Where to buy travel insurance for 1 year around the world backpack trip of a lifetime?
October 30, 2011 10:11 AM

Canadians looking for travel insurance for one year around the world trip?

Canadian couple in their 30s looking for travel insurance for 1 year backpacking trip around the world trip. Not going to the US. Looking for medical and trip cancellation. Has anyone had any experiences with RBC, BCAA or any other travel insurance providers? The prices vary greatly. Or how about other non-Canadian insurers. People in travel forums recommend World Nomad. Any experiences with them? Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!
posted by grak88 to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
World Nomads is awesome, I'm using them for my study abroad trip and they have been great so far. The advantages of them for me is that they cover pre-existing conditions, and cover a lot more of the activities that I would be doing while traveling due to my courses (glacier walking, trekking, mountain rescue option for backcountry skiing). YMMV And they were cheaper then my quote from RBC to boot.

Depending on what you need and what kind of activities you are doing, my suggestion would be to read the policy carefully. I almost went with RBC until I read the policy and saw they would not cover any sort of adventure activities (glaciers, skiing, etc) which I would be doing because of my studies. The only thing I would mention about World Nomads is you might need to purchase two 6 month policies - the maximum I could find (in August 2011) was 6 months at a time. Might be different now.

If you will have provincial health care (OHIP for me), they are the primary insurer and must be submitted to first before World Nomads. Your province might be different, might be worth a call to the ministry to ask first and see if you are eligible for coverage out of country.
posted by snowysoul at 10:40 AM on October 30, 2011


The answer might depend on what province you're from. I've used World Nomads in the past, but they no longer covered residents from Quebec the last time I checked. Also, I don't they'll cover you unless you have valid provincial insurance. Depending on your province you may lose coverage after you've been out of the country for six months. Definitely check this first because having provincial coverage is essential for almost all Canadian travel insurers!

I'm abroad for one year and had difficulty finding an insurer for the above reasons. I finally found a plan via Ingle Insurance (http://www.ingleinternational.com/) that would cover me for more than six months and without provincial coverage. They set me up with a plan called TIC - Global Expatriate. I haven't had to make any claims but they seem professional and their customer service was very helpful in finding a plan for me and answering my questions.

Good luck!
posted by exquisite_deluxe at 11:35 AM on October 30, 2011


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