Backpacking Travel Insurance

Backpacking travel insurance can come in handy for a variety of reasons. Even if you are more of the fly by the seat of your pants traveler and you don't like to plan things out in advance, you can still get a lot of use out of your insurance. The type of trip that you are planning on taking, however, will more than likely determine the particular insurance that you need. If you are taking a backpacking trip across Europe, then your travel insurance policy is probably going to be pretty basic. You want to cover things like lost luggage, flight cancellation, trip cancellation, and health insurance. You might also be on a budget, so finding cheap travel insurance is going to be helpful, too.

On the other hand, if you are actually going backpacking in the mountains and you're going to face perilous situations that could potentially put your life at risk, then you are going to need a different kind of backpacker travel insurance. This could include an adventure travel plan. In fact, you might even find that you need travel insurance that includes medical evacuation.

So what types of travel insurance for backpackers are available?

When looking at a policy, here are a few things that you will encounter:

1. Travel Interruption - If you get sick or you have to go home due to a family medical emergency, the insurance company will reimburse you for the part of your trip that you didn't use.

2. Lost Baggage Coverage - If your luggage is lost or delayed for a long time, you will be compensated for your items. Keep in mind that the airline only covers a small amount, so if you have anything expensive in there you might be out of luck. That extra insurance is helpful.

3. Travel Cancellation- You will get your money back if you have to cancel your trip altogether-even if some things were non-refundable.

4. Personal Liability- Basically, if you injure someone or cause their death then the policy will pay for their medical expenses.

5. Emergency/Medical Service- Think health insurance. If you get sick while you're traveling, the policy will cover you and potentially save you a lot of money.

6. Accidental Death/Injury- This covers you if you have permanent disablement or even temporary disablement.

7. Flight Delay- This will cover you if you have to spend the night in a hotel or if you have any other expenses due to a flight delay, like the cost of meals.

If you plan on actually backpacking, as in trekking across country and camping out on the side of cliffs, then you might want to consider purchasing an insurance policy that covers something more than just a night or two in a foreign hotel in times of bad weather. There are some policies, for example, that contain "Extreme Sports" coverage. These might be a little more inclusive and fit your trip better.

Where can you find information for these kinds of insurance?

There are a variety of travel resources for backpackers out there. In fact, there are quite a few travel companies geared towards students, like Council Travel and STA Travel. These are a wealth of information when it comes to all aspects of the travel process and backpackers will find a lot of handy travel resources on these websites.

Whichever insurance policy you decide to go with, make sure that if health and dental insurance is provided that they are accepted at thousands of locations around the world. The cheapest policy won't do you any good if you can't use it.