Hi there, I have a 22yr old daughter who will be working in Spain for 8 months in 2023. She will also be traveling in Europe and doing some work in Germany. She plans to visit Morocco and Egypt too. After she finishes in Europe she plans to travel through all of South America and Central America. Will be a 12 to 14 month trip if all goes well.
Can anyone suggest what travel and what health insurance might be suitable for her?
Thanks in advance
If she holds a credit card with accompanying travel insurance that can often work out quite well. If not, travel and health insurance in general is a wide industry and it’s best you go research that with the insurance experts and comparison sites rather than here!
G’day @StoliSam,
Firstly, please note that we can’t give personal financial advice here, so take this as very general advice purely based on my own experiences only.
As @djtech said, credit card travel insurance can be great, but make sure you do your research into what cover it provides and where etc.
I went on a gap year in 2019, and was overseas for just over 13 months (Nov 18 - Dec 19) as a 19 year old, mainly working in Canada (for roughly 11 months) and then taking a holiday through the US and Europe. I got travel insurance from Budget Direct for the Canada part, and then bought travel insurance overseas from 1cover for the rest of the trip.
Bear in mind the following points:
Most travel insurance companies will only insure for a max of 12 months at a time - some may do up to 24 month though.
The cost of the policy varies on several things (excess, winter sports coverage etc.), but in particular, what country/region that you are travelling to - it may be more expensive to have extra regions (say, Europe and South America) together on the same policy.
Travel insurance companies generally only offer insurance for people departing Australia - not for those who start the period overseas. There are companies who do offer insurance for those starting overseas though, but usually a bit more expensive.
With all this in mind, since your daughter is going to be in Europe for probably 11 - 12 months, it might make more sense to get travel insurance for only Europe to begin with (as covering North Africa, Central America as well could increase the price), and then to look at buying travel insurance while over there, for the specific countries/regions that your daughter is looking to travel to. This just gives a bit more flexibility, which is what I was going for when I was overseas.
Of course, I have no idea of any specific needs and requirements for the insurance, just what worked for me. Would definitely recommend using a comparison website like Compare the Market or Finder to get a general idea of what each insurance company offers.
Hope this helps!
thanks all for the advice, thats what i thought. I have used 1cover successfully before as well. All good and valid points which i will pass on to her, cheers!
Be careful with credit card travel insurance. I have a high end card and the insurance is only valid for six months from departure.