I like roadtrips. Especially leaving the interstate and following backroads to get to where we’re going. The only drawback (other than making the trip longer) is finding somewhere good to eat.

A few years ago, I happened upon Roadfood.com. They say “The only web site devoted exclusively to finding the most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America”. I’ve found this to be a good place to start when planning a roadtrip.

Check out Roadfood.com - The most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America.

Here’s another tip to make submitting your travel insurance claim form easier. If you look at a travel insurance claim form (or any insurance claim form), you’ll see there’s never enough room to fill in the doctor’s information. Nor is there room to put the prescription information.

Judith B. of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida wrote: “I photocopied the doctor’s business cards instead of trying to write them all on the form. And I did the same with the prescriptions.” Thank you, Judith for a great tip!

You’ve probably seen this on paragraph TripInsuranceStore.com. If not, here it is for your convenience:

Buying travel insurance is a risk: You are trading a known certainty (your hard earned money) for an unknown quantity - the promise of the insurance policy doing what it says it will do. This is why we pre-screen our plans.

The promise by the travel insurance company to pay is based on the policy’s wording - commonly known as the “Certificate of Coverage”. Unfortunately, the majority of buyers (and in my opinion sellers, too) only read the policy brochure.

Why do I think this is “unfortunate”? It’s because a travel insurance company has spent thousands of dollars and hired skilled and competent lawyers to write their travel insurance policy’s wording. I don’t believe the “good travel insurance companies” are out to trick anyone with obscure words and semantics games.

They are trying to explain what is, at best, a complicated set of concepts and ideas, in a way their customers can understand. From the customer’s point of view, this may seem nearly impossible, though.

Let’s say you are looking for travel insurance. Where do you start? In a nutshell, you start with asking the right questions, reading the fine print and making sure that you’re actually getting what you think you’re buying.

But, what are the right questions? That’s what I’m going to make the subject of some future posts. Stay tuned.

My wife and I are flying to Europe on April 8. We will return to our home on April 23 then fly to Detroit, Michigan on April 25 then return to our home on April 27. These trips are interrelated and involve seeing our children and delivering a gift purchased in Europe. Will your flight insurance plan cover this entire event from April 8 to April 27? Thank you, Michael

Hi Michael,

No, because returning home April 23 means that trip has ended. Departing April 25 begins a new trip. Most travel insurance plans define a trip like this:

“Trip” means a period of travel away from home to a Destination outside the Insured’s city of residence; the purpose of the Trip is business or pleasure and is not to obtain health care or treatment of any kind; the Trip has defined departure and return dates specified when the Insured applies.

Since you have 2 different trips, you will have to get a separate flight or travel insurance plans for each trip. The only exception is to get an Annual flight insurance plan.

Since TripInsuranceStore.com is open 7 days a week including holidays, somebody has to be available to answer the phones. So I worked on Easter. In case you’re wondering if I spent time with my family, yes I did. I don’t sit by the phone the whole time. I use voicemail if I’m unavailable and of course I call everyone back.

Yesterday I had 2 calls from unrelated people who had their wallets stolen. One was in Rome and the other was in Paris. That got me thinking about Pickpocketing.

I found this wording at How Stuff Works: “Pickpocketing is one of the oldest and most widespread crimes in the world. The appeal is its relative safety: A skilled pickpocket can make off with just as much money as an armed robber, without much danger of confrontation or risk of being identified in a line-up. By the time the victim realizes what’s happened, the pickpocket is long gone. And since no weapons are involved, pickpockets who do get caught face minimal jail time.”

And another blog I follow had an article called “How To Avoid A Common Trick“.

I hope what I wrote today protects you and your loved ones.

On Good Friday 2008 (& the 1st day of Spring), we had a big blizzard here in Minnesota. That means I myself got to personally take all the phone calls (I get them on Easter, too). I’m not complaining because I love answering the phones and taking questions.

On one call Glenn told me about a great website to find International Flights and International Airfare Deals. It’s called Vayama.

Check it out - I think you’ll find it useful.

What I’m writing on today about Medicare usually comes as a big surprise to people when we tell them “Medicare does not cover you when you are traveling outside the United States”.

In rare cases, Medicare can pay for inpatient hospital services that you get in Canada or Mexico. Medicare can pay only if:

1. You are in the United States when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
2. You are traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
3. You live in the United States and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether an emergency exists.

This restriction also applies to passengers on board cruise ships that are registered in a foreign country (almost all cruise ships have foreign registry).

Here’s a link to Medicare’s Official Questions and Answers, too.

You’ll find a page on TripInsuranceStore.com with more details: Click here for more about No Medicare Coverage Outside the USA.

Many countries have different driving rules. If possible, obtain a copy of the foreign country’s rules before you begin driving in that country. Information may be available from the foreign embassy in the United States, foreign government tourism offices, or from a car rental company in the foreign country.

Here are TripInsuranceStore.com’s Tips on Driving Abroad:

- Obtain an International Driving Permit (IDP). Carry both your IDP and your state driver’s license with you at all times.
- Find out the driving age limits. Some countries have a minimum and maximum driving age.
- Certain countries require road permits, instead of tolls, to use on their divided highways, and they will fine those found driving without a permit.
- Always “buckle up.” Some countries have penalties for people who violate this law.
- Many countries require you to honk your horn before going around a sharp corner or to flash your lights before passing.
- Before you start your journey, find out who has the right of way in a traffic circle.
- If you rent a car, make sure you have liability insurance. If you do not, this could lead to financial disaster.
- If the drivers in the country you are visiting drive on the opposite side of the road than in the U.S., it may be prudent to practice driving in a less populated area before attempting to drive during the heavy traffic part of the day.

I want a Travel Insurance Policy that will guarantee my admittance to a hospital and pay my bill directly, and have air evacuation back to USA if ever needed. Bill

Bill, the short answer to your question is “Sorry, but you can’t get a travel insurance policy that will do all that.”

Travel Insurance plans are reimbursement policies. That means you pay for your medical treatment & prescriptions up front and are reimbursed after filing your claim. Sometimes the insurance company will pay the medical claim directly, but it’s on a case-by-case basis.

Some travel insurance plans will cover air evacuation back home if needed. The key is “Medically Necessary”. Many plans will guarantee your admittance to a medical facility, too.

Another choice is MedjetAssist. MedjetAssist is not an insurance plan, so it doesn’t pay medical costs (just the transport). Travel insurance pays medical costs. You can see all the MedjetAssist details here.

Just today I was speaking with a lady named Joan about travel insurance for an Oceania cruise her and her husband are taking in June 2009. In the course of the conversation Joan mentioned they had to fly to London Heathrow and then get a transfer to Dover. I suggested that they flying to Gatwick Airport instead because Gatwick Airport is south of London compared at Heathrow Airport which is west of London. By flying into Gatwick Airport they would be a lot closer to Dover and avoid London altogether.

London has two major airports: Heathrow and Gatwick. Gatwick’s big advantage is that it’s on a major British Railways line. This gives you easy access to anywhere British Rails goes, including direct services to London Victoria station. Gatwick Express trains run every 15 minutes from 05:20 to 00:50 and hourly overnight to London Victoria station. Journey time 30 minutes. Here’s a link to Gatwick Airport.

Heathrow Airport is the world’s busiest international airport, London Heathrow serves over 180 destinations in more than 90 countries. Therefore you might end up passing through Heathrow on the way to many other destinations. Here’s a link to Heathrow Airport.

I just read an AP syndicated story on CNN.com called “Electronic gadgets latest sources of computer viruses”.

Here’s how the story opens: “From iPods to navigation systems, some of today’s hottest gadgets are landing on store shelves with some unwanted extras from the factory: pre-installed viruses that steal passwords, open doors for hackers and make computers spew spam.”

Go here to read the entire story: Electronic gadgets latest sources of computer viruses.

And keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Hi, I’m on my trip and I decided to stay longer. How do I extend my Trip Cancellation Trip Interruption Travel Insurance policy?

We get this question (or its variations) so often I can’t say it’s from anyone in particular. However, the gist is still the same: “I want to extend my policy’s coverage dates.”

The answer is always “No, once you depart on your trip, you cannot extend your policy’s coverage dates.” Even though this isn’t the first time the person’s heard this from us, it still doesn’t seem to ring a bell.

We tell everyone up front that Trip Cancellation / Interruption Travel Insurance plans only cover Fixed Travel Dates. And it’s in various places on TripInsuranceStore.com including in our FAQs:

Q. What kinds of trips does Travel Insurance cover?
A. Any pleasure or business trip can be covered as long as it takes you at least 100 miles from home and has fixed travel dates.

I also referred to the fixed travel dates in this post: How To Get Good Travel Health Insurance With No Deductibles and Copays.

After all this, would you like to know why policies can’t be extended? The simple reason is that the insurance company doesn’t know if you’ve received any news that may cause you to have a claim after your scheduled return date.

Say you’re having ongoing headaches. So you decide to get it looked at while on vacation but the earliest available appointment means you have to extend your trip past your original return date. The insurance company doesn’t want to get stuck with this claim. If it’s not an emergency you can get it looked at back home.

What exactly would be the “initial deposit date” if I am taking a 7-week trip thru Europe individually, not on a package tour? To get some cheap hotel rates, I have to make reservations that are not refundable. I may not make these hotel reservations all on the same day. Is the “initial date” the date I make the FIRST reservation? And would trip cancellation insurance cover all of the separate non-refundable hotel reservations? Quinn

Quinn, your Initial Trip Deposit Date is the date the first payment of any kind that was applied to your trip. The reservation date only counts if you paid any money to secure the reservation. Go here to learn more about the “initial deposit date”.

The reservations themselves aren’t covered. But if you prepay money for a non-refundable hotel stay, you can insure the amount of money you paid up front.

Here’s an important tip: If you just call a hotel and hold a room with a credit card number, this doesn’t count as your “initial deposit date”. That’s because the hotel typically won’t charge your card unless you don’t show up or until at your checkout. The reason this is important is that if you have no “initial deposit date” you can’t get a pre-existing medical conditions waiver.

Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on 3-9-08. This is 3 weeks earlier than in past years. In August of 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. beginning in 2007. Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and begins for most of the United States at 2am on the Second Sunday in March to 2am on the First Sunday of November.

While in Paris, Ben Franklin was the first to propose the idea of Daylight Savings Time. By increasing the available amount of daylight during the summer and decreasing it during the winter season, Franklin hoped to provide the world with a greater opportunity of doing productive work during the summer months, as opposed to the cold and dreary days of winter.

During Daylight Saving Time, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning, when people are usually asleep anyway, and sets one hour later in the evening, seeming to stretch the day longer. The reason DST works is because its saves energy due to less artificial light needed during the evening hours—clocks are set one hour ahead during the spring, and one hour back to standard time in the autumn.

A few weeks ago (2-25-08) I wrote a post telling you I decided I would learn to type better. And I’m doing just that.

I have 2 more tips for you. Over the years I’ve used two “tricks” to avoid using my mouse. That takes stress off my wrists which is always a good thing to do. Here are those tricks:

1) Trackball mice
2) Keyboard Shortcuts

1) Trackball mice: I use the Kensington cueball-sized trackball mice. I don’t get them new, since I’m more of a cheapskate (read: frugal). I always get used ones on ebay. I use the Kensington Expert Mouse on my Windows computers & the Kensington Turbo Mouse on my Macs.

2) Common Keyboard Shortcuts For Windows Operating Systems: Instead of using your mouse, try these shortcuts to save time and a whole lot of hand action!

#1 CTRL z - undo
#2 CTRL y - redo
#3 CTRL a - select all
#4 CTRL x - cut
#5 CTRL c - copy
#6 CTRL v - paste
#7 TAB–VERY USEFUL. takes you from one field to another, one “button” to another, one icon to another etc.
#8 SHIFT+TAB — it tabs you backward
#9 ESC — to cancel, or get rid of something like a box or window that popped up when you don’t need it.
#10 CTRL+ALT+DEL–reboots the computer – eventually. First, it’ll tell you what’s stuck.

The Mac uses similar Keyboard Shortcuts, though I didn’t list them here since different operating systems have different shortcuts.

I hope you find these tips helpful & they improve your wrists’ health.

I like TripInsuranceStore.com, but it looks like I can buy the same Travel Insurance plan from another website at a lower price. How can this be? I’m all for saving money, but I’m afraid I’ll get tricked into buying a different plan. Cathy

Cathy, your fears are justified. All travel insurance prices are regulated by the government so it’s the same cost no matter who you get it from.

Per person Travel insurance prices are based on 3 factors:
- the traveler(s) age(s)
- the per person trip cost that’s insured
- the trip’s length if it exceeds 30 or 31 days

The only way you could find a lower (or higher) price on the exact same plan is if any of these 3 factors are different. The most common reason is you’re getting an inaccurate quote. On 2-27-08 I wrote a post covering this: How To Correctly Quote a Travel Insurance Plan.

In addition, most travel insurance policies have a policy fee. Some companies let you put multiple travelers on a single policy and save the policy fees. The drawback is that it makes any claim more complicated because the claim paperwork is only sent to the person who’s name is listed first on the policy. Plus, some policies have coverage limits that are per policy, not per person.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like having debt, not even a mortgage (I have one, but I don’t like it). So, every time I make a house payment I tack on something extra. I always round it up to the next $100 so there’s a little extra going toward the principal.

Since I used to be a Financial Planner I knew it was helping, but I wasn’t quite sure how much it was helping. A few months ago I discovered the Financial Calculators on www.DinkyTown.net. I’ve found these to be very useful.

In fact, we used these at the end of 2007 to create an updated family budget. Thanks to some of the things we found on DinkyTown.net, we were able to plug a few leaks in our previous budget. By themselves they weren’t much money, but like the saying goes, “it all adds up”. I’m happy we found those leaks.

If you’re ever been on a cruise, this may sound familiar as you walk off the pier or disembark the tenders: “Our cab is much cheaper and more convenient than the local bus”.

Cheaper, no. More convenient, probably. More fun and gives you interaction with the local culture, definitely not.

I’ve traveled a lot plus I lived in Mexico & Guatemala for a year when I was single. I’ve been on a lot of public buses, collectivos, subways and trains. I’ve never had a bad experience on any of them. But, the best part has been my (& my family’s) immersion in the local cultures. Plus, we’ve saved a bundle of money.

For example, we were in Grand Cayman in Dec. 2006 with 2 other families. We took the bus to 7 Mile Beach. The cost was $3.60 per person round trip. We got an informal tour (bus routes go in circuitous routes) at a leisurely pace. We got a few good tips from the locals about 7 Mile Beach, too.

The Grand Cayman bus terminal is located adjacent the Public Library on Edward St. in downtown George Town and serves as the dispatch point for buses to all districts. It’s just a few blocks from where the tenders land.