Don’t leave home without it: do you need travel insurance on a trip to London?

Millions of people flock to and stay in London every year; of course they do. Yet, how many of them take out travel insurance for their trip? How many of them ought to? Changes, challenges, incidents, accidents and more can occur every day in life, not least when you’re many miles from home, when you’ve travelled abroad and when you’re supposed to be enjoying yourself.

Yes, baggage delays/ losses, interruptions to trips and expenses for emergency accidents are more common than you may think for those who venture overseas whatever the time of year; whatever the year. But, truly, is that the case very often in the UK and – specifically – in London (when you’re staying at well reputed, comfortable accommodation like the Park Grand London Heathrow hotel)?

The NHS will have your back – won’t it?

Now, some travellers don’t feel it’s necessary to take out travel insurance on a trip to London because, well, any medical treatment they may need, however suddenly, will be covered by the UK’s free-at-point-of entry universal healthcare provision, the National Health Service (NHS).

Yet, don’t doubt it; to help along with treatment for any sudden developments in an illness or to treat injuries sustained in an accident (however serious), insurance may help to smooth things along (potentially via private healthcare provision) or even get someone transferred to a hospital that’s closer to where they hail from, wherever that is in the world.

In which case, maybe it shouldn’t come as such a surprise that, according to one UK travel insurer, every one in 20 travellers (that’s five percent) made claims on their annual travel insurance in 2017 – and that includes travellers to the UK, of course. So, really, truly; what’s the best advice on this subject?

The seven considerations

So then, when you really get down to it, aside from the most obvious reasons that would surely occur to anyone regarding why they might want to purchase travel insurance for a trip to London (or anywhere, for that matter) – namely, falling ill while away, experiencing an accident or cancellation of the trip – here are seven further ones you’d be strongly advised to consider when making your decision:

• Curtailment – forced to cut your journey short due to unforeseen events? Well, there’s no question that a travel insurance policy will likely result in a pay-out for the portion of your trip that you’ve missed out on; it’s irritating enough to miss a chunk of your trip (especially if it’s for pleasure rather thank work) but you needn’t lose all the money you’ve shelled out on it as well

• Lost documents – no question, it’s by far and a way bad enough when you lose your passport or your airline tickets, but then having to fork out to ensure you get your hands on the replacement document(s) you’re in great need of while abroad is, frankly, the pits

• Possessions and baggage – what’s the worst thing about losing your baggage while away from home? The fact that it means you’ve also lost everything contained in them (e.g. clothes), so having recompense to fall back on to cover what it’ll cost for replacement items’ll be a big help, indeed

• Cash – many of us increasingly carry out digital transactions nowadays but, of course, the vast majority of us too still have to carry around cash for a number of everyday transactions; a decent travel insurance policy should cover any loss/ stolen cash while you’re in London

• Personal liability – one of the worst things that could befall you (especially when away from home) is causing an accident that affects either a person or property, basically because it’ll more than likely ensure you’re liable as the culprit; make sure the travel insurance policy you take out then contains a personal liability clause to protect you in case a claim’s made against you

• Legal expenses – on the other hand, if (yes, dreadfully) you’re forced to pursue a claim for compensation due to injury, accident or death, you’ll want a policy that enables you to do so as you employ professional, legal help

• Peace of mind – yes, when all’s said and done, in the vast majority of cases (mercifully), this is the biggie; should you take out travel insurance, it simply means you won’t have to worry while you’re enjoying all of London’s sights and delights.