Talkback: Monday Tip - Travel Insurance

I cann't agree more that planning ahead and covering the insurance details on a trip can be crucial to avoiding disaster. I would like to add on more twist on the idea of insurance against disaster. This is an idea that was driven home to me on my last trip to Rome. I lost my passport during the day but had no idea it was missing. Fortunately, I had an Okoban tracer tag on it. A waiter where I ate lunch found it and entered my tracker number on the Okoban website and I was sent a text message (and an email) where I could recover it before I ever even knew my passport was missing. Lucky for me because I was leaving in the morning for Germany and getting a new passport would have been impossible. I found these tags at www.mystufflostandfound.com. They saved my trip and I now have them on almost everything important that goes with me on a trip

Tell us more about that Okoban tagging. I've read their website but I'm interested also in a security aspect which the website doesn't answer. I'm curious to the removeability of Okoban tags. If tags are not easy, even almost impossible to remove it also might help retrieving stolen goods instead of only lost goods. For instance something is stolen and at a certain moment in time thrown away for whatever reason. If in the mean time the tag wasn't removed you might retrieve the item (mostly damaged and or emptied but hey every little bit that you get back counts) 

Hi..some good advice here, but don't rely on the EHIC to cover you for helicopter rescue whilstsnowboarding or anything more disasterous than a sprained ankle. Also check out if you're policy covers you for working when you are abroad. Some don't even cover volunteering. I would look on some of the other forum sites (not sure if I'm allowed to mention Lonely Planet Thorn Tree) here, but there are some good travel insurance tips there and several companies keep coming up.

EHIC gives you the same health cover that the locals in the same country get. In most places you have to get to the doctor / hospital by yourself.  Austrian Alpine Club membership gives world wide helicopter rescue cover and travel insurance will meet the medical bills - but only for the risks that the policy covers!