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Most insurance policies exclude such Really
Bad Day items as...
(a) Nuclear war
(b) Hazardous chemical disasters
(c) Political unrest
...and—you guessed it
(d) Terrorism.
But in the current travel climate,
special policies and riders have been
developed to protect you from losing
the money you've paid for your trip
if a terrorist act prevents you from
going.
It's a variant on trip
interruption and cancellation insurance.
Turkey is a pretty safe place
to travel. In fact, most
of the world is a pretty safe place
to travel. But terrorism is, by its
nature, unpredictable.
It could happen anywhere, anytime.
An event may have repercussions far
beyond its locus: You may not be able
to go on your trip because connecting
flights through a third country are
cancelled.
So here's the real question: if there were
a terrorist incident in, say, Istanbul a
few days or weeks before you were scheduled to go
there, would you want to (or have to) cancel
your trip? If so, would you lose
money for plane tickets, hotel reservations,
tours, rental cars and other arrangements?
Could you afford the loss? Is
it a risk you're willing to take?
Actually, you might say that immediately
after a terror incident is the safest
time to visit a place: police
are everywhere, everyone's on guard,
and yet most if not all services and
businesses are probably operating as
usual, and tourism businesses especially
will welcome you and thank you for
coming. Many may waive their
normal cancellation penalties under
these special circumstances, may allow
you to rebook at a later time.
But nothing is certain....
Terror insurance may cost about 1+%
of the cost of your trip. If you've
made arrangements costing, say, $3000,
the cost of terror insurance may be
around $30 or $40.
Here's my advice:
1. Figure out what you stand to lose
if you don't go;
2. Decide whether news of a terror
event would probably cause you to cancel,
or whether you'd go anyway;
3. Decide how much peace of mind is
worth to you.
You may decide to self-insure.
If you think you may need insurance, contact
my friends at InsureMyTrip.com for
no-obligation price quotes on all
sorts of policies, or check out Travel
Guard International, with
coverage starting at $30.
 Travel
Guard is the leading
travel insurance company, covering
more than 6 million travelers worldwide
each year, with plans for vacation and trip
cancellation, travel interruptions
and delays, emergency medical and
health expenses, lost baggage and
more.
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