Is Travel Insurance A Waste Of Money? The Scary Truth

Here’s the thing.

Travel insurance is not cheap.

And what are the chances of you actually needing it, on your trip?

Isn’t it better to spend that money on something else, like more delicious food or a bucket list activity, like riding with the reindeer?

Is travel insurance a waste of money, really?

This is the scary truth about travel insurance, that will help you decide once and for all, whether it’s worth your money or not.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.

Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

Is travel insurance a waste of money?

We won’t drag this on.

Is travel insurance a waste of money, or is it something you should absolutely get for every trip?

The thing is, it depends.

Travel insurance is the same as flushing your money down the toilet, if:

• You pick the wrong provider
• You don’t actually check what you are buying

We’ll explain these two mistakes and tell you how to avoid them in a bit.

First, let us tell you why travel insurance is a must-have, rather than a waste of money.

Why is travel insurance essential?

If you are struggling to decide whether you should get travel insurance for your next trip or not, there’s someone who can help.

Math!

Did you just get full body shivers as you were instantly transported to the wooden chair that knows no comfort in your primary school?

Apologies, we didn’t mean to do that!

Turns out, once you escape the mind boggling math of your school years, it can actually be pretty useful (and not just painful).

(Speaking generally here, of course. Some of you might be wild scientists or math aficionados. In that case, please DM us here, we have questions.)

Anyway, back to how simple and easy math will help you work out whether travel insurance is a waste of money, or not.

Stop panicking, we said simple and easy!

Breathe.

So. Here it goes.

You need to think about this when planning a holiday

When deciding on getting travel insurance, it’s a good idea to do a bit of doom-thinking.

Seeing as many of us spend hours of our life doom-scrolling, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Basically, think about the stuff that could go wrong on your trip:

• You could miss your flight
• All of your luggage could be lost (if this happens btw, make sure you get something out of it, like a stay in a 4* hotel, as we did. Just a small suggestion!)
• No one wants to imagine this, but your phone could be stolen
• You could get an ear infection while chilling out in an infinity pool on your beach holiday
• You could accidentally injure the person in front of you, during a husky ride, and be responsible for their medical bill

Ugh, this is getting painful.

We totally understand if you want to abandon this post right now. We are scaring you here with math, stolen phones and husky ride injuries.

Yikes.

But if you stick around, we promise you’ll find out the answer to your question: is travel insurance a waste of money?

You still here?

Good. 

So step no. 1 is doom-thinking.

Now step no. 2 is where the math comes in. Brace yourself.

This is why you should buy travel insurance

When thinking about the stuff that can go wrong on your holiday?

Don’t just hyperventilate.

Do some math.

Specifically, imagine having to pay for those things out of your own pocket.

Could you afford it?

For example:

• Missing a flight – can you afford to quickly rebook on the next available one?
• Stolen phone – do you have enough money set aside to buy a new phone, so you don’t have to go around on your holiday with a paper map and a disposable camera?
• Ear infection – can you afford to go to see a doctor in whichever country you are visiting, pay the bill and pay for any medication?

Btw, if you are not sure about the cost of healthcare abroad, a quick google search should be enough to tell you. Don’t overcomplicate it. Remember, easy and simple.

The issue with planning a holiday

You might have already realised what the big problem is with this approach.

Unless you have taken Divination lessons at Hogwarts, you won’t be able to predict what will happen on your holiday.

You could just be walking down the street, slip on a bit of ice and boom, next thing you know, you need a knee surgery worth thousands of dollars. (Btw, this was such a concern for us in Lapland, even walking to dinner is a dangerous activity there, especially if you are clumsy like Mirka. 😬)

And medical bills pretty much anywhere will ruin you financially. Add to it a helicopter search and rescue, if you break your leg during a mountain hike, and your great-grandkids will still be repaying the bill.

So. 

This brings us to the answer to your question: is travel insurance a waste of money?

No, if:

• It will potentially save you from going bankrupt when you need to cover medical bills (choosing medical bills here as those are the highest expense from the list of potential things that can go wrong on your trip)
• You choose a good provider
• You actually know what you are buying

We’ve already explained the medical bills problem to you (though if you are still not clear on this, book a call with us and we can go over it again, together).

Now let’s talk about the other two points, because at the start of this post we did say these were 2 big mistakes you can make and, essentially, be then throwing your money down the drain.

2 mistakes to avoid when choosing travel insurance

You can find travel insurance that will cover your medical bills, if you get ill or have an accident.

Every travel insurance will do that.

The thing is, if you make these 2 mistakes, having travel insurance like that will still be a waste of money.

This is why.

Mistake no. 1: Choosing the wrong provider

Having travel insurance to cover your butt if you need it is great.

But if your provider sucks:

• If they don’t respond to you fast (and in a useful way) when you need them
• If they don’t reimburse you for your claim
• If they don’t offer the features you need
• If they cost you so much money, you could have just saved it and bought a new phone, for instance, with it instead, without all the paperwork and hassle (we explain this common mistake here, btw)

…then your travel insurance is a waste of money.

The best travel insurance provider

Before we went full-time travelling? We researched 23 different travel insurance providers, to make sure the one we picked didn’t suck.

Not joking, we have a spreadsheet to prove it. (🤓)

The company we picked?

True Traveller.

Turns out, they:

• Are a company created by 3 travellers to help other travellers
• Offer awesome features other companies won’t give you
• Have customer service that will blow your mind
• Don’t charge a fortune for their insurance. In fact, for us, it was the cheapest travel insurance we could get for our full-time travels and yet it was also the best one! (Love when things work out this way.)

Do you have a trip coming up?

Do you live in the UK or Europe?

Then see how much True Traveller insurance would cost you by clicking here—their quote generator takes seconds and you don’t have to give away your phone number, email or your soul just to see the price.

Mistake no. 2: Not checking what you are buying

We won’t go into detail in this post, because we have a full post on this topic here, if you wanna know more.

But, basically.

You’ve got to know what you are buying, when it comes to travel insurance.

Most of the time, insurance claims don’t get rejected because the company sucks.

Okay, they might still suck, but they usually tell you in advance that they suck.

Most of the time claims get declined because travellers often aren’t aware of what they are actually covered for.

What falls under their travel insurance.

What conditions they first have to fulfil. (E.g. how long your flight has to be delayed for, before you qualify for any help. Or what protection you have to be using during sports, so you are covered if you get injured.)

And what is excluded from their policy.

The solution

Sadly, the only way to not make this mistake is by reading the boring T&Cs. 

If you pick a good company, though, this shouldn’t be as painful.

That’s why we recommended True Traveller to you, so we can help you speed up the process.

Don’t read T&Cs of 23 different travel insurance providers.

Even we didn’t do that!

Pick your dealbreaker question, which will help you sift through the companies super fast and create a shortlist. We explain how to do that here.

And when you’ve got your shortlist?

Use our favourite hack of messaging the companies directly.

It’s one of the best travel insurance tips and yet no one else talks about it!

Here you can see what to look for when you get the reply from your shortlisted travel insurance providers, so you can figure out who sucks and who doesn’t!

Once you do this, you should be left with max 3 options.

Then all you have to do is pick one, for example, the one with the best price.

Read their T&Cs.

And if it all seems good?

Congratulations, you have found yourself travel insurance!

So, is travel insurance a waste of money?

No, because:

• You don’t know what might happen on your trip/holiday
• If something does go wrong, it can be very costly (mainly when it comes to medical bills)

What you have to do is find a company that doesn’t suck, including not charging you a load of money.

And making sure that you know what you are covered for (and not) by reading the T&Cs.

Happy travels and stay safe!