Travel Insurance

Flight booking

Overview

The insurance industry is highly regulated and has all sorts of rules on what we can and cannot say on this site.

For example, we can’t:

  • Recommend travel insurance or make a statement that is intended to influence you to take out travel insurance. So even if we strongly believe it, we can’t say, ‘If you are traveling overseas, you should purchase travel insurance.’
  • Say we recommend a specific Travel Insurance provider, even if we’ve used and had a good experience and only partner with companies that meet our standards.
  • Compare different travel insurance providers. Doing so constitutes a form of advice. So we can’t say that we use one provider sometimes because they will insure us while traveling and another if we know we’ll return to Australia at the end of the policy cover.

So bearing in mind these rules…

Section 1 – Provides information on a few Travel Insurance providers, a list of the different types of travel insurance, and things WE look out for when choosing our insurance.

Section 2 – Links to our other posts and pages relevant to travel insurance and some stories about disasters and trouble spots on our travels.

COVID-19 really drove home how rapidly things can change in the travel insurance space. We try to keep up, but please tell us if you know of travel insurance products and services you think are superior to those mentioned. We’re always excited to learn about and test new things.

Section 1 – Travel Insurance Resources

These companies provide a range of different types of Travel Insurance. The links will take you to a page with more information provided by the company.

Cover-More  – For Australians. Single and Annual multi-trip policies. GET A QUOTE

SafetyWing – For most nationalities. Monthly premiums to reduce upfront costs. GET A QUOTE

World Nomads – For most nationalities. GET A QUOTE

Visitor’s Coverage – Partners with underwriters worldwide to provide customized travel insurance policies. GET A QUOTE

We are affiliate partners with these companies. We will receive a small fee if you use these links to obtain a quote and purchase travel insurance. Please see the full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

Single Trip policy – Covers a single trip. Many companies require you to depart and return to your country of residence.

Annual, multi-trip policy – for frequent travelers. Pay an annual premium and get coverage for multiple trips during the year.

Medical Evacuation (Medevac) Plans – focus on emergency medical evacuations, international security evacuations, and repatriation. The travel insurance company handles the coordination of these efforts and usually takes care of payments to the rescue team. Evacuations are covered up to the policy limits and only for covered reasons listed in the policy document. Allianz provides this specific type of cover.

Specialty Insurance – Many companies exclude specific activities as they are considered high-risk – for example, high-altitude mountain climbing, yacht racing, and deep-sea diving below 60m. However, some companies specialize in insuring participants in these high-risk activities. (For a price, of course.)

The relevant sporting association sometimes coordinates this type of insurance. For example:

The American Alpine Club has partnered with companies to insure its members who are climbers

DAN (Divers Alert Network) – has insurance specific for its members that cover expenses related to diving mishaps that may not be covered by regular travel insurance.

 

No trip is ever the same.

Before I renew our travel insurance I always check:

  • If our government has issued a travel alert for a destination we will visit. A ‘Do Not Travel’ designation may mean we are not covered by a travel insurance policy if we still choose to go.
  • The activities we are likely to do this as some high-risk activities may not be covered by some policies, or require an extra premium. For example, we both have our diving certificates, one year we went sailing for 4 months in open waters, and we like to hire a motorbike occasionally to tour a destination.
  • If we have developed any medical issues that should be declared as pre-existing conditions. As with high-risk activities, pre-existing conditions may be excluded or require you to pay an extra premium.
  • If we have any expensive or specialty equipment, I want to ensure is covered. For example, our bicycles and camping gear when on tour.
  • I then compare this information to the policy details (including the small print) for each travel insurance provider and THEN compare costs to find what best suits us for that trip.

What else do you consider before you buy a travel insurance policy? Let us know in the comments.

Section 2 – Relevant Posts & Pages


Disclosure: Note that some of the links and advertisements on this page lead to products from our partners. If you buy something after using those links, we may earn a small commission from the sale. However, you have our assurance that you won’t pay any more than you would by buying directly from their site. And we promise to only link to products or companies we’ve used personally, been recommended by trusted family, friends, or travel buddies, or researched thoroughly before adding them to the list. You may also see other links served to you by Google. These will display products that Google thinks you want to see. If you click on those advertisements, we also get paid a small (minuscule) amount. If you want to know more about how you help to fund our travels without costing you a cent – then CLICK THIS LINK for a more comprehensive explanation.