You really want to get away. Not for the weekend. Not for two weeks. You’re thinking about a longer adventure, one that might last two months or even more.

We say, go for it! Traveling for an extended time can be life-changing. Just make sure you protect your investment — and yourself — with a travel insurance plan that’s designed for long trips.

Choose a plan that can cover the full trip length.

Not every travel insurance plan will cover extra-long trips. Some have a maximum trip length of 45 days; for others, it’s 90 days. Allianz Global Assistance offers four plans that can protect trips of up to 180 days:

• OneTrip Basic is an economical plan with emergency medical and other post-departure benefits. Trip cancellation and trip interruption benefits have maximum limits of $10,000, so make sure your trip costs don’t exceed that.
• OneTrip Prime is our most popular plan for vacations, with substantial benefits and free coverage for children 17 and under when traveling with a parent or grandparent.
• OneTrip Premier doubles most OneTrip Prime post-departure benefit limits, so you get even more protection.
• OneTrip Emergency Medical includes only post-departure benefits, not trip cancellation or interruption. This makes it a good choice for spontaneous, budget-conscious travelers who have few pre-paid trip costs, preferring instead to make plans as they go along.

What if you’re planning to travel for more than 180 days? You can’t buy a new travel insurance plan while you’re traveling. One option is to return home before you hit the 180-day mark. Water your plants, go through your mail, and then purchase a new plan to protect the second half of your trip.

An important piece of advice: Annual travel insurance plans are designed to protect multiple trips in a year, not trips lasting a full year! Read your plan documents carefully if you’re purchasing an annual plan. AllTrips Prime only covers trips up to 45 days, for instance, while AllTrips Premier covers trips up to 90 days.

Wondering which plan is right for you? Get a quote for your next trip.

Emergency medical benefits are a must.

The longer you’re on the road, the greater the chances that you’ll get sick or injured while you’re traveling. Travel insurance with emergency medical and emergency transportation benefits can help make sure you receive the care you need and get home safely.

Many travelers wonder how to find long-term travel medical insurance. It’s not hard! All four of the plans listed above include emergency medical benefits, including the Epidemic Coverage Endorsement for certain losses related to COVID-19 and any future epidemic. It’s important to understand, however, that these benefits are for emergencies only, not long-term or preventive care.

Make sure your trip fits the travel insurance requirements.

We generally define a “trip” as travel to, within, and/or from a location at least 100 miles from your primary residence. So if your long vacation involves renting a mountain cabin that’s 30 minutes from your home, it won’t qualify.

Also, your insurance won’t cover travel when you’re intending to receive health care or medical treatment of any kind, moving, or commuting to and from work.

What about travel insurance for digital nomads — people who work remotely while traveling to other countries? This type of travel can generally be covered, as long as you’re not moving to your destination permanently.

Don’t procrastinate on trip protection!

The best time to buy travel insurance is immediately after you’ve made your travel arrangements and paid your initial deposit.

Why do we say “immediately”? Why not wait for a few days?

Because if you’re spending a lot of money on travel — as you probably are, if you’re planning a long trip — then you want to protect that investment as soon as possible. Let’s say you’ve just purchased a nonrefundable plane ticket to Santorini, where you’re planning to stay at your friend’s seaside apartment for three months. A few days later, you get bad news: There was a fire in the building, and the apartment isn’t habitable.

If you had purchased travel insurance with trip cancellation benefits, it could have covered this situation and reimbursed you for the airfare. Because you didn’t get around to it, you’re out of luck. Travel insurance won’t cover losses that occurred (or were predicted/foreseeable) before you purchased the plan. You’ll have to eat the cost of the ticket, or just go and try to find an affordable place to stay in Santorini.

Trip cancellation benefits begin on your plan’s effective date, as long as we receive your premium before you cancel your trip or make a claim. (The effective date depends on how you purchase a plan; if you buy travel insurance online, it’s the day after we receive your order.)

Calculate your trip costs with care.

When you’re buying insurance for your long trip, you’ll need to enter your actual trip costs in order to get trip cancellation/trip interruption protection. These are the non-refundable costs you pay ahead of time for your trip, not incidentals like meals or shopping. Trip costs may include:

• Airfare
• Cruise fare
• Train tickets
• Other transportation costs
• Hotel/lodging costs
• Vacation rental costs
• Tour or excursion costs
• Tickets to shows, events or attractions
• Ski lift tickets

It can be tough to remember everything when you’re planning an extended trip. When you’re getting a quote, click the little calculator icon in the Trip Cost field to get help adding everything up.

What if your trip costs increase before you leave, or while you’re traveling? Contact us if that’s the case, and we can help adjust your coverage.

Trip interruption benefits is especially important for long trips.

Trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for non-refundable, pre-paid trip costs when you have to interrupt your trip or end it early due to a covered reason. But that’s not all it covers. Trip interruption also can cover these costs following a covered interruption:

• Extra accommodation fees, such as a single supplement fee from a cruise line, if you prepaid for shared accommodations and your traveling companion has to interrupt their trip.

• Reasonable transportation expenses to continue your trip or return to your primary residence. Let’s say you’re spending months island-hopping in the Philippines when you get word that your sister is seriously ill. Your trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for the cost of your flight back to the United States.

• Additional accommodation and transportation expenses if the interruption causes you to stay at your destination (or the location of the interruption) longer than originally planned. For example: You’re walking the Camino de Santiago through Portugal when you sprain your ankle. The injury isn’t severe enough to cancel your trip, but you need three days to rest and recuperate in a hotel. Your trip interruption benefits can reimburse you for the extra cost.

Even on the longest trips, Assistance is just a phone call away.

When you have Allianz Travel Insurance, you never travel alone. Every plan includes 24-hour assistance, accessible by phone or via the Allyz® TravelSmart app. Our staff of multilingual problem solvers is here to help with medical emergencies and travel-related problems, wherever you happen to roam.

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