Travel Insurance

[princessmarisa]

Looking for recommendations for a 15day trip to Japan.

I have metal plates which sometimes counts as a medical condition but usually not.

Luggage won't be worth very much, just clothes really.
Return luggage will not have very many expensive items either just lots of little trinkets/clothes.

The main concern will be a cover for cash as I will be taking quite a bit to cover paying for hotels, shinkansen tickets and everything else in the trip.

I don't get on well with travellers cheques or forever paying withdrawal fees so like to just carry my cash on my at all times in a money belt.


Most policies only seem to cover up to 250 cash without paying through the roof, it also seems I will have to go out of my way to proove I had the cash on me and various stuff.

What do people recommend, because looking at most policies it seems for the amount they don't cover I might as well just get the cheapest one for the sake of a medical emergency.

Flight cancellations and such are usually covered by the airline anyway.


I can't remember who I went with last time

[princessmarisa]

62 views and no one has anything to say at all?

[tipsygypsy]

what about opening an neteler account and get a prepaid credit card? I guess they won't charge the fee to withdraw from that card in japan. I'm not 100% sure tho

[MMM]

Originally Posted by tipsygypsy

what about opening an neteler account and get a prepaid credit card? I guess they won't charge the fee to withdraw from that card in japan. I'm not 100% sure tho

In my experience, pre-paid credit cards do not work well in Japan.

[xkmkmlmx]

Originally Posted by princessmarisa

I don't get on well with travellers cheques or forever paying withdrawal fees so like to just carry my cash on my at all times in a money belt.

I don't exactly understand the problem. Why are you not using a credit cards for most of your expenses?

I would pay for hotels and such in advance with credit cards (don't most expect you to anyway?). If I were to transfer hotels mid-trip, I would still use credit cards.

As for Shinkansen... How many trips are you going to be taking? If you are taking more than a couple, you might want to look into the JR rail pass for tourists. They cover a lot of Shinkansen lines as well as the JR lines (yamanote, etc.). You can just buy one and not have to worry about the cash.

As for everything else... most places take credit cards.

If you insist on carrying cash, definitely carry it in a money belt that is secure. You should be fine. I doubt you would be robbed, but you don't want to drop it anywhere (I had a friend lose about 100,000 yen the first day of her trip).

You can also look into hotels that have safes. So you don't have to carry large amounts with you everywhere you go and you don't have to risk your cleaning person or someone else coming across it while you are not in your room.

As for withdrawing cash from your bank. You could do it say, every 5 days. Should give you enough cash to spend without having to have *that* much on you and the withdraw fees wouldn't be enough to break the bank so to speak. Certainly not more than how much it is going to cost you to insure your money?

I see you live in the UK and I am unsure of what type of insurance you may have... but do you have insurance programs through your job? Does your country's healthcare plan offer any type of medical insurance from abroad?

Another plus for credit cards is some do in fact offer travel insurance (not just on purchases). Could look into that.

[Polar]

1) I have never taken travel insurance EVER ! and have never had any reason too, although when I left Narita it was the day the Chinese Fed-Ex plane crashed and burned. Every flight was on hold but I got out, thank you Delta

2) As far as carrying that much money around ... RELAX ! Seriously it's not an issue, staying at hostel however ... well you want to use the common sense vs a hotel, as you would be dealing with other people such as yourself vs Nationals

[princessmarisa]

Originally Posted by xkmkmlmx

I don't exactly understand the problem. Why are you not using a credit cards for most of your expenses?

I would pay for hotels and such in advance with credit cards (don't most expect you to anyway?). If I were to transfer hotels mid-trip, I would still use credit cards.

I do not have a credit card, nor do I want one. Also I got massive charges last time to withdraw using my debit card. I do a lot of shopping in random stalls and such in Japan and paying on plastic is not always going to be feasible, espeically for a UK-based credit card (if I did get one) plus credit cards will levy at least some charge abroad not to mention any APR % and charge to pay on card etc that hotels charge. I see this as a waste of money

As for Shinkansen... How many trips are you going to be taking? If you are taking more than a couple, you might want to look into the JR rail pass for tourists. They cover a lot of Shinkansen lines as well as the JR lines (yamanote, etc.). You can just buy one and not have to worry about the cash.

We have already looked into it in detail and the national JR pass won't be suitable this time, we mayend up getting the local regional ones you can get whilst in Japan, again I need the Yen with me for this.

As for everything else... most places take credit cards.

as above, depends where you like to shop in Japan and what you like to buy, it is just a lot easier with cash too.

If you insist on carrying cash, definitely carry it in a money belt that is secure. You should be fine. I doubt you would be robbed, but you don't want to drop it anywhere (I had a friend lose about 100,000 yen the first day of her trip).

I think I mentioned I would use a money belt, but yes I will and transfer the needed amount to my purse each day. Wow how do you manage to drop tht amount of money

You can also look into hotels that have safes. So you don't have to carry large amounts with you everywhere you go and you don't have to risk your cleaning person or someone else coming across it while you are not in your room.

The hotels are already decided and booked, I didn't need a deposit because they are places I have stayed before and I did it by email.
I liek to have the money on me for emergencies anyway , plus the cheap bussiness hotels/ryokan will not have these only the expensive western styles hotels.

As for withdrawing cash from your bank. You could do it say, every 5 days. Should give you enough cash to spend without having to have *that* much on you and the withdraw fees wouldn't be enough to break the bank so to speak. Certainly not more than how much it is going to cost you to insure your money?

I'd rather not pay my bank any more money than they already take from me.
The withdrawal % is quite high and I would be subject to whatever the exchange rate decided to be that day and would have to look it up before withdrawing to know exactly how much I was taking out.

I see you live in the UK and I am unsure of what type of insurance you may have... but do you have insurance programs through your job? Does your country's healthcare plan offer any type of medical insurance from abroad?

Another plus for credit cards is some do in fact offer travel insurance (not just on purchases). Could look into that.

My job does not offer any kind of insurance, it is pretty rare in the UK to get any such perks unless you work for massive corporations in a very responsible position.

Pretty against the whole credit card idea in general, but thanks for replying.

[Sangetsu]

Travel is one situation where credit cards are a great option. Everyone should have a travel-specific credit card, as these generally include comprehensive insurance when they are used to pay for tickets or vacation packages.

Travelers checks are not an option in Japan, no one that I know here even knows what they are, and certainly no one accepts them. Cash is the best option. You don't really need a money belt, a pocket with a zipper is more than sufficient.

I use an Amex platinum card for travel, and I live with the $550 annual fee because this card actually gives me back more than that amount in benefits. I am covered against cancellations, accidents while traveling, and even medical evacuation to my home country if necessary. I get to carry a third checked bag for free, and my bags are transported to and from the airport for free. I also get priority seating on the next available flight if my scheduled flight was canceled. And I love to use the airport executive lounges.

[xkmkmlmx]

I agree with you 100% on the credit card hassles, don't get me wrong. I hate them. But they do have their benefits if used responsibly. Personally, I would not go ALL cash, but I have brought a good amount of cash to Japan on random occasions. Just be cautious. Insuring it would be kind of excessive, I think.

Still might want to look into a no annual fee type deal with a small limit just in case you need it for emergencies. I won't push anymore, though!

Originally Posted by princessmarisa

Wow how do you manage to drop tht amount of money

I don't remember the situation clearly, but I am pretty sure it was our first day there. She didn't even have time to leave some cash at the hotel and had it ALL in her wallet. We were at Harajuku station and she left the wallet on the ledge where you buy your train tickets. I think she was all just a bit overwhelmed by everything and just got distracted. She didn't realize until we got to Shinjuku station. So we all split up looking for it. I went all the way back to Harajuku and asked the security and attendant to see if anyone had turned it in... unfortunately not :/

[steel]

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