Insure Your Trip to Ireland

Let’s be honest – Ireland is a far more interesting subject than travel insurance could ever hope to be. Indeed, you’re probably already thinking about clicking away to a different page, like this list of free things to do in Dublin, for example. But if you’re going to be travelling to the Emerald Isle any time soon, you will need to think about travel insurance.

To make things as easy as possible, let me briefly explain why you need to be insured and what to look out for when shopping around for a policy.

The importance of travel insurance

It’s not a cheery thought but there’s so much that can go wrong when you travel abroad. For example, what if you become ill before you go and have to cancel your trip? What if you become ill while you’re abroad? What if you trip over and damage your expensive camera while wandering around looking for great things to photo? Anyway, you get the idea.

When it comes to health matters, a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) will entitle you to free or reduced healthcare when you travel to Ireland, but be warned – it won’t cover everything. The EHIC won’t cover you if you need to be brought back to your home country and, obviously, it won’t cover things like holiday cancellation or lost baggage. A comprehensive insurance policy will cover all of these things and more, including personal accident and travel delay.

Choosing the right policy

Now you know how important it is to get Irish travel insurance for your trip, you’ll need to know what policy to go for. There tend to be two main types of policy – single trip and annual multi-trip. A single trip policy is the ideal option for most people. They’re designed for one-off trips, whether they last a few days or several months.

On the other hand, annual multi-trips are designed to save time and money if you go away fairly often. In fact, an annual policy can often work out much cheaper even if you’re only travelling twice this year.

Are you covered?

Most people tend to just buy any old policy, regardless of whether it provides the right cover or not. To make sure you get a policy that’s right for you, there are a few things you’ll need to look out for:
• Holiday cancellation cover – The combined cost of flights and accommodation is perhaps the biggest expense when you go travelling. As such, it’s very important that you make sure your policy will cover this full cost. Most policies provide between £1,500 and £5,000 cover per person.
• Baggage cover – It’s also very important to make sure your baggage is covered, especially if you’re taking a rather expensive camera away with you.
• Medical conditions – If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, you will need to make sure these are covered too. Most insurers will ask you a few questions about your health when you get a quotation.

Finally, don’t pay too much

It seems like an obvious one but you’ll be surprised how much some companies overcharge when it comes to insurance. Prices vary wildly from the very cheap to the very expensive so make sure you shop around and get a few quotes before you settle on a policy.

Photo by: desmondkavanagh