Jaunted

Dangerous Travel / Boats / Indonesia Travel / Vietnam Travel / Death / Travel Insurance / → All Tags

The Dangers of Stepping Onboard a 'Tourist Boat'

The Ha Long Bay sinking

If there's something we've learned over the last year, it's never to trust an overnight "tourist" cruise in Southeast Asia. It was only a little more than a month ago that such a boat sunk in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, killing 12 in only 30 feet of water. The safety (or lack of) in these boats is to blame, and nothing has illustrated the issue better than the story of "Adventurous Kate," who survived a shipwreck in Indonesia.

Kate is author of her own blog about traveling Southeast Asia on her own, which she has been doing continuously since October of last year. A week ago, on Monday March 28, she was enjoying a 5-day cruise to visit the famous Komodo dragons of Komodo Island when her tourist boat hit a reef and promptly sank, causing her and her fellow travelers to abandon ship and swim to the closest island—Komodo, with its dragons.

The reason they swam? Half of the life jackets onboard were unusable and both lifeboats failed. Their luggage was waterlogged and left behind, and what they did eventually reclaim had been pillaged by the boat's crew.

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Dangerous Travel / Iraq Travel / Travel Industry / Travel Insurance / Tourism / → All Tags

Since When is Iraq 'The Most Exciting Emerging Destination on Earth?'

Insurance companies make it their job to assess risk, and if something is too unsafe they'll inevitably shy away. So it's probably a good sign that there's now an easy way to get traveler's insurance for—of all places—Iraq. The country's travel board was at the London World Travel Market, and in conjunction with their arrival, AAIB Insurance Brokers announced the launch of Iraq-travelinsurance.com. The url isn't the most creative thing we've ever seen, but it certainly does convey the site's purpose.

The site bills itself as a comprehensive travel insurance stop, and our quick test drive seemed to confirm as much. You can use it to purchase insurance for Iraq, for Afghanistan, or for Iraq and Afghanistan. Then you can pick out regions within those countries where you'll be traveling, with prices presumably pegged to the local security situation. We're not sure why Iraq and Afghanistan are lumped together that way—maybe there's a lot of demand for US Invasion Nostalgia trips or something—but the option is definitely available if you want it.

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Travel Insurance / EasyJet / Airline News / → All Tags

EasyJet Now Asking if You'd Like Some Trip Insurance with That In-Flight Soda

Nothing reminds you that you're flying on a low-cost carrier more than encountering extra charges throughout the flight—soda, Pringles chips, pillows...you name it, it has a price tag. Oh wait, that's most airlines these days, anyways! Well, there is one new extra in-flight fee we totally support, and we're shocked to hear it coming from easyJet first: trip insurance.

You can now buy your trip insurance while already flying to your destination onboard EasyJet. That may be as last-minute as it gets, but at least the option exists, just in case you were too busy before finally taking off on your vacay to bother with it. Easyjet says it's offering this service because "it found that one in five holidaymakers from the UK were jetting off uninsured."

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Travel News / Travel Tips / Travel Insurance / → All Tags

Volcanic Ash Teaches Travelers a Lesson in Trip Insurance

If we learned anything from the most recent volcano ash situation it’s that trip insurance might be something to consider in the future. We weren’t stranded in Europe for a week this time, but who knows when that Eyjafjallajökull volcano—or another one—will decide to blow its top. There’s plenty of options when it comes to insuring that once-in-a-lifetime trip, but InsureMyTrip.com is the place to start.

Type in where you are going, when you are going, how much the whole thing costs, and up pops plenty of insurance options. We told the site that we were heading to the UK for a week this summer and that the trip set us back $5,000. It brought back insurance plans that covered just the basics like accidents and medical treatment to some pretty extensive options. Most plans hovered around $200 and included trip cancellation, trip interruption, travel delay, baggage, medical, and emergency evacuation. After seeing all that can go wrong we might want to just stay at home.

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Accidents / Travel Insurance / Travel Contests / → All Tags

Cash In On Your Travel Disasters In 'World's Unluckiest Traveler' Contest

Everyone has an adventure horror story they like to tell. The unfortunate reality, though, is that most of those stories are just overdramatic whining. Yes, it sucks you had to sit next to a crying baby on a Southwest shuttle between Vegas and San Jose. No, it wasn't the worst flight ever.

There are, however, those travelers who have genuinely painful trips to relate. All their reservations got canceled or all their luggage got stolen. A friend ended up sick or they ended up pregnant. They had no choice except to fly through JFK during Thanksgiving. Hair-raising stuff like that is what we're talking about. If you're one of those people, travel insurance company Travel Guard is offering you a chance to cash in on your past misfortunes in their newest travel contest. If your story is really good, there's a Flip camcorder in it for you. If it's really, really, really good you might win $10,000.

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Laid-Off Travel / Priceline / Travel Insurance / Recession Travel / → All Tags

Priceline Will Offer Refunds If You Lose Your Job (But Only If You Buy Trip Protection)

No need to hold a bikini car wash to pay for your vacation with the new Priceline trip protection.

What was very en vogue in the last quarter of 2008 and at the start of 2009 has suddenly become en vogue again. But we won't complain because it's actually a good thing. Priceline.com has announced it will offer a full cancellation and refund for anyone who books a trip on their site and then loses their job. From the press release:

The expanded trip protection is available for priceline.com’s vacation packages, Name Your Own Price® hotel rooms, published-price and Name Your Own Price® airline tickets, and rental cars booked as an add-on to any priceline.com travel reservation.

However, as this is part of Priceline's optional travel insurance you need to select this option in order to get a refund. But um, we hope that won't happen because we want you to keep your job! Trip protection costs as little as $16 for a flight and $5 a night for a hotel reservation.

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Travel Insurance / Travel Health / India Travel / Accidents / → All Tags

A Traveling Without Insurance Nightmare For Aussie Man In India

Remember how your parents pestered you about getting travel insurance before you headed off on spring break or to Europe? We admit that our own insurance coverage over the years has been hit-or-miss, but every now and again we remember why we pay for it.

This is one of those times. Recently, an Aussie tourist took an unlucky fall off a steep mountain track in India and ended up paralyzed in a hospital in New Delhi. And yes, you guessed it, this guy was traveling without any insurance, even though he was 64 years old and should have known better.

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Airline Fees / Frontier / Travel Insurance / → All Tags

Airline Fees: Frontier Airlines Sneakily Selling You Travel Insurance

At least other airlines admit they're hiking fees. But it seems Frontier will slip a travel insurance charge onto your ticket unless you deliberately opt out of it. Travel troubleshooter Chris Elliott has the scoop:

After finishing [a] transaction, [customer Angela Gross] discovered she had also signed up for a $10.95 insurance policy. How did that happen? A small box at the bottom of the booking screen was pre-checked, indicating she also wanted to buy the policy.

Seems pretty slimy, which is why we weren't surprised to find out that Spirit has been known to do something similar. Check those check boxes before booking, people!

Related Stories:
· Like It or Not, Airline Adds Travel Insurance [Elliott]
· Frontier Airlines: Another Fee-Friendly Carrier [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]

London Travel / Travel Insurance / → All Tags

Play "Find Foxy Brown" If You Dare

Have you seen Foxy Brown? The partially deaf New York rapper (and dine-and-ditcher) took a flight to London on June 29th. First, she delayed the flight by an hour so she could sit near her entourage. Now, she's up and vanished. According to the New York Post, she didn't even tell her lawyer where she went. The Post speculates she's laying down tracks for a new album -- or turning over a new leaf on her bad-girl reputation.

Should Foxy's probation officer have had her take out a travel insurance policy? Well, she's not considered a flight risk, but it depends whether she intended to go hang-gliding in the Cotswolds or just shopping at Harrods. Consumerist offers some situations where travel insurance might be helpful.

Related Stories:
· Foxy Stiffs Her Bill at Junior's [Jaunted]

[Photo: Gothamist.com]

Travel Insurance / Golf / Golf Vacations / → All Tags

All New Sorts of Protection

When we were your age, we had to walk two miles and bike up a hill to get travel insurance. Even then, we were only covered for things like getting our leg bitten off by a wolverine. The kids are crazy these days, though, and things are changing in the insurance industry.

Cancel-for-any-cause policies are becoming more popular. These plans typically allow you to get more of your money back and with shorter advance notice, depending on the company. That means that you need not have a wolverine dilemma to cancel--perhaps you just got in a fight with your travel buddy and no longer want to spend a week cooped up together. Then again, with a sample $2000 trip for two, you could end up parting with as much as $563 if disaster strikes.

The best new policy, however, has got to be Travel Guard's Tee, Tour & Travel package. Yeah yeah, it'll cover you if your game gets rained out, but it'll also buy you $250 worth of drinks if you hit a hole in one. Now, if that covers mini-golf, we are so sold it ain't even funny.

[Photo: Pete Hindle]

Related Stories:
· Travel insurance for any woe [LAT/Mercury News]

Travel Insurance / → All Tags

$5 a Month is Piece of Mind

Wow, it would be terrible to have your iPod or phone swiped while traveling.

It would be more awful to think that you had no recourse and have to shell out $300 for a new one.

Instead of that-why not insure your gadgets. Luxist [via CBS] reports that independent insurance companies are now offering coverage for iPods, Blackberries, cellphones and the like-for a mere $5 a month when tagged on to your existing homeowners rates.

Hey, better safe then sorry.

Related Stories:
·   New Insurance Protects Expensive Gadgets [Luxist]
·   New Insurance Will Protect Expensive Gadgets [CBS5.com]