I’m so sorry OP. Years ago my grandmother died (I was early 20s) while my mom and I were on a ski trip out west. A blizzard was moving in and shutting the roads and airport (both ended up closed a few days). There was a single seat on the last flight. Amazingly some young man gave up his seat for one of us. We just wanted to be home (my grandmother lived near by). I wouldn’t stop traveling, but I would give thought to the destination and whether you’d want to / be able to return mid trip. The timing does seem particularly difficult though if the passing is right around the time of your trip.

If you’re considering travel insurance, chase sapphire reserve is having a promotion right now and the card includes insurance for many aspects of travel.

Anonymous wrote:Hoping someone will chime in with their experience using travel insurance. What exactly does it cover? Flights and hotels? What about tours that were booked ahead? What happens if your loved one takes a turn for the worse or dies half way through your trip?

It depends on the policy but there are ones that cover having to return early and ones that will cover basically anything you have to prepay. Read the terms before deciding. You often need to buy within a certain number of days after booking. I use insuremytrip.com to compare plolicies.

I’m sorry OP. I would focus on booking things that are refundable or exchangeable to keep your options open. Cancelation coverage is often less than 100%.

You can buy refundable airline tickets. Many hotels allow you to cancel without penalty as late as 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. Those are usually the two biggest costs for a holiday you book yourself. If you're doing a cruise, or an organized tour with a provider like Tauck which have more restrictive refund/cancellation policies, you will want trip insurance. Most such insurance covers the death of an immediate relative. If you're concerned about not departing on a trip because a relative's demise then seems imminent but has not yet occurred, you might need cancel-for-any-reason coverage, which often needs to be purchased within a few weeks of booking your travel - you can't wait until a few weeks before your planned departure. Read policies carefully, to make sure they address your concerns.

Different travel insurance plans cover different things, you have to ask the questions and pay for the coverage you want.

About 3 years ago we paid about $800 for covering anything/everything for a $40k Galapogus Island trip for 4, because of elderly parents. We didn't need it and had a fabulous trip, and, the peace of mind the $800 bought, was worth it

Hoping someone will chime in with their experience using travel insurance. What exactly does it cover? Flights and hotels? What about tours that were booked ahead? What happens if your loved one takes a turn for the worse or dies half way through your trip?

I don't have any answers that have not already been given, OP. I'm sorry about your parent's diagnosis. I'm also in a similar position and wondering if I can take my dream trip in 2026. In my case, my parent has dementia and has declined a lot, but I have no idea when the "end" might be. It could be one year or five...so how long do I not travel? Or do I travel and try not to worry? And can I hire someone to check on my parent and provide reports?

My terminally ill father lasted 6 years from his initial diagnosis. YMMV but we could not put our lives on pause just waiting for him to pass (nor would he have allowed it!). Book the trip, get travel insurance, and assess as you get closer...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Life goes on. Just book it. Bold to assume we all won't be dead by next summer due to nuclear war.

Seek therapy...

She has a point

You might want to seek therapy to figure out what in her comment triggered you.

+1

It's not crazy to worry about war, being able to get back into the US, abuse you might receive at the US border, whether your phone will be taken at the border, etc, etc. And who wants to deal with that while grieving a parent or engaged in anticipatory grieving? It's all very hard.

The older you get, the more likely you will face a travel snafu.

I have had to cancel and postpone trips because of my health or another person’s. I have had to return early/suddenly from a trip when someone was hospitalized at home.

Explore insurance options and know this can happen and you can deal with it perhaps not perfectly but as best as possible.

Millions of people were forced to break travel plans when the pandemic occurred. Some had total reimbursement. Some did not. All were disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Life goes on. Just book it. Bold to assume we all won't be dead by next summer due to nuclear war.

Seek therapy...

She has a point

You might want to seek therapy to figure out what in her comment triggered you.