Travel insurance can sound straight forward but once you start looking at it, travel insurance can be a complicated branch of insurance. There are some questions to do with travel insurance that are repeatedly asked; hopefully these will answer some of those.

The first of these is always “How much travel insurance cover do I need?” This can be a tricky one, it very much depends upon your situation, for example, if you are in good health or not. If you are worried about a health problem it can be worth going through a specialist broker to make sure you have the cover you require. Otherwise it is suggested you have at least £1m of emergency medical insurance when travelling within the European Union and at least £2m in emergency medical insurance if you are travelling anywhere else in the world, especially in the United States of America. On top of medical cover you need to make sure you are covered for £1,000 for lost baggage and personal belongings as well as at least £200 for cash that is lost or stolen, including travellers cheques.

The type of travel insurance needed is often questioned, what are the differences regarding study abroad insurance? Just for example. If you are travelling only inside Europe then you only need European cover, but if you are considering exploring the rest of the world you will need worldwide travel insurance. Luckily if you do buy European cover and decide to head off outside of the EU many insurance companies will let you add worldwide insurance to your existing policy.

When buying travel insurance many people ask if it will automatically include winter and extreme sports. The simple answer to this is no, travel insurance will not automatically cover these sports, however you can add extra cover to your policy to cover such events as winter or extreme sports, or even activities such as scuba diving. Many insurance companies do not offer cover for certain hazardous activities such as white water rafting so you will need to look for travel insurance from companies specialising in these activities.