July 07, 2008

Uncovered

Travel insurance is great so long as you don't have much valuable to insure. Professional camera equipment is bad enough, but even a modestly capable laptop can quickly exceed the fine print.

I did a little asking around and found that most professionals simply don't have it. Too expensive. When they can get cover it's priced at a rate that makes it more practical to carry the loss of equipment personally rather than to share the risk with an underwriter.

One insurance company however had another take. They offered to provide their basic travel insurance, without coverage for the expensive bits, in exchange for blogging. That's right, a professional journo can expect to provide his or her work for a year in exchange for a product that you can buy online for about $350. Even by Fairfax standards this sets a new low.

I can just imagine the Mastercard commercial now... Camera Bag by LowePro - $340. Professional camera and lens equipment - $12,000. Years of professional writing experience and months of travel away from home - worthless.

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