If you’ve traveled a fair amount, you know that sometimes, things go sideways. Usually, these things are small things: maybe you need to pick up a prescription from a pharmacy and need directions, or maybe your flight got delayed, leaving you rescheduling your airport transfer. These problems are always pesky–who to call? Where to go? Sometimes, of course, the problems are bigger and more consuming: you need serious medical care or you have to deal with a theft.
Murphy’s Law dictates that you’ll never have to deal with any of the above (yeah right!) if you think ahead and buy travel insurance, which is why we always travel with our travel insurance annual plan. Here’s why, if you’re wondering whether travel insurance is right for you.
As we’ve stated in the past, we use Allianz Travel for our personal family travel and highly recommend them, but, even if you opt to use a different insurer, you can now use Allianz’ TravelSmart app to help you navigate any rocky moments on your next trip. The TravelSmart app is FREE for anyone to download, and helps you organize a lot of necessary emergency information and tools in one place.
Note:
Allianz has recently upgraded their annual policies in light of the recent pandemic. Their newly filed policies now include permanent accommodations for epidemics, not only the current COVID-19 but others that may form in the years ahead. This benefit is now offered beyond single trip products and I am sure it will help many travelers.
Learn more about the Epidemic Endorsement Product (EEP) benefits here:
Here’s what the TravelSmart app can do, in a nutshell:
Provide emergency numbers: Once you’ve enabled location services on the app, it can provide access to local emergency numbers for the police, medical care, and fire with one-touch calling. We always recommend storing numbers for the US embassy in your phone for each country you visit, but this app goes a step further, because honestly, how likely are you to write down ALL of these emergency services numbers?
Access a map to emergency services: The TravelSmart app will bring up a map for you of nearby services, like hospitals and pharmacies. Right on your screen, you can find addresses and phone numbers.
Translate: Once, I spent a good five minutes in a Peruvian pharmacy trying to pantomime high altitude sickness. If I’d had the TravelSmart app, I could have turned on the emergency translator and had the right medical jargon at my fingertips. There’s also a medical dictionary, and the ability to convert dosages and measurements in various systems.
Track flights: You can track your flights, any delays, and departure times from the app, once you’ve input your flight information. If you’re an Allianz customer, you’ll want your flight numbers in there anyway, just in case you need to file a claim (fingers crossed you won’t!).
Tip: If you’re already an Allianz Travel customer, you can also track any claims in the app, and pull up your current plan and coverage at any time.
There’s much that families can do to avoid most travel difficulties: map things out ahead of time, get to know the neighborhoods and culture you’ll be experiencing, and keep track of your important documents, phone numbers and WiFi options. A little planning goes a long way! But we all know the unexpected can happen, and when it does, I guarantee you’ll be glad you took a few extra minutes to download this travel app and have it set up to help lend a hand. I’d call this one of the most practical travel apps out there–with a veritable Swiss army knife of features–whether we used Allianz or not.
Download TravelSmart on the Apple AppStore or Google Play Store.
Disclosure: This post was written in partnership with Allianz Travel, in order to make our readers aware of this free service. All opinions remain my own.
