Want Reassurance? Get Travel Insurance!

Travel insurance, when you have it, you don't need it and when you don't have it, you need it. It's always better to be safe than sorry especially when setting out on a long backpacking trip. In my experiences, I haven't needed to make a claim but I have seen the alternative when something goes wrong out of nowhere and people wished they had it.

Things To Consider

Duration - Not all travel insurance providers cover long trips beyond a month so the first step is finding a company that will cover your entire time away as well the countries you want to visit.

Price - We're always looking for the best deals but in this case cheaper does not always mean the best for us as the policy may not cover the things you need or the full value of the items you want to cover.

Activities - What activities will you be doing? Check your policy thoroughly as buying the cheapest, most basic insurance may not cover you for all the things you want to do and you'll have to pay extra for certain things which are specific to the;

• Type of activity - common activities such as swimming in a pool are usually covered but not all policies may cover open swimming

• Location e.g.  A basic policy may cover you for trekking up to 3000m altitude, however if you are trekking beyond this then you have to pay extra for higher altitudes which not all policies offer

• Different levels within an activity e.g. scuba diving up to 30m may be covered, but scuba diving beyond 30m will not.

Special circumstances - Not all insurance companies will cover issues as a result of natural disasters, events such as the Covid pandemic or if you travel to a country your home country advises against.

Options to extend - Your policy usually begins before you leave your home country and sometimes when planning a backpacking trip you don't know how long you're going to be away for. If you think there's a chance you're going to be away for longer than expected check beforehand if your insurance provider allows you to extend your policy once you're already on your trip.

Insurance Providers

Here's a few insurance providers I have used for backpacking trips. Unfortunately (well actually very fortunately) I've never had to make a claim so I cannot vouch for their customer service when you do have to get in touch, so this is just based off of the policies themselves and the few interactions I had with them when discussing my options.

Holidaysafe

On the cheaper end of travel insurance you have Holidaysafe who provide very basic cover, usually with a lower value for items and less variety in the types of activities. So if you're a no thrills traveller or someone who just wants travel insurance for the sake of saying they have it, this is probably the option for you. When getting an online quote from their website you'll quickly discover how little they cover as you constantly tweak your answers to their questions until they even give you a quote.

Allianz

On the other side of insurance prices you have Allianz who for high prices, only offer coverage for up to 6 months in 3 countries. Not the best if you're planning on visiting more places than that and for longer, they're also considerably more expensive and although they cover quite a few activities, for the sake of buying travel insurance from a recognisable company, don't bother with them.

World Nomads

In my opinion, the best backpacking travel insurance provider has to be World Nomads who are literally made for this. They cover SO many activities and when taking out your policy you can type in or scroll through the different activities and it will clearly show you what's covered and what's not. They cover long trips up to a year but allow you to extend your policy once you are already travelling or even take out a new one before your existing one expires (this is true for UK residents but check their exemptions and you can check the allowance for different countries of residence on their website).

Do you plan on breaking a bone? The airline losing your luggage? A volcanic eruption delaying your flight? NO! Have no ragerts with travel insurance.