Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - In addition to helping the less fortunate of our area, the International Friendship Club (IFC) offers many advantages to its members; from social activities, to great classes, to restaurant discounts. Another important offering is the Travel Assist Network Air Rescue insurance that offers medical evacuation from anywhere in the world.

You may have considered this in the past but thought "it will never happen to me." Fortunately my husband is a little bit the other way - he ALWAYS thinks it's going to happen to him. If you know Dennis you might be chuckling right about now.

Because of this frame of mind, we were fortunate enough to have a medical evacuation policy when traveling in France two years ago.

While in France, Dennis was stricken with a viral condition that they at first thought might be a stroke. He was hospitalized for 4 days and we missed our flight home. The doctor said that he had to be reclining, which at the time required that we be in first class. The tickets for the two of us cost over $13,000 - the medical evacuation policy paid for the flight and made all the arrangements.

When the IFC first decided to offer the Travel Assist Network to our members we took a look. The policy offers a number of features that ours did not - such as various lengths of time you can be away from home before you would need to return home and start a new period. For example: you buy the coverage for a year but ours only allowed us to be away from home for 90 days before coverage for that trip would expire.

The Travel Assist policy has a variety of options based on how long you spend in Mexico or on any one trip. According to the company most IFC members have opted for 180 days per trip with unlimited annual trips.

When the IFC first offered the program, the discounts were based on how many members signed up. Now they have enough participants that members get the maximum discount of 40% off the listed price. Based on what we have been paying this is an excellent value. Depending on your selection the cost in most cases with the IFC discount is less then $150 per year.

On December 5th at 2 pm, a representative from Travel Assist Network will be in Puerto Vallarta and will give a presentation at the IFC Clubhouse. If you are unable to attend you can look on the IFC website under preferred merchants or go directly to the Travel Assist website. You can also call them at (866) 500-0333.

Be sure and tell them you are a member of the IFC. If you are not a member, this might be your best reason yet to consider joining this worthwhile organization.