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Why do I need travel insurance when I travel with World Vegan Travel?
When you plan a trip, it’s a good idea to get travel insurance. Travel insurance can help protect you if something goes wrong, like if you get sick while traveling, you have to cancel your trip or your trip gets interrupted (as well as many other coverages like lost or stolen bags).
At World Vegan Travel, we require all our travelers to have at least medical coverage when they travel with us – that is, they will be covered for expenses incurred in the event of sudden illness or accident while traveling. This is to ensure that everyone is covered for medical expenses which could bankrupt you in the case of serious illness or sickness out of your own country. However, you might also want to consider other types of insurance for travel as well. These are often sold as a package (including medical) and can include things like trip cancellation, trip interruption (aka trip delay), missed connections, lost or damaged belongings etc.
Insurance is complicated. How can I learn about it?
We made a podcast that explains travel insurance and why it’s important.
In this podcast, we also talk about CFAR insurance, which stands for “Cancel for Any Reason” insurance. CFAR insurance can be added to your travel insurance policy and will cover you if you need to cancel your trip for any reason. This is great for travelers who want extra protection and flexibility.
However, it’s important to note that CFAR insurance is only available in the United States to US residents and certain states do not allow it to be sold. You also need to purchase it within 2 weeks of your initial deposit. We recorded another podcast episode specifically about CFAR insurance, where we talked to Jeff from Faye Travel Insurance. He explains the principles of CFAR insurance and how it can help a certain group of travelers. Again, time is of the essence!
We really recommend you listen to both of these podcasts to become more knowledgeable about travel insurance. It is very empowering.
When should I buy travel insurance?
We highly recommend purchasing travel insurance promptly after making a significant investment in your trip. This applies to both medical coverage and trip cancellation, as unexpected circumstances can arise between the time of payment and departure.
Allow me to illustrate this with a real-life example:
One of our travelers, who had booked a trip of a lifetime a couple of months in advance, contacted us three weeks before the departure date. She informed us that she had broken her foot the day before, rendering her unable to travel! I inquired if she had obtained trip cancellation insurance yet, which would have provided coverage for a broken foot with a doctor’s certificate and documentation from World Vegan Travel due the non refundable aspect of the trip. Unfortunately, she explained that she had been waiting until all the other components of her trip were confirmed (such as pre and post World Vegan Travel arrangements like extra hotels, excursions) before purchasing travel insurance.
She had planned to buy it the day after her ankle accidently ended up breaking so by the time she purchased the insurance it would be a pre-existing condition. Consequently, she will likely lose all non refundable parts of her trip, an amount close to $10,000 unless she can get someone to replace her – EDIT: UPDATE SHE DID FIND SOMEONE TO REPLACE HER. SHE WAS VERY LUCKY!
The takeaway from this unfortunate story? Like I said above, buy it as soon as you invest a sizeable amount of money in your group trip. Even if you haven’t finalised all your travel plans, you can often top up your trip cancellation coverage (Faye Travel Insurance will allow you to do this) as you go to cover things like – flights, extra nights in hotels before or after the trip, etc.
I already have medical / travel insurance with my credit card / job. Do I need to buy more?
You may well have travel insurance with your credit card but in all likelihood, the trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance might not cover the total cost of your trip (although in some cases you can ‘top up’ the coverage) AND you probably need to have PAID for the travel services WITH that credit card to have that Trip interruption or Trip Cancellation coverage.
Here in Canada, our Platinum Amex card gives us 15 days of medical and emergency evacuation (no purchase necessary – it’s a perk of the card) and only $1500 CAD for trip cancellation and interruption (assuming we purchased those hotel rooms, flights, excursions we are claiming for were purchased with this card). NOTE US based cards do not seem to have the same medical and emergency evacuation coverage.
We have heard that some people have emergency medical coverage while traveling overseas as a perk of their job package. That’s great, but this probably doesn’t include trip cancellation or trip interruption insurance that potentially would have you lose many thousands of dollars.
How often do people cancel their World Vegan Travel trip?
This happens more often that you’d think. Here are some recent reasons our travelers canceled. Some of them had trip cancellation insurance or CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason) insurance that would have paid out, some didn’t and they lost all their money.
- A broken foot 4 weeks before departure N, Italy 23
- Health issues came up 1 month before departure South Africa 22
- Weather issues and flight was cancelled 3 days before departure Botswana 22
- Unwell companion animal 2 weeks before departure Rwanda 19
- Fear of protests in France 3 days before departure Alsace 19
- Needed to attend a wedding of a close family member 4 months before departure French Countryside 23
- Contracted COVID – 19 and was physically too sick to travel 2 days before departure French Countryside 23
- Missed their flight connections as well as some other drama on the way – Thailand 23 (although this might have been trip interruption as she already started her trip.
I would say that on 50% of our trips, at least one traveler cancels quite last minute so there is a strong chance this could happen to you.
How often do people have their World Vegan Travel trip interrupted?
Trip interruption coverage is designed to safeguard you against unforeseen and uncontrollable situations. Some instances encompass severe injuries, illnesses, family emergencies in your hometown, quarantine, evacuation, or unplanned departures. It seems to be less common.
Here are some examples it has happened on our trips:
- A couple arrived late to our trip due to a delayed flight and they had to take a taxi to catch us up in Lake Garda which cost 400 euros – their trip interruption insurance took a while to pay out, but they did in the end.
What about extreme activities – like hiking up Kilimanjaro?
99% of the activities that we do on our World Vegan Travel trips would be covered for medical evacuation and treatment on a regular travel policy however, some policies will not cover certain activities that are considered more extreme. If doing more extreme activities during (like our hike up Kilimanjaro trips) or you do something exciting before or after our trip, consider making sure that your policy will cover those activities. If not, ask if they have an extreme sports add on that will cover you (including With Faye our recommended provider – see below). Brighde always likes to call and have a conversation with an insurance representative to make sure all activities are covered.
What travel insurance company and policy do you recommend?
We recommend Faye Travel Insurance to our travelers for a number of reasons.
- Firstly, their website is very easy to use and you can easily play around with different amounts and add-ons once you have your initial quote and top up as your travel plans develop.
- Secondly, they are committed to providing excellent customer service and it’s really easy to contact them.
- Thirdly, our travelers have had a great experience with them. It was one of our travelers who told us about Faye
- Lastly, we think the pricing is quite competitive. Finally, they have a travel concierge service and an app that can help you plan your trip and help you in case you get stuck.
At the current time, Faye is only available for US residents.
How do you book With Faye – Walk through
Check out this video to see what it is like to book your travel insurance With Faye. You can also call their amazing customer service if you don’t want to do it yourself.
What if I want to purchase a CFAR policy on a World Vegan Travel trip that has not yet been confirmed?
Sometimes, travelers might want to book a World Vegan Travel trip that hasn’t yet been confirmed yet because we need a minimum number of people to book the trip for it to run. But what if these travelers want CFAR insurance? If the trip is confirmed more than 14 days after your initial deposit, then you have missed the window to get CFAR insurance but if you did get the CFAR insurance on an expensive trip, and the trip is not yet confirmed, then you will have purchased the insurance for no reason.
We are thrilled to say that With Faye will cover you for CFAR insurance providing you meet these criteria.
With Faye will cover your for CFAR insurance as long as you purchase this add on within 14 days of World Vegan Travel confirming the trip. If you want confirmation of this opportunity, you can call Faye or email them [email protected]. Said in another way, For World Vegan Travel travelers, the trip confirmation date is the same as the initial trip deposit date. If the customer service rep is confused, please ask to speak to AJ Steele: aj.steeleATwithfaye.com who understands very well the World Vegan Travel deposit system etc.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you are booking CFAR insurance you must insure for the total amount at one time. For example, you would insure for the total cost of the World Vegan Travel trip and any extras like non refundable flights, non refundable extra nights in the hotel, non refundable extra excursions you choose to do pre-trip etc. It is possible that you might not know the cost of these expenses are yet.
There are two options in this case.
1. Guess how much these expenses might be – this would be my preference. As long as I am insuring for the rough ballpark of the cost of the trip I feel good about by investment being protected. If I am a little over insured or underinsured then I feel good about that.
2. Take out extra policies as you purchase these items – less preferable as this would work out more expensive – but a good option.
