Wendy --- if your concern is that a change in your mother's condition might require you to cancel your trip, you will have to search carefully for the coverage you want. I've looked at several policies and they specifically exclude coverage for claims arising from from a pre-existing condition.
You may be able to find great low airfares and hotels that have no cancellation fee, so your exposure will be minimal without insurance.
Good luck.

Thanks LN and kayd, We are researching now. We'd love to take advantage of the British Air Sale but we need to be realistic that mom condition could force us to cancell something. 5 months is a long way off.

Wendy

Here is a site that lets you compare all the different plans offered by different companies:

www.insuremytrip.com

Wendy

Shamus: We are going to Hawaii next week and found that by putting the whole package (air/hotel/rental car) on our GM card, we are automatically covered for the trip should we need to cancel. You might check into something like that with your credit card or find one that includes travel insurance as a benefit.

Iowagirl thanks.
Where are you staying next week???

Good point iowagirl. If I buy anything on my credit card and a company goes belly up before delivering the goods, I'm covered. I started looking into Travelguard yesterday for a vacation package I may purchase, after reading all the fine print, it looked like nothing was covered! The exclusions must have outweighed the inclusions 5:1. The only thing I saw of value was primary insurance coverage on rental cars because my credit card only offers secondary coverage. Other than that, it looked like a waste to me. I'm going to contact my cc bank and ask for all the travel coverage provisions before deciding but I think they'll cover a lot of the big ones. Even Travelguard has an exclusion for tour operator default and acts of war declared or not. Anything involving the U.S., al-qaeda, Iraq, Isreal/Palestine can be construed as an act of war and "civil unrest". How about "civil disturbance or insurrection"? Note to self: avoid travelling to areas prone to insurrection.

iowagirl, are you saying that if you book a totally non-cancellable plane ticket for example, then decide not to go due to health, your credit company will pay for it??? Or if you book a hotel say through Priceline that can't be refunded, and you don't go, that the credit card will reimburse you the full amount you paid?? That's some coverage.

Patrick: The GM card will work with the vacation package company to get us a refund should something happen and we can't go (see Loki's note). It also covers us for car rental insurance and lost luggage. However, if, God forbid, we should end up in some sort of war and all flights are grounded, we're stuck. There's no travel insurance that covers that. However, my agent did say that after 9/11 the travel companies and airlines were pretty good about getting people rescheduled. All we can do is pray that nothing happens.

Shamus: We'll be at the Maui Sheraton on Kaanapali Beach. We have stayed at the Westin Maui twice before and loved it, but they raised their prices quite a bit last year, so we're trying the Sheraton instead.

First time I bought it was on my honeymoon. We ended up spending $2500 extra because of an air traffic control strike (we got stuck in France for 2 extra days!) and had to buy new tickets, meals and hotel accomodations. We got every cent back. Definitely get it!

I recommend travel insurance for larger non-refundable expenditures. I would not recommend Travel Guard.

I had a relatively small claim on a policy with them and it took months and nasty letters for them to pay. They kept asking over and over for information I had already sent them and the info they requested didn't even pertain to my claim.

I worked on my own to minimize the claim (talking vendors into refunding "non-refundable" things), so I was even more honked off at Travel Guard's apparent determination to avoid paying.

I canceled my trip to Paris which was scheduled for the week after 9/11/01. Although the airlines were actually flying again before we were due to leave, my husband, who is self employed, was afraid of getting "stuck" in Paris.

USAir refunded both our(non-refundable) tickets, no problem.

The Parisian hotel La Villa also allowed me to cancel though I was past the two-week deadline, even sending a nice e-mail expressing sympathy & solidarity.

I wonder if anyone will be as fortunate again, given the financial health of the airlines.

Wendy, I'm very sorry about your mother, but here's a thought: why not compare the price of farewar discounted non-refundable tickets against the lowest refundable (or re-schedulable) tickets, and then see if the difference is more than the cost of insurance. It might be worth the peace of mind and absence of paperwork (not to mention avoiding the gotcha if they say your reason for cancelling isn't covered) to "self-"insure by buying a refundable ticket.

To Litespeed_chick

The reason we cancelled is that we were planning a active trip. Lots of hiking and moving around staying at 2 different spots. Dr also said no water sports. The condo we had was on 3rd story and just stairs. I think if we were going to a mega resort like the Prince or Orchid we would have gone. Thanks for the offer, I'll let my wife know but she is not a fan of the internet. Our flight left today a 8 am without us. I am having a mai-tai in the cold rain of Humboldt county, somehow it is not the same. However a new trip needs to be planned.

Have Fun
GP

Hi shamus66, I travel as often as possible and I think the insurance thing is a scam. Not really worth it. Rescpectfully, Leslie

iowagirl that is where I am staying can you send me a email

[email protected]

soccr

We have been doing that and the difference is over $600! We luckily have found trip insurance that will cover both me and my beua if my mom gets sick. The only catch is that we have to buy it within 7 days of purchasing our airfare, we have no problem with that. It's only $100 or so and we spoke with them at length about the situation so we are feeling really good.

Again I thank Fodorites for bringing this subject up and offering advice!

Wendy