Travel Insurance

by Wayne Wirtanen (First of two parts. Go to part two.)

Editor’s note: In the following account, ITN has agreed to withhold the name of the subscriber and tour company. Nevertheless, we feel readers can benefit from the lessons imparted.

I write regarding the letter “Staged Distraction” from the gentleman whose railpass was stolen from his jacket on the seat (Nov. ’09, pg. 51).

My wife, Joan, and I travel all the time, and on some of those trips we use tour companies, but we also fly independently and book tours once we arrive at our destination. We find either option acceptable, although I suppose it does depend on one’s comfort zone.

I found the following article with the above title, by Milan Korcok, editor of Travelinsurancefile.com, a Canadian website, of sufficient interest to get permission to reprint it in ITN, as follows.

“Travel insurance can’t protect you everywhere in this dangerous world. You need to check out your destination — and don’t take anything for granted — to verify if Travel Warnings have been issued against it by your government. If they have, your insurance may be invalid or severely restricted.

Although we are supposed to be savvy travelers, in April ’09 we were taken in by a scam that we were not ready for.

For the past 14 years, my wife, Roberta, and I have made at least one annual trip to Ireland. We always rent a car at the Shannon or Dublin airport and tour extensively.

ITN printed a reader’s letter titled “Sky-high Charge for Scratch” back in the May ’08 issue, page 30. It prompted another reader to send in the following account of a similar experience with the same auto rental office the year before, one with a twist. — Editor

Through Auto Europe, my husband and I rented a car from National Car Rental at the Frankfurt Airport in Germany for 36 days in April-May ’07.

by Wayne Wirtanen

This month I’m going to discuss several aspects of today’s travel insurance scene.

STA Travel and travelers over 35

by Wayne Wirtanen