Travel can be very costly or relatively inexpensive, depending upon your budget and tastes. On one end of the travel cost spectrum, there are those $ 100,000 tours where you stay in the finest of hotels and dine in only the best restaurants.

On the opposite side of the proverbial airplane aisle of travel rates, you can find super-cheap airplane tickets these days that allow you to travel across Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Americas for next-to-nothing. Once you arrive at your destination, you can travel light and stay in hostels, maybe even taking on odd jobs as you see fit.

Most of us, however, fall somewhere in between those two extreme ends of the travel cost spectrum. We want to have a nice trip that is not-too-costly, but we don’t want to skimp on any of the perks.

Regardless of the type of travel you like to do, you will want to buy travel insurance before leaving in order to protect yourself (and your finances) while on the open road. And, if you travel multiple times per year, you might want to consider buying annual travel insurance in order to keep costs down as much as possible.

If you are looking for cheap annual travel insurance, here are 7 tips for getting yourself the best insurance deals:

1. Determine whether you really need an annual policy:

If you travel 5-6 times per year, it may not make financial sense for you to buy an annual travel insurance policy; you could actually stand to keep your costs lower by just buying an individual policy for each trip. However, if you travel 8, 10, 12 or more times per year, you are getting into territory where it can make sense to buy an annual policy.

2. Become familiar with the types of coverage available:

Annual policies tend to offer similar types of coverage as traditional, pay-as-you-go insurance policies. Typical coverage options include medical, trip cancellation, lost baggage, incidental expenses, and even accidental death and dismemberment.

3. Decide whether you will be traveling in places normally designated as being dangerous:

You may need to buy special, high-risk insurance if your travel plans will take you to places that are deemed dangerous, either for political/war-related reasons or due to natural disasters.

4. Determine if you plan on performing any risky activities while you away:

Similarly, a high-risk plan may be in order if you plan on engaging in any risky activities such as sky diving, bungee jumping, scuba diving, mountain climbing, high diving, running with the bulls, etc.

5. Create a list of your preferred coverage options:

Now that you know something about your range of coverage options, write down each option that is of interest to you. Since you have not started getting insurance rate quotes yet, you might consider written down two lists: need-to-have and nice-to-have items. That way, you can choose later which you really need to have.

6. Create a list of at least 3-4 travel insurance companies:

Now, create for yourself a list of at least 3-4 reputable travel insurance companies.

7. Comparison shop using identical coverage lists:

Start applying. No matter how good of a deal you are offered for each quote, be sure to keep going until you have gotten quotes from each and every company on your list; you never know where the best deal will come from.

Try these 7 tips as you shop for cheap annual travel insurance.