Travel Insurance

2026-09-06

When I was younger and without kids I traveled a lot and always thought that travel insurance was kind of a scam. It is like most insurance: car, life, health, etc. use it or lose it. And for some things I really appreciate insurance, like health is a good example if me or my family get sick I want to go to the hospital and not think too much about costs. I value health a lot and so to me the value of health insurance is high. And on the other end of the spectrum for me is car insurance, I dont really need my cars (especially my older crappier ones) with bumper to bumper coverage. I try to be a cautious driver and if I total my car I would rather buy a new one vs pay a high deductible each month that I will hopefully never use.

And so back onto the topic of travel insurance, when I was young I never used it and so it seemed like a waste. Every trip I went on I followed through on and there wasn’t a lot of uncertainty in my life. both hotels and airbnbs offered insurance that I never used, even flights offered it but my dates or plans never changed. Perhaps part of this is that I love solo travel or travel with my lovely wife Sneha but not traveling in big groups. I can see how in big groups the schedules become more uncertain and perhaps you have to change plans.