Re travel insurance: I was shocked that this article did not mention medical evacuation/repatriation of remains coverage. Even if you have a wonderful POS corporate health plan that will reimburse for emergency medical expenses incurred abroad, no medical plan I have ever had in all my years has ever had evacutation/repatriation coverage. I know of someone (friend of friend) who incurred $10,000-$20,000 of expenses because of a simple broken ankle in Rome. Couldn't fly home to CA alone so had to fly sister to Rome to fly back with him. Couldn't fly home coach so had to buy bus class tickets for both (no, airlines don't provide free upgrades), and on and on.
In another case I know of a couple who had to refinance their house when a daughter studying abroad in Europe was in serious auto crash and they had to pay for private air ambulance to return her to US. These services can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If you die abroad, even if you are cremated there and just your ashes are returned, it can cost $10,000 and up just to get remains back, largely because of paperwork and red tape involved.
US embassies and consulates abroad now routinely include in their citizen info sections warnings that medical evacuation and medical escorts (which some hospitals abroad, and airlines, insist on) can be very expensive and they do not pay for it for you.
Most comprehensive trip insurance policies include medical evacuation/repatriation coverage.
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Really? This is the best 5 tips you've got? I know high school kids who could do better than this. Why a traveller is concerned about streaming TV shows is so far beyond me that I give up.
About the only thing in this article worth saving is the packable Day pack review, and likely you could do better from Backpacker magazine.
Airport stress? Why don't you tell the little dears to make sure to pack extra Xanax. The whole point of travel is A) to see the world (not breaking news on The Insider) and B) to learn independence and self reliance.
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I travelled extensively as a young person when I could afford the time/money. It was easy: just put some clothes in a suitcase and go. Airlines would hold a ticket for 24 hours and make changes without charge, and there were no additional fees or many of the other irritations one encounters today (such as a cancelled flight without notice last week after 9 hours at the airport). However, as a senior living in Florida I am restricted by Medicare's 3-month override rule in terms of meds I can buy in advance to take with me. I spend the summer at my sister's home in Europe and would like to be away from the Florida heat for four or more months, but Medicare makes it almost impossible, with the alternative being to buy meds at full price despite the crushing amount I pay for insurance. This is a serious obstacle for me each year.
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Can you just have someone mail you your medications? Or get them from Canada? I would choose Europe over Florida in the summer too!
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Have you looked into buying the meds abroad? Prescription medications in many European countries cost quite a bit less than they do here.
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"Airlines would hold a ticket for 24 hours and make changes without charge"
How is that different from the current rule: you buy a ticket from the airline and you can cancel it and get a full refund if you do it within 24hrs,
"However, as a senior living in Florida I am restricted by Medicare's 3-month override rule in terms of meds I can buy in advance to take with me. I spend the summer at my sister's home in Europe and would like to be away from the Florida heat for four or more months, but Medicare makes it almost impossible, with the alternative being to buy meds at full price despite the crushing amount I pay for insurance. "
You can probably buy that medication in Europe for less than your copayment here. Even with the fee for the doctor's appointment there you will likely come out ahead.
Re: Travel insurance. I regularly travel outside the US on small-group birding trips, and I always buy insurance. Regardless of your age or health status, an unexpected medical event can occur before or during trip. It took one incident to convince me. A week before leaving for the Ecuadorian Andes, I was hit, out of nowhere, by a massive attack of vertigo. No sense going to 14,000 feet. The insurance company reimbursed me in full, and I took the same trip a year later. Without the coverage, I could not have afforded to pay a second time for the same trip.
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