Travel Insurance

OK, Travel Insurance. When you’re going on holiday, the last thing you want to think about is something going wrong – to have the perfect holiday without any incidents.

Sorry to be a Debby Downer, but unfortunately, sometimes somethings do go wrong.

Even such events as now with the outbreak of coronavirus. At the turn of the year, no-one would have expected the drastic actions taken by governments all over the world to close borders.

And of course, you still have all the “normal” things to cover, such as theft, item loss or basic health services.

Lastly, I’m not your mother, and I travelled without insurance for half of my most recent trip – even stupidly on the ski-resort – so it’s kind of pots and black kettles if I was to be forceful on your decision… which is exactly what it is… it’s completely your choice and I hope the following information will help you make your own choice.

My Experience

One thing to note is that the longest journey I have completed was six months, I didn’t use it once… However…

Peace of Mind

That in mind, I was buying my travel insurance for short term activities, for example, I purchased my Wintersports insurance one month at a time. So when I was debating to stay or leave Slovakia for the entire second month I didn’t have insurance… yet I carried on skiing. I definitely felt a slight fear in that second month, and so I didn’t enjoy it as much.

And when do you expect to be standing on a frozen lake, surrounded by snowy mountains?

Time Scale Doesn't Matter

I did some serious damage to my ankle on a weekender in Ibiza. Just three days. I was drunk, dancing on a wall at a beach party and fell off – stupid huh.

I was also in Amsterdam for five days and I was pickpocketed on the first night. I was really naive back then and my wallet contained my life – my driving licence, hotel key card, bank cards and all of my cash. I would have been screwed if I had lost that.

Yeah, fortunately, I got it back because I spun the guy around by the collar and took my wallet back out of his pocket – again things could have escalated

.And of course, there are all the other “risky” activities I participated in, such as; horse riding, climbing snow-covered mountains in the night, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, driving a quad bike through the forest and many other things that I’ve forgotten!

Your Choice

If you live by the sword, you’ll eventually die by the sword.

I travel sporadically, rarely planning anything but then I often run into hiccups and have to frequently change plans or pay more than others.

Things to note:

  • Some volunteer schemes may not let you work without your own insurance.
  • Most insurance companies won’t cover you if you’re already travelling.
  • It isn’t as expensive as you would have thought.

Choosing The Right Insurance

Man oh man, travel insurance can be a pain. There is often so much small print involved. I was paying for my banking services to attain a worldwide travel cover before I discovered that it only covered me for three months after leaving the UK.

The other thing to note here is that most insurances will only insure you before you start travelling.

So I would suggest buying basic cover insurance for the entirety of your trip before leaving. I’m still looking for a reliable option, but twowanderingsoles are an interesting and helpful blog that I enjoy to read, and they use Allianz Travel Insurance.

Then, whilst you’re travelling use WorldNomads for your more niche activities, such as sporting activities.

World Nomads is the leading insurer and a favourite among digital nomads. Though with most things I try to compare prices and I have found WorldFirst to be competitive. They declined my affiliation though, so fuck ’em. They don’t get a link.

Go Adventure

First of all, thank you for reading through my post! If you found this helpful, please do share, everywhere!

As I said at the start, it really is your choice. Most blogs I’ve read are very pushy towards buying insurance and for the majority of my holidays away from the UK I have had insurance, but nothing serious has happened… then again my friends do tell me,

“you could fall into a barrel of shit, and still come out smelling of roses.”

 

*I am affiliated with WorldNomads. This means I will earn a small percentage from each sale, which helps me provide you guys with free content. It doesn’t cost anything extra to use my link.