You have planned this trip for months. You have booked hotels, booked flights and even taken the time to make a restaurant reservation or two. You have read books on the place you are about to go, made sure you are packing the right kind of clothes for the weather and tipped the neighbor boy to make sure your plants stay alive. Then, as you are running through your checklist a final time you realize you have forgotten one very important thing. You still don’t have a travel policy. Quickly you boot up the computer and type in the phrase “instant travel insurance…”

While the above may be a bit over-dramatic, there are times when even the best of us can forget a detail like travel insurance. Luckily, there are plenty of companies that offer insurance policies instantly. However, while it is a good thing that they exist, you need to have a general idea of what to look for.

What Will You Be Doing While You Travel?

The first thing you want to consider is exactly what you will be doing. Are you traveling simply to see new sights or do you have a weekend of scuba diving planned? While this may seem silly, not having a policy that covers your planned activities will come back and cause you some problems. Thankfully, most instant travel insurance policies offer a wide variety of specific policies so you can cover exactly what you plan to do without having to cover something you won’t be doing.

How Much Coverage Do You Want?

Some people only want minimal coverage. While this is totally okay, you might want to look into some fairly in-depth coverage. After all, you never really know when you will need to use a policy, and the last thing you want is to curse yourself for not adding luggage insurance when you had the chance.

How Long Do You Need Coverage?

Most travel policies are short term in nature. They are designed to cover you while you are traveling and engaging in certain activities. For this reason, you need to make sure that you will have coverage the entire time you are out and about. The good news is that you often will find instant travel insurance that fits your need and does not insist on covering for a longer period.

In the end, knowing that instant travel insurance is available can put your mind at ease while you prepare for your trip. However, if you have the time beforehand, doing a little research on the different companies and different products available will certainly pay off. Also, by doing research ahead of time, you might actually get some ideas for your trip that you never thought of before.