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The best way to determine if, for you, it is wise to purchase travel insurance, is to consider the various emergency situations that could arise during your trip, determine the best guess for the cost of each, and see whether you can afford to pay for the worst case scenarios out of your own pocket.

If the answer is no, then it is indeed wise to purchase travel insurance.

Even if the answer is yes, however, money is not the only issue in determining the wisdom of travel insurance.

Let's take a look at what can happen in your travels - the situations that travel insurance could have covered. You and your family take a delayed flight from home to another location where you are to change planes. Because of your delay, however, you have missed your connection. Your tickets are non-refundable, non-exchangeable. You are now faced with the purchase of new tickets, with a hefty last-minute price tag, as well as the feeding and housing for your whole party as the next flight is tomorrow morning. If you had been wise and purchased travel insurance you would have been reimbursed for these costs.

Your spouse is diabetic. Her purse is stolen while you are traveling. You have no travel insurance and you're in a foreign country. How do you retrieve the money lost from her wallet, replace her much-needed reading glasses and, most importantly, get her the insulin she so desperately needs? If you had been wise and purchased travel insurance you would have been reimbursed for these costs. You would have also had someone to call or see for help purchasing insulin.

You have had a wonderful vacation and you're ready to travel home. You suddenly get the word that the airline on which you are returning has gone bankrupt and all planes are grounded. How do you get home? To whom do you turn for help and advice? You are in a country where few people speak your language. Who can help you translate? If you had been wise and purchased travel insurance you could have not only been reimbursed for the loss of the price of your airline tickets but you could have been provided with a translator and someone to help you find an alternate flight or cruise home.

These are but a few of the common occurrences when traveling. Perhaps travel insurance is indeed a wise decision.