Tyson again threw some shade at anti-evolutionists

Danielle: Speaking of fantasy and fiction, Tyson again threw some shade at anti-evolutionists, saying that to believe that the universe is between 6,000 and 7,000 years old "is to extinguish the light from most of the galaxy." He's targeting young-earth creationists here, who believe that the world is 6,500 years old but this would, logically, mean that we would only be able to see stars that were formed 6,500 years ago, Kashgar tours which isn't the case. It's a standard argument, but Tyson delivers it with flair, and the earlier part of the episode really sets him up to authoritatively rule out any possibility of a young earth.Abby: He's also setting up a really interesting parison: viewers, which universe do you want? The disproven, small universe of the young-earth creationists that could only extend to the crab nebula and back a tiny portion of the milky way galaxy or the one with galaxies billions of years older than the earth itself, with black holes leading to an extraordinary unknown?

Danielle: Exactly. Tyson still presents science as a nearly-mystical pursuit. The show opens with cartoon William Herschel who discovered Uranus and apparently was also a musician talking about ghosts planet ghosts, it turns out. Which takes us into time travel, which takes into spacetime, etc. The idea of science as belief in the extraordinary is highlighted, once again. Four episodes in, I think it's safe to say that this is a Theme of Cosmos.Abby: silk road group tour Yes, for sure. Tyson is asking mystical question and providing scientific or at least science-based answers. Not to get too academic, but this episode actually reminded me a little of St.

Augustine's theories of time and memory. He divided time up into memory, experience, and expectation, or "a time present of things past; a time present of things present; and a time present of things future." He does this to bracket out our understanding of "time" from what Augustine, who was after all a Bishop, believed to be a defining characteristic of God: an eternalness. For Augustine, there was no literal act of "creation" of the universe it is a unified act with the rest of the universe. Although obviously science leads to somewhat different conclusions and priorities than those of Augustine's, it felt like Tyson was answering or wondering about the same questions.

Just three days after the State Department issued a travel warning for Ukraine

Just three days after the State Department issued a travel warning for Ukraine, it began promoting a campaign urging Americans to visit the country, prompting confusion and concern from some foreign policy observers.The State Department issued a Ukraine travel warning on March 21 warning "U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine and to defer all travel to the Crimean Peninsula and eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Lugansk due to the presence of Russian military forces in the Crimean Peninsula, and in Russia near the Ukrainian border."Three days after that warning was issued the State Department's official Twitterfeed disseminated an official video promoting travel to Ukraine and arguing that all is safe for tourists.

"Disinformation: Kyiv is a burned out battle ground filled with rampaging lawless groups," wrote a caption on the video, which was posted by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. "Fact: The effects of the Maidan confrontation are extremely localized, relegated to three or four streets in the center of the city."
The video struck some foreign policy observers as confusing given the sharp contrast between the two messages.State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf told the Free Beacon that the video is an effort to bat "Kremlin propaganda" that aims to distort the situation in Ukraine and mislead the international munity. Before Mary Sue Stegehuis, a teacher in Grand Rapids, Mich., traveled to Tanzania last summer to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, she bought trip insurance a policy that provided for emergency medical evacuation.

A helicopter plucked her off the mountain and took her to a hospital in Nairobi.After she was treated by an American board-certified cardiologist who determined that all was well, she was flown back to resume the climb. The insurance covered the $11,500 in evacuation costs, along with $5,000 for medical services."It was a huge benefit that the insurance pany specializes in dealing with these logistics," says Ms. Stegehuis, age 57.Travel insurance has long been part of travel planning. But with more people participating in adventure trips and heading for increasingly remote destinations, policies today offer more options and are more plicated than ever before.

The game started later than scheduled because the North Dakota State-Oklahoma game went into overtime

In September 2012, Southwest growers and labor contractors met in Yuma to discuss a more workable system for temporary field hands. They floated the possibility of a new  muter visa," and, according to AZFB spokeswoman Julie Murphree, discussed petitioning Congress to make it easier for Mexican nationals to apply for green cards. Under the current system, green card holders can easily convert their status from resident to muter or live in Mexico and work in the U.S. meaning that the number of "alien muters" could easily expand.As for that marathon mute, a $300 million proposal to upgrade the port of entry in Mexicali and ease the morning crush was approved by Congress in 2010 but Congress has yet to allocate any funding.

Meanwhile, people like Norma Cortez continue to make the long journey to work in U.S. fields. This February evening, she takes one grandchild to choir practice at the nearby church, then es back home to help her daughters prepare dinner. Her few hours at home are precious,china tour operators and she wants to spend as much time with her family as possible. But she has to weigh that against her urgent need for sleep.Last year, Norma vowed that she would work just one more winter harvest. "I hope this is the last season," she says. "It's all I can bear." The NCAA apologized to New Mexico State and said it will evaluate its travel policy after the Aggies had to fly home in the middle of the night following their second-round tournament loss and were met by only one bus at the airport.

Athletic director McKinley Boston said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Monday that he received a call during the weekend from Dan Gavitt, vice president of the men's basketball championship."He said it was inconsistent with their effort to provide the full NCAA experience," Boston said. "He was disappointed that our experience wasn't a positive one and that they would do everything possible to evaluate it and try to make sure the experience going forward was adequate.China west tour"NMSU and San Diego State were told before Thursday's game in Spokane, Wash., that the loser would have to fly home that night. The game started later than scheduled because the North Dakota State-Oklahoma game went into overtime, and then the Aggies and Aztecs went into overtime before San Diego State won.

AD: NCAA sorry for late flight

After Aggies coach Marvin Menzies and the players fulfilled their postgame interview obligations, the team, pep band and cheerleaders went back to the hotel 15 miles east of downtown Spokane and quickly packed while hotel employees prepared 70 box lunches. The Aggies arrived at the airport, which is west of downtown, at about 1 a.m. The plane departed at about 2:15 a.m. and arrived in El Paso, Texas, at around 7 a.m.Only one bus was waiting. The team and some boosters were bused to Las Cruces, N.M., while everyone else had to wait for the bus to make the 2?-hour round trip to pick them up.

"That part of it was probably the most disappointing thing for me, only because I knew that two-thirds of the plane was going to be disappointed that we'd flown all night, and now they've got to sit around for another two to three hours because at that point we didn't know very much information other than there was one bus," Boston said.The matter might not have been a big deal beyond Las Cruces if not for SDSU coach Steve Fisher, who ripped into the NCAA in his postgame news conference."I'm going to do something I never do. I'm going to plain about the NCAA process. And I hope somebody writes it," the normally genial Fisher said, mentioning that neither team wanted to go home that night if it lost.

 "For the billions of dollars that we have here for them not to find a way to a modate these kids, the student-athletes  You can't tell me they couldn't find charter planes. And that's what they told me. I shouldn't have to call the NCAA, and I did today to say, `Why?"Fisher even suggested that an NCAA administrator should have to fly home with a losing team "and see what it's like to get home at 5 in the morning. It shouldn't happen."Boston was AD at Minnesota for part of the time that Fisher was the coach at Michigan."I've got a lot of respect for Steve," Boston said. "I know he's a passionate person. When I saw it on YouTube I was impressed. He's a standup guy. Always has been."Mark Lewis, the NCAA's executive vice president of championships and alliances, said plaints were "fair and genuine, but the fact that we can even a plish something like this is an incredibly plex task and if the policies are something we need to work on, we'll work on them.

Other than the bus, everything worked the way it was supposed to

 Other than the bus, everything worked the way it was supposed to."David McCollum, NMSU's deputy AD, said he received an apology from the bus pany. He said details about the Aggies' arrival time somehow hadn't been passed along to the pany.Lewis said a number of factors affect travel, including the number of planes available and new FAA rules requiring flight crews to have 10 hours of actual rest time instead of eight. He said the NCAA is moving more than 120 men's and women's teams, "and then you don't know who's going to lose, so you don't know who's leaving and who's staying.
"Our tournaments didn't shrink and the operation of a charter flight went down because the biggest constraint on us is supply," he added. "It isn't that we had a more expensive option and didn't use it, we didn't have other options to use. We are buying or renting every possible resource we can get access to."

As far as policy changes,Urumqi travel "Do we want to go to a policy that no team goes home if the game doesn't end by 2 o'clock or something?" he said. "The counterbalance to that is you're missing class time because you're not getting home the day you played. The policies and procedures aren't decided by our national office, they're made by the membership."
"It's disgraceful," said Fisher, who hired Menzies as part of his original staff at SDSU in 1999. New Mexico State athletic director McKinley Boston says the NCAA has apologized for making the Aggies fly home immediately after their second-round tournament loss and inadequate bus transportation from the airport.Xinjiang Intencive tour NMSU and San Diego State were told before Thursday's game in Spokane that the loser would have to fly home that night.

After the game, SDSU coach Steve Fisher called the policy "disgraceful" and added: "For the billions of dollars that we have here, for them not to find a way to a modate these kids, the student-athletes you can't tell me they couldn't find charter planes."When the Aggies arrived in El Paso, Texas, only one bus was at the airport to meet them. The bus had to make two trips to get everyone to the campus in Las Cruces.

Hackers Win Trip to Dubai at MashHacks: Travel

 Ten teams gathered March 22 with hopes of winning a trip to Dubai at MashHacks: Travel presented by Emirates. The hackathon challenged contestants to create innovative travel apps that would revolutionize travel by making it more easy, accessible and fun.Team Breeze Max McClaskie, Praveen Aravamudham and Frank Malsbenden was deemed the winner by our panel of judges. Their app allowed users to find quiet areas in airports by pulling data from Twitter's API. It also allows users to find information on available power outlets in the airport. Lastly, Breeze texts flight status information to a traveler's designated contact based on data pulled from a flight tracker API.Breeze was inspired by the frustration of finding a quiet place to work at the airport.

"We travel frequently as a part of our jobs, and sometimes we want to just find a quiet spot to relax and get some work done while waiting to board the aircraft," says McClaskie of Breeze. "We wanted to e up with an algorithm to identify quiet spots without paying to sit in a lounge. In addition to that, when we land, we wanted the person who is picking us up to be kept up to date, allowing them to be at the exit on time and in the correct location. By creating something that automated this entire process, we allow the traveling experience to be much less stressful, and a better experience for all."As the winners, creators of Breeze each received a round-trip ticket on Emirates from Boston to Dubai. Second and third place winners received $750 and $500 cash prizes, respectively.

The judging panel included Christina Warren, Mashable's senior tech analyst; Alex Mozdzanowska, director of research at Hopper a Boston travel startup; Vinayak Ranade, former directer of engineering at KAYAK Mobile and Eric Ahlgren, senior associate at Bessemer Venture Partners. The judges each represented a different perspective when evaluating the apps, which led to a lively debate to settle on the winners.Teams came up with truly innovative ideas. Apps ranged from FlyBeacon, a beacon luggage tracker app that alerts you of your bag's location and your position in the airport, to Playover, an app that searches for long layovers which allows travelers to explore additional cities.

The day's work ahead is tough and low-paid

MEXICALI, Mexico Norma Cortez, 59, a farmworker for 35 years, limps into her simple kitchen at 12:30 a.m. to make a cup of coffee. She is getting ready for work after only a few hours of sleep, a routine she does five to six days a week through the six-month winter vegetable harvest. She is one of tens of thousands who work the rich agricultural fields of Yuma, Ariz., packaging heads of lettuce for shipment across the United States for such brands as Dole Foods, Church Brothers and Tanimura & Antle. The work is tedious and rough she still feels yesterday's eight-hour shift in her swollen hands and aching back as she prepares bag lunches for her and her husband Roberto, 60, then washes the dishes from last night's meal.

The day's work ahead is tough and low-paid, but the worst part is the mute. From Mexicali, just south of the California border,Urumqi travel the morning trip to the Arizona fields typically takes seven hours, including a mind-numbing wait to cross the border, plus two more hours ing home. "The life of a farm worker is hard enough," Norma says, "but the waiting time to get to work is worse."California's Imperial Valley and neighboring Yuma County in Arizona provide 90 percent of the winter vegetables consumed in the United States — from lettuce and spinach to broccoli and cauliflower. Only a handful of the harvesters, farmworker advocates say, are hired by means of guest worker visas. The vast majority, like the Cortezes, are so-called "alien muters" they have green cards granting residency in the United States, but because they make poverty wages or have undocumented family members, they live in Mexico.

The rest of the extended Cortez family are still asleep when Roberto emerges from the darkened hallway. Outside, a cab waits on the pitch-black street.Xinjiang Intencive tour The quick ride to the border costs 20 pesos, about $1.50, and the pair spend it leaning against each other with their eyes closed. When they arrive at the Calexico port of entry this February morning at 1 a.m., the scene is bedlam.Once in line, you stay put. If you step out, you lose your place. There are no toilets.Some 1,000 people have already lined up to cross the border for work in the fields, and soon another 8,000 to 10,000 join the line behind them.

Once in line, you stay put. If you step out, you lose your place

 At the height of the morning rush, at 4:30 a.m., the line extends through an underground tunnel lined with vendors selling burritos, sandwiches and soda, and back out onto the city streets. As people inch their way closer to the port of entry, the line grows more densely packed, swelling at points to 15 people wide. People are jammed shoulder to shoulder, some shouting and shoving. Farm workers say fights break out regularly; there are no security personnel to keep the peace.
Once in line, you stay put. If you step out, you lose your place. There are no toilets. So before entering the crush, people often relieve themselves right there, at the entrance to the tunnel. The whole area reeks of urine. And this is how it goes for three to four hours as the line slowly heaves to the Customs agents up front. Norma describes it as "a stampede."

Froilan Medina, a former farm worker turned advocate, says that as the line b es congested, women are frequently groped. One farm worker, Monica, 29, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said she is often fondled in the crush of people. "The lines are so packed it's hard to see who's doing the touching to be able to do anything about it," she says. "Sometimes we don't even want to e to work because we know it's going to happen. But we don't have a choice."When the Cortezes reach the checkpoint, there are only two U.S. agents inspecting IDs. There is a smaller port of entry, Calexico East, seven miles away, but no growers pick up workers there. Another port of entry, some 50 miles east at San Luis, Ariz., has similar hordes each morning. So there's no escape from these lines for Mexico's army of farm workers hoping to make it to the fields on time. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for ment."It doesn't stop," Norma says. "I have to work, then I have to take care of my family, then I have to do it all over again."
Norma and Roberto are both green card holders and could live and work in the United States. But they say living in Mexico is the only way to support their family on farmworker pay. Their two daughters stay home taking care of infant children; both could work in Mexicali, but low pay and long hours in addition to expenses for childcare would put them at a deficit.

Thailand travel agency gives children new smiles

One of the biggest boons to snagging cheaper airfare has been the Internet. If you have the patience to search, there are hundreds of websites and sneaky ways to find affordable flights." I will look it up on all the different sites in Australia,Xinjiang travel agency America or England, and the prices will be different," says Liz Carlson , travel blogger behind Young Adventuress. "Always double-check a flight on foreign versions of airline websites sites."To celebrate its 20th anniversary, on March 20, 2014 a Thailand-based travel agency gave new smiles to 20 children through Operation Smile Thailand. Khiri Travel Group 0and partners donated 500,000 baht US$16,000 to fund the 20 operations for children who suffer from facial deformities such as cleft lip or cleft palate, which often leads to stigma and social exclusion, sometimes even death.

The travel agency took the lead role in the fundraising effort which also saw generous donations from: Asia Transpacific Journeys USA, Club Travel NL, Erlebe Fernreisen DE, Jalan BE, Greig Smith Travels UK, NRV Holiday NL, Red Lantern Journeys USA, Rickshaw Travel UK, Riksja Travel/Rickshaw Travel Network NL, Sawadee Reizen NL, Take Off Erlebnisreisen DE, and Younique Travel NL.In February, six staff volunteered to join an Operation Smile mission to Surin in Northeast Thailand to support the medical team,Xinjiang China Tours and last year, management met Dr. William P. Magee Jr., who together with his wife Kathleen founded Operation Smile in 1982. The meeting further inspired Khiri's involvement with Operation Smile.

Said Niemeijer: "The work of Operation Smile Thailand is incredibly uplifting. Just look at the smiles on the faces of children and their families after the operation. This is a great way to give back to the country where the Khiri story began 20 years ago. We look forward to continue supporting the work of Operation Smile by fund-raising, volunteering and donating," he said. "It's part of our firm mitment to the triple bottom line."Khiri Travel's involvement with Operation Smile is an extension of the work of its charitable arm, Khiri Reach, which supports people and planet projects in and around the Greater Mekong Region.

A food-lover's tour of Washington's Chuckanut Drive

 Khiri Reach will soon add projects in Indonesia, the latest destination of Khiri Travel.Khiri Travel support for Operation Smile Thailand is ongoing. Interested travel partners can still donate. Visit khiri  or Khirireach.org.
 With the help of Kevin and Therese Beauvais and the rest of the team of Operation Smile Thailand, the campaign to offer 20 children a life-changing future became a reality.ALONG CHUCKANUT DRIVE It was the perfect impromptu picnic as my wife and I sat, bundled in winter coats, looking out over a log-strewn beach at Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham. We ate fresh goat cheese from a farm down the road, slathered atop sour-cherry lemon bread from Breadfarm bakery in Edison.

May I just say, ahem: "Yum."It was a pairing we'd chosen on a whim in a couple of quick stops along our drive, but apparently we weren't the first."That's a match made in heaven," said Suzie Clark, working the counter at Breadfarm.
"That's what everybody does!" we heard when we met up at Bellingham Farmers Market with Debbie Matyas, a farmhand and cheesemonger from Gothberg Farms in Bow, where we'd bought the fresh chevre at a serve-yourself, leave-money-in-the-box stand.It was a tasty mouthful to moan over — pleasurably — and the view was sweet, too: gnarled madrona trees hanging over sandstone banks carved like filigree art by wind and tide. Across the water rose the whale's-back hump of Lummi Island.

Chuckanut Drive, the 21-mile highway built in 1896 to link Bellingham to the Skagit Valley, meanders steep hillsides overlooking all this, and it's worth a day-trip drive just for the scenery. Add stops at farms, bakeries and cafes along the way or a short detour off the highway and it's a food-lover's tour-de-force.Here are some suggested stops, traveling from the south.We stopped for goat cheese at Gothberg Farms, 15203 Sunset Road, Bow. Besides the fresh chevre, available only during milking months, temptations included Gruyere, chic choc cheddar with chicory and chocolate, Gouda, dill and garlic, or Matyas' favorite, Welsh-style Caerphilly "It's made like a cheddar and brined like a Gouda and gets really soft and creamy with a buttery finish".

And well, we were right.Just kidding

A friend and I booked it thinking that there were a bunch of naked gay boys running up and down the hallway. And well, we were right.Just kidding. But there were a bunch of nice gay boys unfortunately not naked.Hostels offer a much different experience than hotels or rentals. Firstly, you sleep in a dorm-style setting with several sets of bunk beds in the rooms, with lockers to hold your bags. Rooms are shared with strangers—from around the world—but can offer an unprecedented means of meeting people that you would otherwise not have an opportunity to meet. Secondly, bathrooms are typically shared and showers are munal. If you're pee-shy, naked shower-shy, getting dressed-shy, this may not be the option for you. You've got to totally be okay with random nakedness!

Pricing for a hostel stay can typically run from about $10 per person, per day, for a bed in a dorm-style room. Prices could go anywhere north to about $50 or $60 per person, per day, depending on the quality. Prices may include breakfast, wi-fi, and basic amenities.The hostel option works for the avid backpacker,Self-drive to China budget-conscious traveler, solo-traveler, or those just looking for new friends and a new experience. In my last hostel experience, I met many new friends and one that I still keep in contact with!PROS: Hostels are super cheap so it frees up funds for other fun excursions on your trip. It's also a great way to meet people. And did I mention, it's a great excuse to get naked in front of strangers? And vice versa.

CONS: Some of the super inexpensive hostels might not be as clean as one would like. Sleeping in a room of strangers can be tough if you have trust issues. Getting naked in front of strangers might be horrifying for many. Some hostels may provide towels for a fee, but it's good practice to have your own.From hotels to rentals and hostels,urumqi tour I hope this helps your search for a place to stay when you travel.Feel free to drop me a line if you have any other questions about seeing the world.Today we drove about an hour north of Beijing to a village called Mutianyu to visit a section of the Great Wall of China, which was simply breathtaking. The scenery on the way there was beautiful – a wide vista of mountains and trees – so the car ride alone was a treat.

But then, running along the highest ridges of the mountains

 But then, running along the highest ridges of the mountains, you see it: The Great Wall – one of the great marvels of human history.In its entirety, the Great Wall stretches from east to west across more than 13,000 miles of Chinese countryside that's about four times the length of the entire United States from Maine to Oregon!.It is not a single, uninterrupted wall, but rather a series of smaller walls which sometimes overlap and run parallel to each other.Certain sections of the Wall date back as far as the seventh century B.C., but the majority of the Great Wall we know today including the section at Mutianyu was built between the 1300s and the 1600s.

To get to the Wall, we rode a cable car up a mountain and we later rode back down on a long slide.  The section we visited is one of the more popular parts of the Wall for tourists, and it's easy to see why.  At Mutianyu, the Wall is roughly 20 to 25 feet tall and full of stairs, and there's a watchtower every 100 yards or so. Those watchtowers serve as a reminder of why the Wall was built in the first place to defend against attacks from armies descending from the north. Throughout its history, the Great Wall has gone through decades, even centuries, of ruin and disrepair.  But it has always served as not only a physical barrier, but a psychological one to intimidate potential invaders.

During our visit to the Wall, I couldn't stop thinking about what a massive undertaking it must have been to build it. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and peasants were given the dangerous, painstaking – and often fatal – task of carrying ton after ton of granite, brick, dirt, and wood through the forests, up over the hills, and down through the valleys to create this incredible structure. They did this year after year, decade after decade – and it's because of their hard work and sacrifice that the Great Wall remains standing today.During her trip to China, First Lady Michelle Obama said an odd thing to the children of that country who the government allowed to visit with her.During her visit to China, first lady Michelle Obama pointed out that the ability to travel outside of the United States was "rare" but that she chose China for a reason.

Your travel agent may offer an insurance on that in a moment

Also, if you have insurance that would cover a medical emergency or medical evacuation, you may not need a policy. IF YOUR TRIP INCLUDES COMPONENTS THAT AREN'T COVERED BY INSURANCE. For example, say you're staying at a friend's house, using a flight voucher, or redeeming frequent flier miles for your vacation. Travel insurance would probably be minimally useful. Some travel insurance policies may cover the cost of redepositing miles when you need to cancel for a covered reason.silk road travel IF YOU HAVE A PREEXISTING MED- ICAL CONDITION THAT WOULDN'T BE COVERED. Read your policy carefully; some travel insurance policies do cover existing medical conditions when certain requirements are met. Normally, preexisting conditions that are controlled are covered if the policy is purchased within a certain time following initial deposit and payment of your trip. IF COVERAGE WOULD BE REDUNDANT.For example,Cheap china tour package if your credit card or other insurance would cover the same event then don't worry about it. Note that some cards won't cover items like medical evacuations, so if that's important, then think about insurance. Most credit cards do not cover medical expenses, and almost no credit card covers for cancellation and interruption.How do I find a travel insurance policy? An online search for "travel insurance" is likely to pull up a long and confusing list of travel insurance choices, but there are really just three options. BUY DIRECT. Companies sell insurance policies directly to travelers, usually online. The big players are Allianz, CSA, and Travel Guard. A full list of other insurance panies worth checking out is on the U.S. Travel Insurance Association's website.BUY THROUGH YOUR TRAVEL COMPANY. Many travel panies, including airlines, cruise lines, and tour operators, offer optional insurance directly to consumers. These can be a good deal, but it's worth shopping around before deciding to buy one of these policies. Also, be careful of tour operators or cruise lines that offer generic protection services. They won't cover you if the pany goes belly-up.BUY THROUGH A TRAVEL AGENT OR THIRD PARTY. Your travel agent may offer an insurance on that in a moment. policy.

When should I buy insurance?

More in that in a moment. You might also consult an online pany that specializes in - paring and evaluating insurance policies, such as Squaremouth, Travel Insurance Review, Trip Insurance Store, and InsureMyTrip . These can be useful resources for quickly finding the best travel insurance policy for your circumstances.Travel insurance is extremely petitive, and by checking with multiple sources, you won't just find better terms or prices, but also avoid buying a potentially useless policy.How much should I pay for travel insurance?We've already talked about situations that call for travel insurance and ??where to find it, but how do you know if you're getting a good deal? There's no authoritative buyer's guide that can tell you whether you're looking at a bargain or a rip-off. That's because no two travel insurance policies are exactly the same. They vary according to your age, state of residence, and types of coverage.Travel insurance typically costs between 4 and 8 percent of your trip's prepaid, nonrefundable cost. However, a cancel for any reason policy can run you 10 percent of the nonrefundable cost, or even slightly more. Your policy may be more expensive if you're older or engaging in a risky activity that makes a claim more likely. A word of warning: If the policy is less than 4 percent of the cost of your vacation, that should raise red flags. Too-good to be true trip "protection" policies have cost travelers millions and perhaps tens of millions in unpaid claims. If it's really travel insurance, it will be underwritten by a reputable insurer. At the same time, policies that cost significantly more than 10 percent of your trip's prepaid, nonrefundable cost may also be a cause for concern. Read the terms very carefully, and make sure there's a good reason why you're paying that much for your insurance. One way to check if your insurer is legit is to find out if it belongs to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association. Its site lists every member.You can get travel insurance up until the day before you travel from some travel insurance panies, but the sooner you buy your policy, the better. Why? Well, let's say your airline declares bankruptcy between the time you book your vacation and your departure date.