Availing travel insurance is always a good idea. After all, you never know when you might need it. It can however be frustrating to decide upon the right insurance policy for yourself. You need to know for how long you want to stay covered. Depending on the kind of policy you have availed will determine how long the policy will last. There are basically three prominent types of travel insurance policies, namely single trip, annual multi-trip and extended stay. It is worthwhile to understand all these three types so that you know which policy suits you the best.

With single trip travel insurance, you are insured for a single return journey. These policies offer discounts for the children’s insurance, and sometimes charge absolutely nothing. It may be noted that the discounts or free insurance is provided to the children, only if they have an adult traveling with them, having availed the same policy.

An annual multi-trip policy will suit you pretty well, in case you happen to travel more than once a year. The policy can actually save you some amount of money. With this policy, you get insurance for unlimited number of trips in a year. In most cases, the policy provides free children’s insurance. Also, such policies include trips that involve a travel time of 24 to 90 days. Imagine having to buy separate travel insurance for each of your trips in the year. It will certainly be a very expensive idea. However, with annual multi-trip policy you can save all such extra cost.

If you are a student, a backpacker, or anyone looking to take a career break; extended stay policy suits you the best. This policy gives you a flexibility of budget. In other words, you can choose the equipments and accessories you want to be insured for. The drawback is that you can not be insured for everything. You can therefore cut down the insurance costs by not insuring too many of your things, but only the ones you want to. In case you intend to work while your stay at the destination, the policy will not cover you for that. For such cases you will have to buy a gap year policy that includes your work.

Every travel insurance policy covers you for a certain amount. For instance, you may be covered for medical expenses up to $20 million, luggage loss up to $16,00, trip cancellation up to $3000. It depends on your medical emergency that how much the policy will cover your hospital expenses for. Only if the condition is critical will you be covered by the policy

It is all about assessing your number of travels per year and your baggage. Once you have made a correct assessment, you can easily choose the perfect policy for yourself. A policy that works well for your friend may not work the best for you. Understand your own scenario and take a decision. Furthermore, all travel insurance policies have their own norms, terms and conditions. You must read them very carefully before you opt for any of them.