so every weekend of my training schedule includes what us in the club call a "long run." Difficult jargon, I know. Don't strain your brain, it is exactly what it is - a really long run. From here on out, every long run that I do will be the longest I have ever run at one time. Saturday it was 9 miles. In actuality, we did about 9.5. This is okay. Anyway, while running a long run, the goal is to run at a slower pace than your desired race pace (for several reasons that I won't go into because this is a travel blog, not a running blog), which means we should all be able to talk to each other. Now, all of us are teachers, so shop talk inevitably occurs. One thing that teachers often discuss is the salary of teachers around the U.S. As a married woman, I realize fully how lucky I am to, at this stage in my life, feel as financially stable as I am, especially as a teacher, and the likelihood of my continued financial stability for the rest of my life because my wife chose a career path in the medical field. Not overtly "rich" or "loaded" or even above the typical "middle class" by any means. But definitely stable. Anyway, this came up, and I realize that my perspective of a traveler, even as I'm talking to you now, is much different than what it was four years ago. I was traveling to have fun and spend as little money as possible, which meant not taking the kinds of precautions that I probably should have. Now, while everything we do is on a strict budget to get the most out of our trip, we are also able to purchase things like travel insurance, which is one of the most important things to have while traveling. Truthfully, I should have never left the country without it. And now I never will again.
Perhaps you are thinking, "This still does not help me." Well, yes, it does.
https://www.squaremouth.com/
This website, which I have posted about before, will help you, budgeted traveler, find a reasonably priced travel insurance package that is based on your ability to spend and what kind of coverage you may need. Travel insurance is for every traveler, free spenders and budgeted alike.
Along with being avid exercisers, we also enjoy a frequent board game with friends. Side note, we learned a new game last night called "Bananagrams." You may have played it. We now love it.
We are word game people. As an English major, I kind of can't get enough of them.
Moving on, this (wonderful) couple is also planning an overseas trip to Ireland for a wedding, but of course will be staying for longer to enjoy the place. They even told us about a falcon school they signed up for. As in, actually holding a falcon and giving commands. A FALCON. But back to the topic at hand, we frequently share travel tips and stories, and travel insurance came up last night. One of the ladies' father just recently was in the hospital for taking a fall, and at his age any medical emergency can be a pretty big deal. For her, then, travel insurance is essential, invaluable even. If something were to happen while she were overseas, some travel insurance packages would allow her to return home early at almost no extra cost.
Here are some things we found most important for our trip's insurance plan:
- Trip Cancellation (on the part of the company providing tickets or travel plans, plane tickets, etc.)
- Trip Interruption
- Extreme weather (hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, etc.)
- Terrorism
- Employment Layoff (this was an actual concern for us...)
- Emergency Medical
- Medical Evacuation or Repatriation
- Travel Delay
- Baggage Delay
- Baggage or Personal Item Loss
- Missed Connection
We ended up with a plan through Alliance, but https://www.squaremouth.com/ lets you compare different packages through different companies, seeing price and inclusions, to help you choose what is best for you. Again I say, do not travel out of the country without travel insurance.
