When to Purchase Travel Insurance – Is it Worth it?

I get a lot of questions from you guys about travel insurance. Is it worth it? Some of the comments I’ve received have been: “Well I’ve never needed it before and I’ve traveled a lot!”

I’m in the same boat. I’ve never actually had to file a claim with my travel insurance, *knock on wood*. However – I am prepared in case something ever happens to me and I always get travel insurance when I travel internationally.. even if I’m just leaving for a weekend.

The travel insurance I always purchase? World Nomads. I’ve researched and between all of the top companies – World Nomads is by far the best. Lonely Planet, Eurail, Tourradar, Nomadic Matt, and more all endorse it as the best travel insurance. It’s easy to sign up and get insurance, provides really great coverage in almost all countries all over the world, provides coverage for extreme sports (even parasailing, trekking/hiking, among other things) and the monetary compensation they provide is pretty high. Click here to sign up for World Nomads.

The best part is, you can always sign up while you’re traveling already! In case you decided last minute to visit a new country you’re currently not covered for or you forgot to sign up for travel insurance before you left.. you can sign up online anytime.

Why get travel insurance?

For International Travel

Why:

• If you lose your luggage for more than 12 hours – you will be compensated.
• If your trip gets delayed or cancelled for reasons outside your control – you get compensated.
• If your luggage/bag/electronics gets stolen – THEY WILL COMPENSATE YOU.
• The cost to purchase is low. When I went to Thailand, my 3 week trip was around $85. I only paid an average of $4 per day to make sure that I would be covered.

There are a million reasons why one should be covered but even just the 4 above are reasons why I buy travel insurance from World Nomads. When I travel, I usually have a camera, phone, credit cards, laptop and more.. and now if those items get stolen abroad, I will receive upwards of $3000 to replace them with. For me it is worth the $40-100 I’ll spend for insurance covering the entire trip (including medical, evacuation, the actual traveling, and more) if I can receive so much if any emergency happens.

For Medical Coverage

I read a story about this girl traveling to Thailand, and before she left she signed up for World Nomads Travel Insurance. (The insurance we love and use for every trip) After being in Bangkok for a few days, she ventured up North and visited Chiang Mai and the remote city of Pai. She started having sharp pains and realized something was extremely wrong when she couldn’t get out of bed at her guest house. She was taken to a local hospital where they determined that her appendix had burst! They did not do surgery at this facility and had to fly her all the way back to Bangkok using a private medical charter. She then had to stay at a Bangkok hospital for over a week and have surgery abroad.

If she would have had to pay all of this out of pocket, she would have paid tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, insurance covered it. Yep – all of it.

Anything can happen to you while you are abroad, the same way things can happen to you at home. It’s better to be covered!

If You Are Planning on Partaking in Extreme/Sports/Outdoors

When I travel, I usually do something fun and adventurous. Whether it be white water rafting, skydiving, bungee jumping, trekking through jungles, or boating.. I am kind of an adrenaline junkie.

World Nomads has two options for insurance plans: the standard and the explorer.

The standard insurance plan is great because it is a little less expensive and covers a lot of outdoor activities including all sports, hiking/trekking, zip lining, white water rafting, jet skiing, skiing/snowboarding and many more.

The Explorer Plan option is for those who are doing more extreme than the average extreme sports.. including heli-skiing, shark cage diving, scuba diving deep, cliff jumping, hang gliding, hot air ballooning, skydiving, base jumping, mountaineering and many many more.

Either way.. it is SO much better to know for a fact that you will be ensured for these activities – vs. your home insurance which doesn’t cover much if any of them at all.

For Emergency/Non-Emergency Evacuation

Natural disasters/any kind of disaster can happen anywhere or at anytime. You never know what’s going to happen. Just in case, if you get insurance you can get emergency evacuation for yourself and the coverage is up to $300,000. Yes you read that right! It is way better to be safe than sorry.

Non medical emergency evacuation? Yes they have this too! In case the country you’re visiting has a political unrest or if you’re expelled from a country (I hope not) you will be covered and World Nomads will cover the cost.

If You’re Renting a Car

Many credit cards have this perk included – check to make sure!

If you’re renting a car abroad, make sure to get the Explorer plan – in case anything happens like road accidents.. World Nomads will cover up to $35,000 in damage.

If you’re Cruising

Yes! World Nomads Standard insurance covers you when you’re cruising – this can save you tons of money instead of buying overpriced cruise insurance.

When not to get insurance…

Traveling in the U.S.

This only applies if you’re a U.S. Citizen (apply this rule to your home country if you’re not from the U.S.!) but there is no real need to buy travel insurance here in the U.S. Usually you can just buy travel insurance through the airline in case of emergency or baggage loss but you should have medical coverage already here.

Summary

I hope this post helped you if you’ve been on the fence about purchasing travel insurance. I think it’s a major necessity that everyone should sign up for before traveling internationally!

Let me know in the comments below: What is your opinion on travel insurance? Have you ever purchased it before? If so, have you ever ended up filing a claim!

Sign up for insurance through World Nomads below and cover your next trip:

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xo,

Emma