travel insurance Archives - 2bearbear Singapore Travel Blog: Travel | Stay

Travel Guard Chartis

Besides the essential things that you must have when you travel, one of the most crucial things that people tend to forget or leave to the last minute is travel insurance.

Kate and I normally leave this to the last minute because of the flexible travel dates that we might have. But this is not a problem with Travel Guard Chartis. This is because we can get a quote instantly and even make our purchase easily online.

The reason why we highly recommend Travel Guard Chartis as a must have travel companion is this…

Murphy’s Law

We dont want to say this but according to Murphy’s Law : Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This may include things like loss baggage, flight delays or even travel accidents. When things happen, we want to know that they are being well taken care of and this is when Travel Guard Chartis comes in.

With Travel Guard Chartis, we know that

1. If our baggage is lost – “Yay! Compensation!”
2. If flight is delayed – “Yay! More pocket money!”

Basically, when Murphy strikes, we know that we are well covered.

For Shopping Trips

Have you ever been in a situation whereby you’re on a shopping extravaganza and you’re thinking to yourself if these things can fit into the luggage?

Then you would think about what will happen if my luggage gets lost in translation and never comes back. Then all of my hard work of choosing, picking the right colour, bargaining would have gone to waste. Of course if you have bought luxury goods, that would add to your misery when this happens.

That is why when Kate and I go for shopping trips, we make sure that we are well covered especially on our flight back. We also make sure that the coverage would be able to take care of the loss (at least in terms of monetary compensation) in the event of a baggage loss.

With Travel Guard Chartis, this is easily taken care of. With the different packages available, you can choose to take a higher premium coverage or have custom-tailored coverage suited to your travel needs.

Convenience

One of the main reasons why we love Travel Guard Chartis, is the fact that it is so convenient to get ourselves covered for the trip.

Usually before our trip, we would just go online, pick the package we want and tada, we are covered and ready to go. You can easily save your coverage in a soft copy and bring it along with you. The contact numbers in the event of emergency are also there as an easy reference for you.

Snappy coverage. That’s what we like.

Peace of mind

Of course with Travel Guard Chartis, we can always have a peace of mind when we go for our vacations. That’s one of the things you want to take off your mind and just fully relax when you go on a vacation right?

With Travel Guard Chartis, You can!

Click on any one of the Travel Guard Chartis banners and you will be on your way to your next well-protected and well deserved vacation!

Having travelled to so many countries all over the world, Kate and I think its timely to mention some of the essential things we must have when we travel and 3 other things we should have when we travel…

3 Essential Things You Must Have When You Travel

This list is actually a lazy list. In that, if you are too lazy to remember what are the items you need to have, make sure you have these things when you travel abroad…

1. Passport

Yeah…you may say “Of course! That’s rubbish Tom!”. But I do know of people (not speaking from experience) who forgot to bring their passport when they’re travelling! They’ve packed all their suitcases and luggage, brought their laptops and traveller’s cheque but forgot the single most important thing, the passport!

Do check this before you leave, its always ok to double check. The last thing you want is to arrive at the check-in counter at the airport and find yourself doing your own “body seach” to find your passport…

2. Credit Card / ATM Card

a. Credit Card. You guys have seen the “GO. With Visa” advertisement and it’s really true. Be it Visa, Master, Amex, Diner’s (Personally I would go with Visa or Master as they’re the most widely accepted card in the world) make sure you have one of these with you. You may need to make some “unexpected big purchases” like that LV or Coach bag (wink wink to Kate), cheap camera or laptop (wink wink to myself) or just purchasing some last minute insurance…it’s always handy to have a credit card with you as a form of international currency…

b. ATM Card. Sometimes you may be going for a short trip and it may not be worth the hassle to make a trip to the money changer’s to save that $10 exchange tax as you would be changing only a small amount. Make sure that your ATM card has the “Cirrus” or “Plus” logo for withdrawal at most ATMs worldwide. The ATM card usually charges an interbank rate (i.e. if I withdraw from a citibank ATM while I have a Bank of America account) plus the prevailing bank exchange rate. The bank exchange rate is usually slightly higher than the money changer’s. However, for a small amount (<$1000 for a short trip), it usually amounts to less than $10 savings (compared to the time to travel to the money changer’s and stand in the queue).

3. Small sum of local currency.

It is always wise to have a little bit of the local currency in loose change or small notes (less than $50 will do). This is in case you would like to take the local public transport when you arrive or tip the bell boy who carries your bag for you, these small change will come in handy.

So if you are too lazy to think and just want to enjoy your holidays with a peace of mind without having to think what you may have forgotten, remember your

1. Passport

2. Credit Card/ ATM Card

3. Small sum of local currency

4. Camera. This just added in because 2 and 3 can essentially be lumped into one. The camera is a must because for any holiday, it is the memories that you take back (either remembering through your brains or recorded using the camera). This is especially true with cameras nowadays being able to double up as a video camera even in High Definition HD. The camera is a must have companion on your travels!

Next…we’re gonna talk about 3 other things you should consider when you’re travelling…

3 Other Things You Should Have When You Travel

1. Medication.

It is always wise to carry along some common medication to cure some common travel ailments. These would include

a. Panadol/ Pain Killers. Insufficient rest (due to inability to adjust to local timing) or not having enough water are common factors that can lead to headaches. To arrest this, panadol or some form of pain killer is effective as you really do not want these small matters to affect the holiday which you may have planned for the last couple of months.

b. Charcoal / Diarrhoea Pills. When you visit another country and want to really immerse into another culture, one of the things you ought to and should do is to try the local cuisine. However, sometimes, these foods may just not gel so well with your body. Hence, this is when the charcoal or diarrhoea pills will come in handy.

c. Flu Medicine. Well, not really the flu medicine per se. Recently, we discovered the panadol flu-max and its an easy off-the-shelf item that you can get from your major supermarkets. It is like a just-in-case kind of thing where you may unexpectedly come into contact with germy air and start to have a runny nose.

d. Lozenges/Throat Aid. Last but not least, the sore throat medicine. Sore throat is irritating. Its not irritating enough to put you down, but irritating enough to spoil your holiday. So do bring some lozenges/throat aid along to arrest the sore throat before it ruins your holiday!

2. Travel Insurance.

To put your mind at ease, some form of basic travel insurance should do the trick. It should essentially cover your overseas medical bills in the event that you might encounter some accidents and the travel insurance can really help to defray a huge portion of the costs (hospitalisation, evacuation, medicine, doctor’s fee etc.).

Also, if you do carry expensive items around like your new laptop,IPAD or buying luxury items home, the travel insurance can give you an ease of mind and you know that even if the airline messes it up and loses your stuff, you’ll be covered financially for those expensive items.

3. Clean underwear.

Need we say more?

Hope this short post will help you while you pack for your next trip and we hope that you too will have a peace of mind and be fully recharged from your next holiday!

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