I did not buy travel insurance for the first three years I travelled seriously. Nothing bad happened during that period, which I now recognise as luck rather than judgement. The year I finally bought a proper policy was the year I needed it: a motorbike accident in Southeast Asia, an emergency hospital visit, and a medical evacuation that would have cost me the equivalent of a year’s salary without coverage. The policy paid out without argument. I have not travelled uninsured since.
Why Travel Insurance Is Not Optional
The standard objection to travel insurance is that nothing is likely to go wrong. This is statistically true for any individual trip. It is irrelevant to the decision. The point of insurance is not to cover the likely; it is to protect against the catastrophic. A medical emergency in the United States without insurance can generate bills of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. A medical evacuation from a remote location — a jungle, a mountain, a small island — costs between ,000 and ,000. These are not theoretical numbers; they happen to travellers every year.
What a Good Policy Covers
A comprehensive travel insurance policy should cover, at minimum:
- Medical expenses — at least million for trips to the USA; ,000 for everywhere else
- Emergency evacuation and repatriation — this is the expensive one; make sure the limit is high
- Trip cancellation and interruption — reimbursement if you have to cancel or cut short for covered reasons
- Baggage and personal effects — replacement value for lost or stolen items
- Travel delay — accommodation and expenses if your flight is significantly delayed
- Personal liability — protection if you accidentally injure someone or damage property
What Policies Usually Exclude — Read the Small Print
Pre-existing medical conditions are the most common exclusion and the most important to understand. Most policies will not cover medical events related to a condition you had before taking out the policy, unless you declare it and pay an additional premium. Declaring is nearly always worth it — the cost of the premium uplift is almost always less than the risk of an uninsured claim.
Adventure activities are another common exclusion. Scuba diving, skiing, motorbike riding, trekking above certain altitudes — these are often excluded from standard policies and require either an adventure sports add-on or a specialist policy. If you are visiting Koh Tao for diving, or hiking in the Himalayas, check your policy carefully before you go.
Single Trip vs Annual Policy
If you travel more than twice a year, an annual multi-trip policy is almost always better value than buying individual policies for each trip. The premium is higher than a single-trip policy but considerably less than two or three individual policies, and the convenience of being permanently covered for any trip up to the policy’s maximum duration (usually 31 or 45 days per trip) is significant.
Tips for Buying the Right Policy
- Compare on a comparison site but read the policy document before buying — the cheapest option is not always the best covered.
- Check the excess (the amount you pay before the insurance kicks in) — a low premium with a high excess can be poor value for smaller claims.
- Buy your policy as soon as you book your trip, not just before you leave — trip cancellation cover only applies from the date you buy the policy.
- Keep all receipts and documentation for any potential claim — insurers require evidence.
- Save your insurer’s emergency number in your phone before you travel.
Planning an adventure trip? Our guides to Tanjung Puting and African safari destinations include destination-specific health and safety advice worth reading alongside your insurance research.
