The International Travel Blog has a post talking about the importance of travel insurance. They warn that if you don't get insurance before you travel, something unexpected could make you wish you had.

While I can see the logical reason for travel insurance, I'm more of an advocate of travel cots.  If you forget insurance, you pay more, but if you forget your travel cot, where will you sleep?  When you get around, if you don't carry a portable cot you'll regret it, especially if you could have been resting on a robust military cot,

When I went on a recent vacation, I got travel insurance, but I turned out just fine, so it was money spent for essentially nothing.  On the other hand, the night I had to sleep on the floor of a tent in a sleeping bag, boy did I wish I'd brought along a simple folding cot!  Camping without camping cots is just asking for trouble, and I couldn't get any sleep without my sleeping cot.