Before you leave

Why you need travel insurance

While individual circumstances may vary, please take our solid recommendation to any traveler planning a trip to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and/or Vietnam is: make buying travel insurance a part of your planning -- don't leave home without it ... we certainly don't.

There's a perception among many visitors to Southeast Asia, that as basic medical care is relatively cheap, there's little need for travel insurance, and while it is true that basic health care in Southeast Asia can be cheap, the emphasis should be on the word basic -- not cheap. We've seen the inside of Cambodian hospitals and believe us, you want to spend as little time as possible in one.

True, Thailand and Singapore, and to a lesser extent Malaysia, have a higher standard of medical care, but bear in mind this care is often in private hospitals. Anything more than a few nights in hospital gets expensive fast and the medical bills associated with longer stays can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

In buying travel insurance, you're not only buying something that can assist greatly should you find yourself in need, you're also buying some peace of mind -- both for you, while you travel, but also for your family and friends back home.

Travel Tips from World Nomads

Here are a few things to consider when choosing your insurance to make sure that you will be covered on your adventure:

• Cancellation: It's no fun if you fall ill before you leave and can not go on your trip. To claim though, you have to buy your insurance policy when you buy your trip. Not all insurance policies cover cancellation, so please read the policy wording relevant to you carefully
• Lost or Stolen Gear: most travel insurance policies have a per-item value limit – make sure its high enough to cover your gear or choose a policy that allows you to increase the limit.
• Medical expenses over and above evacuation: check that your cover includes emergency treatment while away and transport to bring you home – remembering that insurance providers will usually insist on getting you home as soon as you are fit enough to travel.
• Adventurous Activities: look carefully at what your policy covers - you may find that you are not covered to do all of the adventurous activities that you are planning while you're away.
• Personal Liability: Accidents happen. If it's found to be your fault and someone decides to sue you, you want to be covered.