When you go on your dream holiday first find out what travel insurance policy is the best choice for your long or short stay. The Internet is wonderful guide in this sense, you can easily find everything and you can shop around for the best offers on the web pages of different travel agencies and insurance companies. If you have any doubts regarding the terms and conditions, now you can download all the documents and read it comfortably, before signing any contract. If there are any unknown expressions you can easily find these in online dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Thus, you can get rid of the costly mistakes that can occur in the long run.

While you consider the policy pay attention to all the issues for which it offers coverage. Not all the insurance agencies do offer coverage for certain situations, like pre-existing health conditions, not to mention the dangerous sports and hazardous activities. Also check out what is the coverage (single item limit) for your lost or stolen goods, and what kind of administrative work you have to do in order to place a claim.

Insurance policies differ a great deal in their approaches: there are standard policies, which provide average coverage for your travel, but if you need extra safety like in the case of dangerous sports you better choose a premium option. This seems to be a good choice if you also have expensive sport equipment to ensure. There is also a difference regarding the length of your stay, if it is an international or national journey, if you travel alone or with the whole family (as in the latter situation you can expect and do ask for discounts and special offers, like free policy for children).

Here are some of the most important tips that should be considered while choosing the most suitable travel insurance:

- Medical insurance. This should be an international one in case of international trips; a health care which provides you the necessary coverage in case of hospitalization (treatment, medication, accidents etc). This aspect also includes emergency evacuation, in case you are severely injured and you need a helicopter for example.

- Cancellation policy/interruption of journey. This offers a reimbursement, if, for some reason, you have to cancel or interrupt your journey. The reasons for this should coincide with the reasons pre-established in the policy (illness of family member, case of death etc.)

- Insurance in case of your pre-existing health problems. Most policies exclude this aspect. If they do so, you have to buy an extra coverage. In such a case, it is highly recommended to have with you some copies of your existing medical records and receipts.

- Adventurous activities. If the policy does not offer coverage for some dangerous sports like scuba-diving, skiing, you have to buy a premium package. It may happen, that the standard policy has a limited policy in these cases, which means you have to consider your needs and choose carefully (for example skiing may be ensured, but off piste skiing may not, so you either give up on off piste skiing, or buy some extra coverage).

- Rental Vehicle insurance. This seems to be a very good option in case you have an accident with the hired car during your holiday.

- Cover for loss/theft/damage of specific items. This includes expensive sport equipment (bicycles, surf boards) and electronic items (cameras, notebooks etc.)

- Personal liability. This covers all the damages you accidentally cause to others, sometimes it is excluded from the standard policy.

- Non-stop emergency service, wherever you are in the world.

- Consider the multi-trip insurance. This is a cheaper and more efficient solution if you plan to go on more than one vacation in a year.

- Emergency money. When your money is stolen/lost, you have coverage (usually a single money advance) to buy the essentials for yourself. But read carefully the terms and conditions, as theft must be reported to the police and thoroughly proved, thus you can turn in a claim later on.

All in all, don't let your dream vacation be destroyed by unforeseen accidents and problems. Be prepared before setting out on a longer journey. A good insurance policy can save you time and money.