If you are wondering about why you would want to buy travel insurance, here are a few reasons that most of us have either experienced or know someone who has -- and was uninsured! Trip cancellation insurance is just one of many reasons you may wish to have travel insurance.

Reasons to buy travel insurance:

1. Your flight has been cancelled.
2. Your bags are lost and your medication is in it. You need to have an emergency prescription filled.
3. You're out of the United States, become ill or injured, and need emegency medical treatment.
3. Your passport and wallet are stolen, and you need emergency cash and a replacement passport.
4. You're involved in an accident and adequate medical treatment is not available. You need medical evacuation.
5. You need to cancel your trip due to illness.
6. Your cruise line, airline or tour operator goes bankrupt.
7. Your travel or vacation includes participation in "adventure/extreme sports" such as SCUBA diving, rock climbing, and the like.
8. A terrorist incident occurs in the city where you're planning to visit and you want to cancel your trip.
9. A hurricane forces you to evacuate your resort, hotel or cruise.
10. Someone in your immediate family unexpectedly becomes ill, injured or dies and you can no longer take or continue your trip
11. Your tour operator, airline or cruise line suddenly stops operating because of governmental or policital unrest.
12. Your baggage, properly checked in, never properly or timely arrives at your destination.
13. You are involved in a car crash, causing only property damage, in a foreign country, but resulting in criminal charges and/or damage claims being filed against you.
14. Your favorite family pets accompany you on vacation and are injured or become ill.

Knowing the risks, however, is just part of the travel insurance puzzle. The next step after identifying the specific risks about which you are concerned, to actually make sure that the coverage you purchase covers those risks. Even if the risks are covered, do the deductible payments and limits of coverage make sense? It cannot be overemphasized that travels should obtain multiple travel insurance quotes and compare travel insurance policies and exceptions before making a final decision. Many insurance agents, as well as travel agents, now are very knowledgable about travelers insurance and may assist you to compare insurance quotes and travel insurance policies.