Travel

Hello

I am travelling from London to China on the trans siberian then spending 3 month in china at a dojo (doing martial arts etc). After that I plan to travel to oz and will be staying there for around 3-6 months. I want to do some kayaking and treking etc.

Does anyone have any advice on travel isurance. I hope to be out of the country for around 12 months in total.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers

Rog

Nothing wrong with the BMC but the insurance company they use I woudn't recommend. I had a raw deal from the insurance company after I made a claim. The BMC even tried to help me to get my claim paid but they also failed.

I read from another thread earlier this year that Snowcard Insurance was worth trying and that's one I'm going to try next time I need insurance cover abroad.

Problem with the BMC annual cover is that they want to see travel documents to prove that you were on holiday at that time.

Now I drove up to Skye and we paid for the bunk house in cash.

I gave them the phone number of the place I stayed and they are going to ring the bloke who runs it who has my permission to confirm its in his diary to the insurance company.

But as I explaind to the guy on the phone this is a policy aimed at mountaineers.

If we go abroad we will usually have something like plane or ferry tickets.

But often we drive somewhere in the UK. We camp and pay the man £3 when he comes round in the morning, or we may even wild camp for the entire trip.

This is what we do. We dont often have any sort of travel documents.

Its only a fairly small claim and although I dont have reciepts I do have the damaged items and I will let you know if I get paid.

It did make me think how I would go  on if I suffered a serious loss.

Hands up how many of you have reciepts for your rack or ruck sack full of gear.

We often have at least a thousand pounds worth of kit on us so if you lost it how would you go about proving you owned it in the first place??

Even if the air line loses your bag or your car gets broken into they want proof you owend what you said you owned.

Now I wish I had kept all my reciepts. Think it might be worth photographing and catalougeing my gear.

INSURE & GO.

FLEXICOVER

In terms of cost, I think you will find INSURE & GO hard to beat.

Last year I payed around £100 for an 8 month world wide travel insurance with insure & go. They were the cheapest I could find.

I have been buying worldwide travel insurance in the UK for over 10 years now and they are a big company and I believe as good as any. 

Also check out the lonelyplanet website and there forum. You should get more ideas on that website.

Hi, there are loads of really good advice sites online. If you google the key words you should find what you're looking for!

This Directgov page also has good travel policy checklist. Here's some great info on travel insurance cover.

This Guardian article has a lot of really helpful advice on travel insurance. This BBC article has a Q&A on how to buy travel insurance.

Hope these help!

I'd have a look at Snowcard. The problem with general travel insurance tends to be in the small print - there's a lot of quibbling and qualification over what's, say, a recognised trekking route. Some of them require you to be part of an organised party, on a 'recognised trekking route' with a guide or similar provisos, so whoever you choose, make sure they cover all the activities you're looking at in the areas you're thinking of doing them and in the form you're considering.

If in doubt, talk directly to the insurance company and check what is and isn't covered. The more extreme your activities, the more confusing it gets. So, for example, you want to see what the situation is with a martial arts injury which might require repatriation. 

I'd have a look at Snowcard ... If in doubt, talk directly to the insurance company and check what is and isn't covered.

Second that - they're a good company. Snowcard insured me for 10 months walking last year, inc. off-piste solo snowshoeing & snow camping. I emailed them to check and got a clear written answer - no problemo, including helirescue.

thanks everyone from me too...

I was about to post a thread on travel insurance and then I saw this thread. looked up insure and go, and they've given me a good quote for 6 months in the far east =]

Im going to be doing a small amount of rock climbing, but i havnt mentioned that because it costs a small fortune. Seeing as I wont be doing more than a weeks climbing and that will be low height bouldering does anyone think it worth spending a couple of hundred extra on being insured for that? i was thinking  that i i do fall  can say i slipped while on a walk or something.

does anyone have any ideas on this? do you have to have photo and video evidence of the accident/incidence and a receipt for the precise amount of blood lost, sighed by a medic qualified for over 10 years?!? or something like that...     ...or is it likely i could get away with the cheaper option.

[Sorry for distracting the general stream of your thread roger, i just thought it might be relevant... pos. to you as well?]

thanks Y'all!

Shay.

Hi Just to lt you all know that I have been paid by the BMC insurance for my damaged clothes.

I would recomend everyone photographs any kit they do not have proof of purchace for.

Also, if you go camping for the weekend then use cards not cash at some point.

They wanted travel documents to prove i was on holiday.

Now I got in someones car and gave cash towards petrol.

I booked the bunkhouse over the phone and piad in cash when we got there. I did not gt a reciept, its just not done like that on the scotish islands.

I gave the man who owned the bunkhouse permission to tell my insurance when hey rang him that I had stayed there, he had it in his diary.

But this policy is aimed at mountaineers. We often drive to a campsite, pay the owner in cash when he comes round in the morning. Many places dont give you a tag for your tent.

So if you have at least used your card to buy petrol you can prove you were in that area and there for away from home.

Insurefor

thats the company I use and what they include in the basic policy for stuff like extreme sports, trekking and surfing etc are some of the best I have seen of course you can get extra cover for a reasonable price.

They do international back-packing insurance which is again very cheap. Also sign up to airmiles and you can get your travel insurance through airmiles to get airmiles, and as a result you get airmiles to use towards your next travels. Happy Days!!

enjoy the trip

Hi,   
I know I am too late for reply but sharing my views for your further planning. It will always be beneficial to get information about travel insurance from internet. For achieving good and best travel insurance, try to compare all the insurance companies over internet with their policy and rates.

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Backpacker Travel Insurance