if.After shopping around for both annual and individual trip policies, we decided to put our whole family on an annual plan. Here’s why.
#1) We Spent a Lot of Money
Even though we used rewards points to fund portions of this trip, the fact is that you can’t go on an adventure this long and not spend any money. And we spent lots of it. Like LOTS. Of course we’ve been planning and saving for months, so the trip is all paid for. However, with this much money (and points) on the line, we didn’t want to take a chance that something would fall through.
#2)There Were a Ridiculous Amount of Moving Parts
When you’re visiting 6 cities in 3 different countries, there are a lot of moving parts that need to fall into place. If one of those parts breaks, it could completely throw off the rest of the trip. For instance, had we got stuck in Munich or Verona for an extra day, we would have been responsiblefor an extra hotel stay and maybeadditional train fares. Or, had we missed a connection on one of our travel days, we could have lost an entire dayof sightseeing that we prepaid for. Some of our planning was a little tight, so we made sure to protect our funds with a travel insurance policy.
#3) We Brought the Kids… and a Manny
This is the first time we’d tried a trip this long, ANDit’s the first time we’d taken the kids to Europe. It’s also the first time we’dbrought along some extra help, as Holly’s brother made the trek with us.More people means more chances for something to go wrong.
#4) WeWanted to Protect Against Injury or Illness
Speaking of the kids, there’s an endless stream of ways they’reable to hurt themselves. While we never anticipate any illnesses or injuries, we couldn’t risk a broken bone or dental emergency derailing all of our plans. We’re far from being helicopter parents, butall the cobblestone and old steps seemed like a hazard waiting to happen. The trip was also planned way in advance, and we had no idea what could happen from the time we booked to the time we left. So, we decided travel insurance was probably a good idea just in case something happened.
#5) WePrepaid for a LOT of Tours
We’re planners anyway, but this time we prepaid forfar more tours than we usually do. Additionally, we had 3 extra travelers than normal, so that is a lot of money (and some points) out the door. If something unexpected happened, like an injury or train delay, we wanted to have some extra protection to help cover the cost of any non-refundable items. That way were weren’t out all the fun and the funds too!
#6)We Rented a Car
#6)We Rented a CarAlthough this wasn’t the main reason for getting travel insurance, it was a nice perk. We rented a car for 3 days in Switzerland. And while I’m a pretty good driver, it’s always nice to have a little extra insurance protection just in case. The auto rentalportion of our policy covered things like fender benders, collisions with wildlife, theft, and vandalism. Since the coverage was already included in our travel insurance, we simply declined the insurance upcharge offered by the rental facility and saved ourselves some money.
#7) We’ve Got More Trips Planned
We love to travel, and we’re constantly mapping out our travel plans for the future. In fact, we’ve got some huge travel plans for this summer, as well as another trip to Europe planned for the fall. Since we’re constantly on the go, we decided it would be smart to purchase an annual plan through Allianz Travel Insurance. That way, all our travel throughout the year is covered for one relatively low price. Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it. But if we do, we’ll be glad it is there.
Travel Insurance: Are You Covered?
Look, nobody thinks their travel plans will go haywire… but sometimes they do. Flights, hotels, tours, and rental cars all cost a lot of money. When you’ve saved for months (or years) to make your travel dreams come true, it makes sense to insure those funds against loss. That’s why we decided to purchase travel insurance for ourselves.
Although we boughtan annual plan, you don’t have to travel all the time for travel insurance to be a good fit. If you’ve pouredthousands of dollars into a single trip,protecting that money is something to think about. If you’ve ever been in that position where something goes wrong, like I have, it’s nice to know that you can recover some of the money you lost.
