The short answer is - stuff happens. Flights get delayed and cancelled. Food isn’t always properly prepared. We fall over something, or someone crashes into us. Volcanoes erupt. Our wallet gets stolen. Our new camera ends up at the bottom of a swimming pool.

Clever people plan ahead. That doesn’t mean that clever people are depressed or worried all the time. They just know that travel involves things they can’t predict. A volcano expert may predict an eruption - you and I are unlikely to know much about it until our flight home is delayed or cancelled.

There is only one thing worse than being delayed, stuck, robbed, ill or injured. Having no back up plan. And with travel, your best back up plan = insurance.

Want more persuasion to spend a few dollars to insure to save yourself a whole heap of trouble? Here are 5 true travel stories -

1. Injury

Walking over rocks on the shore of the Mekong River, a young man fell and gashed his leg. He had to be airlifted to hospital and spent two weeks there before he was able to fly home.

2. Gastric illness

A family booked into a perfectly respectable, comfortable guest house in Malaysia. They had a delicious dinner and all went down with food poisoning. Doctor’s bills and an early flight home followed shortly thereafter.

3. Hire Car Damage

In France, a middle-aged couple carefully parked their shiny hire car while they went to a supermarket to buy groceries. When they came back, one of the car doors had been dented. There was no note or person waiting to explain what had happened. The couple was left to pick up the bill with the hire company.

4. Airport Closure

A huge snow storm hit New York and all flights were cancelled. A couple with a baby have no choice but to check into a hotel until their airport re-opened two days later.

5. Wallet, iPhone and Passport Stolen

In Thailand, a woman hooked her bag on the back of her chair while she ordered lunch. She turned to get her phone to take a photo and found her bag gone. All her credit cards, cash, new phone and her passport were in the bag.

Stuff happens. Without insurance, a dream holiday can turn into a nightmare. Travel insurance might seem like a luxury, until you need it. And clever people plan ahead.