hi everyone i would like to buy travel insurance for a 3 month aisa trip what companys do ya like? thanks patrick

Hi Patrick,

You're from the US, aren't you? I'm not too familiar with US insurers, I'm afraid. The company I tend to use are called World Nomads, and they do cover Americans. They are aimed at budget travellers and so the limits on the personal possessions you can claim for in event of loss or damage are low, although you can insure specific extra high-value items for an additional premium. You get medical and personal liability too as well as cover for a number of sports/activities as standard.

I've claimed with them twice and never had a problem, although they did insist on a doctor's report for the bout of illness I had in Laos before they paid up for it which took a bit of emailing. Despite focusing on the budget backpacker market, they are not the cheapest on the market, but I tend to go with them out of habit and trust. I did a quick quote and a three-month trip comes out at $173 with them.

There's also a company called Travel Guard who are US-based but I have no direct experience of them, nor have I heard of any reviews from other travellers.

By the way, both of the above links are "affiliate" links - if anyone ends up buying a policy through them, the forum gets a commission, similar to the Agoda setup we have. So thanks in advance if anyone does

I don't know about American insurance being from the UK. The only problem with anything like this is unfortunately you don't know how good they really are until you have to use them.
My annual one has run out so I will be looking myself. i took one out last Jan and thought that I had got a good deal. That was until I thought that we were going to have to cancel our trip to St Lucia on medical grounds only to find that we were only covered up to £750 each. This was half of what we had paid. In the end we were able to go but we would have been well out of pocket if not so my advice would be take the time out to read the small print.

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

cool thanks steve for the link ill give them a try also thankyou post #2

Here in NZ, some credit card companies offer automatic travel insurance on the gold cards. You need to buy your airfare with your credit card and you are covered for the duration of the trip. I have found this very useful as they cover the lot including health & luggage loss or delay. Might be worth checking out to see if your country has a similar service.

I’m from the U.S. and have purchased WorldNomads policies several times. Seems to be a good value for the $$. They are recommended by Lonely Planet Guides.
How good are they? Fortunately, I’ve never needed to use the policy.

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"It’s all relative"

This is sound advice... a lot of complaints you read about on the 'net of people having bad experiences with insurance companies is a result of them not understanding their cover, and what insurance companies will and will not pay out on. As tedious as it can be, once you've decided on a company (by price/their cover summary) it pays to spend a while picking through the small print.