Sorting out travel insurance is probably the most mundane aspect of planning your holidays. Nonetheless, I make no apologies for writing about it, as if things go tits up for you while abroad, you’ll be grateful that you put in these hard yards now to do some proper research. I’ve been around the block (and the globe) enough to know that not all travel insurance is created equal, so enter SafetyWing, World Nomads, and Heymondo, three of the most innovative heavyweights in the travel insurance arena, each with its own strengths and quirks.
When deciding which travel insurance is right for you, the most important things to keep in mind are how you travel, your budget, and how anxious you generally are when it comes to level of cover! So, let’s cut through the corporate noise and put World Nomads, Safetywing and Heymondo to the test, using real-world scenarios and policy comparisons to help you make the best choice.
Why listen to me?
I’ve lived and worked in several different countries, I’ve been an ex-pat, done a round the world trip, and I even worked as a travel agent selling travel insurance! I’ve been a digital nomad juggling time zones, I was the backpacker chasing adrenaline highs, and I also run my own outdoor activities and tour company!
Having seen it from all sides, I understand how complicated and varied travel insurance is. I’ve also made my fair share of insurance blunders, by the way, like assuming my policy covered a lost camcorder at the airport (it didn’t), or the countless times I stupidly traveled without cover.
The Contenders: World Nomads vs SafetyWing vs Heymondo
Each company is known for excelling at different aspects of the insurance game, so they will appeal to you based on what you value most in a policy. So without further ado, let’s get into the details…
Founded in 2017 by a bunch of vikings (Norwegians), SafetyWing is all about insurance that suits the modern, borderless lifestyle. Initially designed with digital nomads in mind, the company became popular for offering flexible, subscription-based policies that cater to long(er)-term travelers and remote workers. Unlike traditional insurance providers, they also operate globally, providing coverage in over 170 countries.
Safetywing offer two different levels of cover: 1) its Nomad Insurance Essential plan, which should be considered a global travel medical insurance for medical and travel related emergencies; and 2) its Nomad Insurance Complete plan, which is a much more comprehensive annual plan, including routine check ups, mental health, and maternity.
The main highlights of each policy are made clear all over their website, and they make it easy to add on additional protection for three commonly sought areas i.e. adventure sports, electronics theft, and stays in the USA.
Maximum age of travelers = 69 for Essential, 64 for Complete.
Pre-existing medical conditions coverage: Essential – No / Complete – Yes (if developed during a previous subscription period).
The elevator pitch: The lifestyle subscription model for long-term travelers and digital nomads.
World Nomads have been knocking around for a good while now, since 2002 in fact. Founded by two Aussie travelers for backpackers and thrill-seekers, the company quickly became a go-to for those exploring off-the-beaten-path destinations. Best known for its comprehensive coverage of over 200 adventure activities, World Nomads has built a rep for reliability and trust, and is backed by reputable insurers including Allianz.
The company has different international versions of their website depending on where you reside. As such, they don’t highlight individual policy types on their front pages, as they offerings are so diverse. Rather, they display policy details only once you’ve input your country of residence, your destination country(s), your age, number of travelers, and your trip duration.
Maximum age of travelers = 70
Pre-existing medical conditions coverage: No
The elevator pitch: The adrenaline junkie’s best friend, ideal for intrepid backpackers and thrill-seekers alike.
Heymondo burst onto the travel insurance scene in 2018 with a tech-driven approach. Founded by a team of travel and insurance nerds, the company set out to simplify the often complicated world of travel insurance. With a sleek app, 24/7 customer support, and a focus on user experience, Heymondo is also backed by AXA insurance group.
Heymondo keep things pretty simple by offering three different types of travel insurance: 1) International travel insurance, which tends to be most useful when seeking quotes for a single trip abroad; 2) Annual multi-trip travel insurance, which allows travelers to take an unlimited number trips of up to 60 days at a time within a 12 month period; and 3) Long-stay travel insurance, which insures you for an initial 90-day period, before giving you the option to then renew for various time periods (1, 3, 6 or 9 months). This is particularly useful if you’re planning a trip lasting over 90 days, but can’t say exactly when you’ll be back.
Make sure to input your travel details in the most appropriate section of the website i.e one of the three options above, otherwise you may be missing out on their best prices.
Age limits: 69 for short trips up to 29 days, 49 years old for trips over 30 days.
Pre-existing medical conditions: No.
The elevator pitch: The tech-forward, great value choice for every style of travel.
Comparing SafetyWing, World Nomads & Heymondo
Anyone who’s searched online for travel insurance quotes before, will know that making direct comparisons using like-for-like plans isn’t really feasible here. This is because each company (apart from Safetywing) seems to categorize their offers differently depending on which country you’re from.
To most effectively put each of these three companies to the test, I’ve therefore decided use a few different real-world scenarios based on common trips made by international travelers, myself included.
Our intrepid world travelers...
Dave, a 24 year old British backpacker is visiting South-east Asia and Australia for 6 months. His dream is to go cage diving with Great White Sharks (the nutter), to get his PADI Scuba diving certification, and to do a skydive and bungee jump. He just wants to go with the flow as far as his money will take him. He’s in the prime of his life, so he’ll be partying it up and looking to save as much of his cash for beer as possible. Take it easy, Dave!
Our lovely family of four from Minnesota, the Griswald’s are looking forward to only their second ever trip to mainland Europe with their teenage kids. Mum, Dad and the kids want to document their historic European vacation, so will be taking with them all their gadgets (laptops, SLR cameras, etc.).
Ah look, Pam & Barry are a fairdinkum couple in their mid-thirties from Bendigo, Australia, looking to get out and see a bit of the world. They’ve just sold their house and ute, and they can both work remotely, so have decided to take a year’s sabbatical abroad. They mostly plan to spend time in the USA and Latin America.
I plugged into the websites of Safetywing, World Nomads, and Heymondo to get quotes for each of the above travel scenarios. Using all the information available to me, I selected the most appropriate insurance cover based firstly on the specific needs of each of my three test voyagers, and then on price. So let’s dive in to the results, starting with our young gunner, Dave…
Test #1: Comparing Adventure Sports Cover
Quick recap on Dave’s insurance needs: Dave is young, adventurous but highly price conscious. His trip is exactly the same as I myself took a few many years ago, so I know exactly what his needs are, far more so than he himself does!
Must haves: Adventure sports coverage. Ideally: cheap…
1. Safetywing
With Safetywing Dave chose the Nomad Essential plan with the addition of their Adventure Sports add on. The total cost of his insurance for his 6 months came to $435.82, which is $2.40 per day. As he is price conscious, he decided to pay in full upfront for his specific travel dates, to save more money. Had he not done this, and instead opted for the rolling 4 weekly cover that is typical for this policy, the price would have been a little more expensive, at $463.96.
2. World Nomads
Things were looking pretty good for Dave with World Nomads, until he input his planned skydive, bungee jump and shark caging into the World Nomads quote. This added a whopping £900 to his insurance total, to bring the final amount to £1349.57. He did, however, appreciate knowing that all of his planned activities would be covered, having individually selected and added them to his policy, rather than having to scroll through policy documents to check manually.
3. Heymondo
After browsing the Heymondo site, Dave opted for their ‘Long Stay Insurance‘. He initially input his data into their ‘International Travel Insurance’ plan, but fortunately then also decided to try their long stay policy which came out significantly cheaper. Even with the addition of Adventure Sports cover for his planned activities, Heymondo’s Long Stay Insurance came to a total of 363.49 EUR. This is made up of a base 179.49 for the first 90 days, and an additional 120 days renewal price of 184. Dave particularly liked the ability to pay in two installments that would cover the entire duration of this trip, rather than having to pay it all upfront, as he’s still waiting til the end of the month to get paid.
Adventure Sports Cover at a reasonable price winner is Heymondo!
The Heymondo policy offer was considerably the cheapest between the three providers, at just 2 EUR per day! As well as the adventure sports addon, the policy included lots of other goodies relating to medical and personal belongings coverage. If you're Dave, or you know one, and this sounds good to you, get a quote yourself and as a Travel Tortoise reader you'll get an additional 5% discount on the cost of your policy (not including readers from the US)!
Test #2: Comparing Electronics Protection
Quick recap on the Griswald’s insurance needs: Our family of four from the USA are traveling to Italy for a two week vacation. They’re bringing laptops, the latest iPhones, and a couple of very expensive SLR cameras. Their teenage kids Rusty and Audrey are both known for being particularly careless with their stuff. Anyone who has traveled abroad with kids will understand their needs.
Must haves: comprehensive electronics protection. Ideally: high level medical coverage too…
Gotta admit here that Safetywing was bit of a pain to even get a price for the intrepid Griswolds. They don’t have an option for group pricing, so I had to manually calculate the price for four based on their individual pricing for each age bracket.
Furthermore, I was unable to add on the extra theft protection for electronics when inputting the exact dates for their 14 day trip in August. I had to calculate four separate 4 week periods of cover (two for Mom and Dad in the 40-49 category, and two for the teenage kids in the 10-39 age bracket).
The total came to $337.36 for their two week trip to Italy. This seemed a bit like overkill, as they were left with a far longer period of cover than needed. Additionally, their electronics theft covers only that – theft, while loss and damage appears not to be covered, even with the addon.
The entire process (including the chat I had with their support staff) also took a while, so I reckon Safetywing really need to improve this user experience, as it may put all but individual travelers off once they realise how challenging it is to get a group price! Had I not persisted for the sake of conducting this research, I would have given up much earlier.
The best offer from World Nomads was on their Standard plan, which comes to $381.67 in total. This provides cover for damaged, lost, stolen or destroyed baggage or personal belongings up to $1000 per person, with a per article limit of $500. This might not cut it considering the Griswold’s penchant for expensive gadgets and electronics, so the next cheapest policy is called Explorer and costs $735.42. This provides cover of up to $2000 per person, with a $1000 per article limit.
Heymondo was relatively straightforward here. Inputting the details for the Griswold family automatically transferred me to their US based site, and from there I had quote within 30 seconds on their ‘Single Trip Insurance‘ page. I just had to input the destination, dates and number of travellers. I was provided with three different insurance options, their Top, Premium and Medical plans, and judging on the levels of cover, for our family of four the best option with Heymondo is their Premium plan. This came to a total of $356.20, full details of the baggage and personal effects cover for loss, theft or damage below.
Electronics cover at a reasonable price winner is World Nomads!
While Heymondo's policy was considerably cheaper than World Nomads, the low ($250) per article limit for personal belonging and baggage just didn't cut it for Clark, and the rest of the Griswolds. If you can afford it the Explorer policy from World Nomads was clearly the best, with a $1000 per article limit. Safetywing do focus more on Travel Medical Cover rather than other travel related expenses, and this was clear in this comparison. Get a quote with World Nomads here...
Test #3: Comparing Long-stay Insurance Coverage
Quick recap on Pam & Barry’s insurance needs: despite rejecting the title of ‘digital nomads’ Pam & Barry are clearly planning to be a long-term international remote workers!
Must haves: USA coverage. Ideally: no coverage restrictions when back in Oz to visit family…
When inputting exact departure and return dates for their 12 month trip, Safetywing returned a per person price of $1357.72, including a US coverage addon. It was very fast and easy to get this price from their website.
What I most liked about this policy is if Pam and Baz return to their home country, they’ll also retain medical coverage there for stays of up to 30 days at a time.
They also have the option not fix their dates, and to simply renew on a 4 weekly basis, as seems to be what Safetywing tries to encourage. In this instance, if they are already covered at home, they can cancel their cover for any period that they didn’t need it, which obviously gives them the ability to reduce costs even further.
World Nomads were super expensive at $4,477.42 AUD for Barry and Pam’s trip. It wasn’t possible to differentiate on their site between several trips within a 12 month period, and the only option I had to input the details was giving a single trip duration of a year into their system.
Heymondo returned a price of $2,462.27 for a 12 month continuous trip. While this is considerably more expensive than Safetywing, this policy (Heymondo TOP) did include more comprehensive cover for things like lost/stolen baggage, travel disruption, and trip cancellation.
If Pam and Barry are planning to make multiple trips instead of one single 12 month trip, then Heymondo’s annual multi-trip insurance came out at just $511.10 for both! However, each trip on this policy can be no longer than 60 days long, and there is also a medical deductible which is payable for any treatment received. Furthermore they would not be covered on any return trips back to their home country. As both have quit their jobs to become digital nomads, they have no medical cover back home anymore, so this is not ideal for them.
Long-stay cover at a reasonable price winner is Safetywing!
While Heymondo's annual multi-trip insurance provides a good level of cover, the added piece of mind of being covered back home while visiting family and friends is what makes Safetywing the winner in this long-stay insurance category.
Comparing Website User Experience
In researching and writing this article, and over the years of searching for and using travel insurance for my own international travels, the thing about it that I have come to appreciate most is user experience. While many people still rely on travel agents, especially if they require specialist types of cover for pre-existing medical conditions for e.g, most people nowadays are sourcing travel insurance online themselves.
User experience is of course vital when making claims on your policy, but what isn’t discussed so much is how quick and easy it is to get quotes and information specific to your planned trip. It shouldn’t be hard to find a price for your number of travelers, trip duration, and destination(s).
Furthermore, while we should all be reading the policy to ensure the coverage meets our needs, the more details a website gives on what’s covered and what’s not can make all the difference, especially as many people might be using the booking pages as their only frame of reference of their coverage.
When it comes to buying travel insurance, most people barely even skim read their policies until a morning after the night before, when it dawns on them they’d massively over-estimated what scenarios were covered (playing ‘how many people can we fit on a moped in Koh Samui’ may not be, by the way). At the same time though, ploughing though painfully boring and often confusing insurance policy documents isn’t sexy, nor is it gonna get you pumped for your upcoming trip.
That’s actually what I really liked about Safetywing. While I had my issues with their individual pricing model (no, YOU do the math!), I did rather like the overall simplicity of their plans, and the repeat messaging found all over their website. With either the Nomad Essential or the Nomad Complete coverage to choose from, Safetywing made it pretty clear exactly what was included in my policy.
Also, I contacted the help departments for all three companies at the quote stage, and only Safetywing had a live chat function, which meant I got my answers almost immediately. Heymondo and World Nomads were a lot slower in coming back to me on my queries, so I suspect that they will lose a fair few customers in this instant age in which we all now inhabit.
World Nomads vs Safetywing vs Heymondo - Final Thoughts
There is much to like about all three of the travel insurance companies that I put to the test here. World Nomads, while very expensive pretty much across the board, do offer high levels of cover and the most comprehensive cover for adventure sports. What baffles me somewhat about them though, is that their most likely core market (i.e backpackers and younger travelers in the 18-35 age range) are probably the least likely to be able to afford their coverage!
Safetywing are clearly a great choice for anyone planning to go abroad for longer stays, and for the ever-increasing global community of digital nomads, they should be your first port of call. I also like their overall ethos, which tries to democratise global health insurance by allowing people who can afford it true freedom of movement between nations.
It’s also clear that with their Nomad Complete policy which includes maternity care, ongoing coverage for new conditions, mental health care, and no coverage restrictions at all while back in your home country, they are helping to revolutionise the feasibility of global remote working for all digital nomads.
Heymondo turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, I must admit. I hadn’t previously had experience with them, but in each of my test scenarios they returned some very competitive pricing. What’s more, for all non-US based readers, if you click through to them using our links you’ll get an additional 5% discount off the cost your insurance!
I was also really impressed with how intuitive and simple-to-use their website is. Furthermore, they are known for having top notch tech to accompany their policies, with easy claims management and a 24hr medical chat function available in their app. They could improve by having a human live chat function though.
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