7 Tips for Insuring a Round-the-World Trip

It’s the ultimate dream for travelers of all ages – circling the globe, stopping where your heart feels at home and picking up for new places when you get the urge. A round-the-world trip is great for travelers who have the time, the money (or the ability to make it on the road), and the desire – it’s also for those travelers who just plain can’t make up their minds.

There are many websites that will tell you how to plan a round-the-world trip, others that will tell you how to save a boatload of money traveling around the world, and others that will tell you what they learned from traveling around the world. Of course, we’re interested in helping you insure that trip.

Essentially, there are two types of travel insurance plan: a package plan with cancellation and a travel medical plan without. Typically, a round-the-world traveler doesn’t worry about cancellation and a travel medical plan will often have trip interruption coverage if you have to return home to handle an emergency. The most expensive part of a typical travel insurance plan is covering the cancellation bit, so if that’s out of the way, you can get coverage for your trip quite economically.

1. Start with how long you’ll be gone

Determine how long your trip will take. We’ve heard that you can scream around the world in just ten days, but we’re betting that’s not the kind of trip you’re thinking of taking. The maximum duration of a RTW air ticket is one year – twelve months – but of course, you may take your trip in just a few months or even longer than a year.

Travel medical insurance plans come in three basic durations:

• Single trip – coverage for a single trip, that is no visits home, and for up to six months
• Multi-trip – coverage for multiple trips that is purchased in increments
• Long-term medical – continuous medical coverage for the long-term traveler

Some of these plans can be renewed when they end and others cannot, so it’s important to determine how long you’ll be gone so you can choose. If you’ll be gone a long time – at least a year – look into an annual travel insurance plan for the most comprehensive coverage in an economical package.

2. Determine whether you’ll have access to medical care

Round-the-world travelers are less concerned about having to cancel their trips than travelers with less flexibility in their schedule but medical risks are true anywhere you go.

The U.S. State Department’s country-specific web pages can tell you about the availability and quality of care you can expect where you’re traveling. You’ll know if medical facilities are few and far between and whether Western medicines are available as well as what to expect when it comes time to pay up.

In some countries, medical care – even medical care given to foreign visitors – is paid for upfront before it’s administered (except in emergencies). Even in countries where everyone’s medical care is paid for by the taxpaying base, the patient is expected to bear at least some of the cost and this is where having an insurance provider who will arrange payment directly to the medical facility is handy.

3. Determine your regional risk

Depending on where you’re going – i.e., a remote jungle village versus a more urban itinerary – you’ll need more or less medical and evacuation coverage. Either way, if you’re going to be far from medical care facilities, you’ll want to have a little more evacuation coverage. See how much travel medical and evacuation is enough to determine how much you’ll need.

4. Be aware that travel to some countries isn’t covered

Some travel insurance plans do not extend coverage to certain countries. In some cases, those countries are the ones identified in a current U.S. State Department travel warning or alert. Specifically, many travel insurance plans do not cover losses resulting from or caused by:

• an act of declared or undeclared war
• an incident deemed an act of terrorism by the U.S. government
• civil disorder, political unrest, and riots

Take a look at the U.S. State Department Traveler’s information to determine whether where you are going is considered safe by your travel insurance provider. Select the country on this website and you’ll see the specific information about that country. When in doubt, call the travel insurance provider to be sure you’re covered for where you’re going.

5. Factor in adventuresome opportunities

If you like to travel on the adventurous side – do a little paragliding in Bali, a little heli-skiing in Switzerland, a little SCUBA diving in Malaysia, for example – you’ll need to look into covering those activities.

Activities that are considered more risky are often not covered by travel insurance plans. That means if you break your ankle in a bad paragliding landing, your medical care won’t be covered. If you like to mountain climb, some plans do not cover you above 15,000 feet in elevation. There are other restrictions on adventure activities too.

6. Higher baggage coverage is better

If you’re on a round-the-world trip, you may have rented or sold your home, stuffed your stuff into storage, and either way you’re carrying everything you need with you. If your bag is stolen, you could be in a world of hurt for as long as it takes to replace everything that was lost.

On a trip like this, a little higher baggage coverage is better, and remember that a travel insurance plan covers your baggage loss all along your trip – in lodgings, on buses, etc.

7. If you have a medical condition, prepare for it

If you have a medical condition – perhaps one that’s controlled by medication – it’s important to account for that when you choose your travel insurance plan. If your condition is relatively new but won’t affect your trip, review the coverage for pre-existing medical conditions to be sure you understand how it works.

If your condition has been around for a while and it’s controlled by medication, be sure you know how to replace those medicines while you’re traveling.

After all that …

Now that you’ve determined your risks, you can compare quotes from many travel insurance companies. Choose single trip or annual travel insurance and review the plans to get the best priced coverage for your trip. Be sure to read through your plan carefully to be fully confident that you’ve chosen wisely.