Compare prices for your specific trip and situation here:
▶ SafetyWing insurance (best value):
▶ PassportCard Nomads insurance (easiest claims process):
▶ World Nomads insurance (extreme sports coverage):
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to check out our monthly vacation travel special.
Travel insurance should be non-negotiable when traveling overseas.
The problem is, not all policies are created equal, and you need to know what you’re buying and exactly what’s covered to avoid getting left out to dry.
Figuring this stuff out isn’t exactly fun.
When you’re pumped about planning your Inca Trail trek to Macchu Picchu, the last thing you want to do is waste hours scouring through the fine print of all the best travel insurance plans.
Well, today I’m gonna make your life easier.
I’ll show you exactly what to look for in a policy to avoid unpleasant surprises if something goes wrong on the road.
Whether you looking for the best digital nomad insurance, best backpacking insurance, health insurance abroad for a quick vacation, or simply cheap travel insurance to cover emergencies, this guide will help you quickly make sure a plan covers what you need.
⚠️Check out our full Travel Safety playlist jam-packed with international travel insurance reviews, buying tips, and other super important travel safety info: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEJ4Ihvzba-Txg_s38evKlBjF9ZtxEIBz
***For even more travel hacks and ways to travel cheap, this free download shows 15 tricks travel experts use to slash their costs:
*This video was sponsored by #SafetyWing, but all opinions are my own.
___
🔴M O R E C O O L V I D E O S 😎 :
▶ 5 TRAVEL SAFETY TIPS you’re probably forgetting (YIKES!): https://youtu.be/Ougzdtm2Gtk
▶ What’s the BEST travel insurance plan? (SafetyWing VS World Nomads VS PassportCard Nomads): https://youtu.be/7ooTbMtXN84
▶ Don’t make these AIRPORT MISTAKES unless you like headaches: https://youtu.be/YSh8ZpDLrW0
▶ FLIGHT CANCELLED or DELAYED? Don’t get screwed! https://youtu.be/py0L_GmPMnk
▶ SNEAKY Tips for Packing a Free Personal Item Backpacks: https://youtu.be/arPv33f2bU0
___
🟢T O P R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S :
→ BEST TRAVEL PLANNING RESOURCES: Here’s everything you need to plan your trip—from cheap flights, to accommodation, to packing lists, and more:
→ FREE ACCOMMODATION: Stay for free in awesome houses around the world by agreeing to look after the owner’s pets:
→ CHEAP TRAVEL INSURANCE: My new favorite travel insurance that saved me over $15,000 after a motorcycle accident in Thailand (if you’re currently traveling without insurance, get yourself protected ASAP):
___
🔵A W E S O M E R E S O U R C E S :
117 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY TRAVELING:
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT TRAVEL JOB FOR YOU (FREE WORKBOOK):
EARN YOUR FIRST $1K FREELANCING (FREE COURSE):
___
🟡S U B S C R I B E
▶ WANT TO FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY AND LEARN WHAT LIFE IS REALLY LIKE TRAVELING FULL TIME AND WORKING ONLINE?
Hit the SUBSCRIBE button and the notification bell on this page so you don’t miss any new Project Untethered videos (This really helps us a lot, so thanks in advance! 🙌):
___
🟣A L I T T L E A B O U T U S
Heyo! Mitch and Day here 👋🏼
We’re just your typical American-Colombian couple determined to live every second of our precious time here on earth to the fullest. After a 10-month solo backpacking trip through South America, I (Mitch) stopped in Cali, Colombia to take salsa dancing classes 💃🏻. I only planned to stay for a couple weeks, but God had other plans for me. I met a cute Colombian girl (Day) in class, those couple weeks turned into a couple years, and before we knew it…we were married 👰🏻🤵🏼
Now we’re traveling the world full time as digital nomads, supporting ourselves by working online 👨💻👩💻
Our goal with these videos is to inspire you to step outside your comfort zone, give you an inside peek at our crazy imperfect lives, and show you that you don’t have to be rich to live an extraordinary life…all you need to do is make the choice!
___
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links I may receive a small commission (at no additional charge to you!). I believe in and have experience with everything I recommend. Thank you for supporting ProjectUntethered.com so I can continue to provide you with free content each week!
All right so for this little research Experiment we're going to use safety Wings policies in fine print for two Different reasons first because they're Sponsoring this video thank you very Much and second because they're the Company that I have most personal Experience with they're the travel Insurance company that covered me when I Had my motorcycle accident in Thailand You can watch more about that here and If you're interested in how safety Wing Stacks up against other popular travel Insurance companies I have a whole other Video about that here [Music] So the first thing to do before buying Any travel insurance policy is to hunt Down the PDF that has all of the policy Information some companies make this Harder to do than others but on safety Wing it's pretty easy you just go down Here Click on benefits and read full policy And that'll bring up this PDF this huge 37-page document looks a little bit Intimidating but I'm going to show you How to tackle it as fast as possible Some of the information you'll be able To find on a travel insurance company's Website just by poking around but I like Just going straight to the source with This document because normally it has Everything that I need to look for so I
Don't have to hunt around on a website Please note that everything I'm about to Show you may be subject to change in the Future and so make sure to double check Before buying anything so once you have This document open step two is to check The coverage limits and deductibles and That's pretty easy to do normally you Can just scroll down to wherever you see A bunch of boxes once you get to the Boxes here we have it so for safety Wing If you're under 64 and under it's 250 000 and the deductible is 250 dollars Per certificate period and this word Certificate period is important here and We'll get to that in a second for those Of you new to the insurance world the 250 000 is the maximum amount that they Will cover you and the deductible means That's just how much you have to pay out Of pocket before the insurance kicks in Some companies like safety Wing keep it Simple and they just give you one option For these but you might find that other Companies allow you to jump to adjust What your maximum coverage is and adjust What your deductibles are and that will Affect your premium costs or the cost That you pay for coverage keep in mind That as a traveler the cost for medical Care varies greatly depending on what Country you're in and so if you're Traveling to say Thailand you may not Need as much coverage as if you're
Traveling to the US for example alrighty So back to this certificate period word Here and this is important because some Other travel insurances make you pay a Deductible for every single event or Claim that you make whereas here with Safety Wing you just have to pay one Deductible for the entire certificate Period and that can be up to a maximum Of 364 days total if you're interested In playing with a zero deductible that's Offered by some other travel insurance Companies normally that will make your Premium cost higher and so it's all a Trade-off I personally like using a Deductible to lower the cost of my Premiums when I'm traveling because for Me I'm not really worried about paying 250 out of pocket for an accident that I Have what I'm worried about is having to Pay 250 000 for a huge accident that Might happen step three is to study the Exclusions before you buy anything you Want to know exactly what isn't covered To avoid sifting through this giant Document to find what you're looking for You have two options first you can just Look at the table of contents and you See here it says general exclusions go Down to page 30 or what I like to do is Just do command F or Ctrl F depending on What computer you're using and just Search for exclusions it will show you All well I'm going to move this
Exclusions [Music] And it'll show you all the times in the Document where it says that word so we Can start scanning down through here Until we get to the section that we need And for adventure Travelers one of the Sections that's super important is this Sports and activities section that talks About the exclusions if you're planning On doing any extreme sports or anything That you might consider as risky just Make sure that it's not included on the List for example here's the list for Safety Wing you can go through and see And so if you want to travel to Spain For example to run with the bulls don't Come crying to your travel insurance Company if you get ragdolled now there Are some other travel insurance Companies that offer extra add-ons for Extreme sports if you are planning on Doing some of these activities hopefully In the future safety Wing is able to add These on as well fingers crossed we'll See what happens but I'd say for 90 of The Travelers who aren't super extreme Sports people safety win covers most of What you need to do it's also important To note that some travel insurance Companies make it weirdly hard to find These exclusions and I just want to give You one example when I was searching on Cigna Global which is another popular
Insurance company it says for example Here Um these do not contain the exclusions Blah blah that you should refer to the Customer guide for full details but Literally nowhere on the site at least From my search could I find the customer Guide they don't have this linked here Like they should and so I literally had To Google it to find the exclusion so Some insurance companies make it more Difficult than other others to find the Information that you're looking for all Right so back to the fine print your Next step is to check what it says about Pre-existing conditions if you have Pre-existing conditions that you're Worried about being covered so I'm gonna Scroll back to the top control F I'm Going to type in existing and look here We got a definition of pre-existing Conditions because every travel Insurance is just a little bit different And you want to read the specific Language that they have to make sure Whatever you need covered is covered and So I can just scroll down here To has the definition here and then if I Keep scrolling down You know say here what the limits are For what's covered for pre-existing Conditions and here it gives a longer Description that you can read that Defines exactly what a pre-existing
Condition is and what's current and What's not step number five before Buying travel insurance is to check out The claims process for that travel Insurance you don't have to memorize it Exactly but it's a good idea to have a General idea of what to expect for Example while safety Wing is one of the Most affordable travel insurances out There their claims process is a little Bit lengthier than other options this is Actually information that I couldn't Find in this fine print document and I'll show you a trick that I use to Quickly find the information at the end When you're looking into the claims Process one important thing you want to Look for is if they have the ability to Do direct pay with the hospitals and That's basically where they make an Agreement with the hospital before you Get coverage that the insurance will pay The hospital directly so that you don't Have to pay out of pocket and then claim For Christmas this is what I was able to Do for my surgeries that I had in Thailand and it made life much easier The next step if you want to be super Careful is to just do a quick scan Through of everything I would say it's My horror mejor Obviously it's better if you actually Read the whole thing but some areas may Not apply to you and so you can just do
A quick scan through to make sure Nothing sticks out to you I went through This safe doing policy and nothing big Stuck out to me but I'll give you an Example of a different policy where I Found some things that looked Interesting for example with another Insurance company called passport card Nomads which I compared safety Wing to In that comparison video they have a Couple of different interesting Clauses Here in the fine print one is if you buy Their laptop coverage but you actually Use a tablet and a keyboard as your Laptop this exclusion may be especially Interesting and another thing that I Found that was interesting was this Exclusion and it's a big one for the Millions of people who rent motorbikes Around the world or in Thailand or Whatever and they don't have a motorbike Permit or they don't have an International driver's license this Would be important to know before buying Your insurance and doing those things The next super important step especially For longer term Travelers and Nomads is To figure out what the exact definition Of Home Country is for that insurance For example here we see on safe doing it Says we cover people all over the world While outside their home country but we Have to figure out what exactly does Home Country mean because for example I
Had a situation one time where I was Living in Colombia for years and so I Considered that my home country and I Set that as my home country and doing so I thought that means I would be covered If I stopped over in the U.S but it Turns out in this case the insurance Company defined home country as your Country of citizenship and so it would Have been a huge problem because it Actually wasn't covered in the US so That's just something you want to be Clear before you sign up for anything This Home Country information can also Be a little bit tricky to find with some Travel insurances which brings me to my Very last tip and that is to use these Handy dandy chat boxes down in the Corner or their email addresses or Whatever and just ask any questions or Doubts that you have before buying with These chats chat boxes they usually Answer in just a couple minutes and so It's super convenient this is how I Found out the information about the Claims process and also the home Countries and so you can get all your Information straightened out super fast And also you can save these Conversations for later in case you need Any proof for anything guys this Insurance help video took quite a bit of Time and research to put together and as You can imagine that's not the most fun
Activity and not how I like to spend my Saturdays and so if you want to say Thanks for the information you can use The links in the description to check Out different quotes and prices for the Top travel insurance companies that way If you buy any of them I will earn a Small commission and no extra charge to You and for more tips and tricks for Buying travel insurance and staying safe On the road check out our full playlist On travel safety I'll see you in the Next one