Does anyone know of a company that sells travel insurance that will cover the cost of a cancelled trip for ANY reason? 8 friends of mine are already planning an all inclusive New Years Eve trip to Mexico and will be putting deposits down within several months. I work in a hospital and will not know until several weeks before New Years Eve if I can get the time off. If I bought the trip soon is it possible to get an insurance policy that would cover my costs if I have to work and cancel my trip? Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.

Someone on a forum had mentioned the web site www.insuremytrip.com I think. It allows you to compare various companies as to what they offer. You could get the company names from there - and I would call directly to speak with someone if you can't find the answer.

In my experience, TravelGuard and Travelex offer this service (among others, I'm sure). But here's the catch (I learned the hard way when I had to cancel a trip to Peru last Nov)....you must purchase your policy within so many days of your first trip expenditure (eg, deposits). In my case, it was 15 days I believe.

The bottom line.....BUY YOUR POLICY NOW! If you cancel your trip too close to the date your policy takes effect, they will not pay. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to file a claim with satisfactory results.

You typically have 14-30 days, following date of first deposit for your trip, to purchase "Cancel for Any Reason". There's also "Cancel for Work Reason". Note that the reason must be UNFORESEEN.

You also have to carefully understand (and make NO presumptions) the terms and conditions set forth in the Certificate or Policy and not just the overview of the coverage.

Really important: Some "Cancel for Any Reason" or "Cancel Work Reason" coverage is NOT 100% reimbursement, often only 50%.

Mostly policies can be cancelled for full refunds within a number of days, which gives you the opportunity to carefully study the coverage, restrictions, requirements, and try another policy if necessary.

For work reasons, a letter from your employer will be required with a claim. "We were unable to schedule those days off for lilypoo", or "lilypoo's work schedule was recently finalized and we were not able to grant her those days off" probably won't result in a successful claim.

I work in a hospital, too. We can request vacation in advance. I'm sure you can as well. Check with your manager, human resources, or look in the HR manual.

I always request my vacation time in writing in advance, and wait until I get approval before buying my tickets.

Travel insurance won't help you unless you have approved time off that is rescinded for some reason out of your control.