If you read When Best Laid Plans Go Wrong you’ll remember that I included a suggestion of purchasing insurance for your trip that might help if something untoward happens.

At that point in time, the only insurer specialising in nomad travel that I was aware of was World Nomads, however I recently came across another insurer – SafetyWing – so thought I would do a side-by-side comparison of the two insurers to help you choose which would be the most suitable for you.

The Rest of the Market

Of course, there are lots of other travel and medical insurance providers, however most of them are lagging behind the times when it comes to understanding the lifestyle of long term, casual travellers such as those of us who housesit internationally on a full-time basis. Most impose limits on the number of travel days per year and want to know your detailed itinerary before you set off. But as you will know, many housesitters aren’t ‘setting off’ – we’re already out there, with no firm plans either to return or where we are going next beyond the next housesitting assignment.

I do hope that more insurers start offering nomad-friendly policies as competition is healthy both in terms of competitive pricing and more beneficial cover. But until that happens, I’m only going to write about WorldNomads and SafetyWing.

Just So You Know

To be completely upfront, I am affiliate for both providers. What does this mean? It means that, if you click on a link from this article or elsewhere on The Happy Housesitter website, and purchase insurance from either company, I will receive a small commission. Does this mean you pay more for your insurance? Absolutely not. Affiliate marketing is just another form of advertising. Rather than spending their marketing budget on TV and newspaper ads where their adverts will get shown to lots of people who aren’t nomads, the companies choose to reward people like me for recommending their products and services to people who are nomads. It’s a win:win:win – you find out about insurance you may not otherwise have heard of, they get enquiries from nomads and I get a small reward to keep Eddie in dog treats (so maybe that’s a win:win:win:win 🙂 )

Insurance Needed

The two main types of insurance cover you are going to want as someone living a nomadic lifestyle are travel insurance (covering flight delays/cancellation, your luggage etc) and health insurance (covering medical bills if you are injured or fall ill while overseas). So let’s see how these two nomad insurance providers compare.

So Which Is Best?

That all depends on what cover you want, what kind of trip you are going on and what other insurance you may have.

While at initial glance, World Nomads cover seems a lot more comprehensive, if you don’t need all those extra kinds of insurance, then SafetyWing may be the more cost-effective option.

Also consider what kind of insurance you may already have in place e.g. additional benefits from a premium bank account or credit card.

The comparison I’ve done is at a very high level. There are lots of terms and conditions to both policies (as there always are) and many of these vary depending on your age, your country of residence and your travel itinerary.

The best way to figure out which insurance provider is best for YOU, is to get a quote from both, compare not just the prices but the terms and conditions, then give them both a call with any questions you have before making your final decision.

Whichever policy you choose, I wish you Happy Travels that are eventful in only the best way!