After more than 10 years living on the road, we can say we’re experts in several things. Of course, we’re experts in the Philippines, but we’re no slouches in other destinations like New Zealand, India, Egypt… we haven’t stopped! And, unfortunately, we’re also experts in travel insurance because we’ve had to use it on countless occasions.
That’s why we can tell you first-hand and from our own experience why get travel insurance is absolutely essential. We’ve prepared this guide and, honestly, we’ve had to trim it down to the main points because we could list many more without thinking too hard. We’re talking about something really serious.
Why take out travel insurance? For safety, for your money, and to make sure that, whatever happens, you’ll be in the best hands.
Because we’ve used it many times and we know it’s essential
The first reason to get travel insurance is our own experience. We’ve used it many, many times, and without it everything would have been chaos. In addition, other travelers like you have told us about their experience with it via the website and our WhatsApp and Facebook groups, and we know that buying it is already a must.
On our Instagram accounts, for example, you can see some of the many cases in which getting travel insurance saved our lives and our savings. Between the two of us, over these years traveling, we’ve had:
1 tuberculosis, 2 cases of dengue, 2 COVID-19, 1 swine flu, 1 motorbike accident, 1 severe pinched lumbar nerve, 2 burns with countless visits to the dermatologist and, on top of that, endless routine doctor visits. Yes—and with all that, we’re still traveling.
In all these cases, because we had taken out travel insurance, we came out on top and everything was resolved in the best possible way. Not only for us, but also for our families. Why? We’ll tell you below.
You save A LOT of money
In the previous section we showed you a small sample of the many things that have happened to us, but just one of them is enough to show you how much money you save—and why getting travel insurance is essential.
Manila (Philippines) 2019. Three weeks admitted to a top-tier hospital, two lung surgeries, countless tests, round-trip flight + accommodation for a family member to be with us… Total amount? More than 22,000 euros, of which we didn’t have to pay a single cent—nothing! The travel insurance took care of absolutely everything.
This was the case with the highest bill, but the others aren’t exactly small either. 600 euros for the lumbar pinched nerve in Japan, 900 euros for dengue in 2022, more than 500 euros for the motorbike accident, more than 400 euros in Chiang Mai for a small chest test… and so on. And we’ve never paid anything.
Why get travel insurance? It saved us €800 in this motorbike accident
After years of trying different options, it’s clear to us that the best travel insurance is IATI Seguros. They’ve always gone far beyond expectations (my mother even sent a huge bouquet to their office! In gratitude for how well they treated both of us after the 3-week hospital stay in Manila). They offer several different policies that we recommend depending on the destination you’re visiting and, in addition, you get a 5% discount when you purchase the insurance through any link on this website. Our recommendations:
- IATI Estrella: With UNLIMITED medical assistance coverage (which is huge), it’s the ideal insurance for expensive countries like the United States or Japan. By clicking here you get IATI Estrella with a 5% discount.
- IATI Mochilero: Our favorite for several reasons. On the one hand, it covers up to 600,000 euros in medical assistance, which we find sufficient even for those countries considered “expensive destinations.” On the other, it includes the, for us, essential Adventure Sports Coverage. Without it, you won’t be covered for activities like trekking, kayaking, or—even closer to home—snorkeling. If you click here you get IATI Mochilero with the 5% discount.
- IATI Estándar: We see this for closer destinations. It covers 500,000 euros but doesn’t include Adventure Sports, so it’s more for getaways to places like Paris, Italy, etc. For the rest, IATI Mochilero always. If it suits you, IATI Estándar—click here to get the 5% discount.
- Long-duration insurance: If you’re thinking about long trips of several months, there’s IATI Anual Multiviaje (trips of up to 90 days within a one-year period) or IATI Grandes Viajeros (for trips of several months). It’s much more economical than a regular policy. You have all the information about why to take out this type of insurance and the discount here: Best long-stay insurance.
You also save time
Among the main reasons to get travel insurance—beyond the big financial savings—is the huge time savings.
Imagine it with one of the cases we’ve lived through.
You’re sitting peacefully on the Tokyo metro and when you stand up you feel a tremendous pain in your lower back that won’t let you straighten up and hurts with every step. You barely make it back to the hotel and then what? You’re in a place you don’t know, where a different language is spoken. You could waste hours and hours before finding the right place for your case. And even then, you could easily end up in a sketchy clinic paying astronomical sums.
With travel insurance, all this happens much more smoothly. You call the assistance number and after a while they contact you to tell you where to go. In many cases, like this lumbar pinched nerve in Tokyo, they even send a taxi to your hotel door that waits during your visit and then brings you back.
Trips last a limited time and you want to make the most of them. This is clearly another reason why getting travel insurance is a big advantage.
And it goes without saying: you have 24/7 assistance, 365 days a year.
(Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is exactly what happened to me, Jairo, just a few years ago)
By clicking here you get your discount when purchasing the insurance:
Assistance at trusted places
We mentioned it briefly in the previous point, but we want to give it the importance it deserves. Beyond the time and the money, it’s absolutely crucial that the place where a doctor sees you is up to standard. We’ve sometimes read things in forums like: “Why should I get travel insurance? If something happens, I’ll go to the first public hospital I see and they’ll charge me next to nothing.”
To begin with, that’s not how it works. Being a public hospital doesn’t mean it will be cheap. But again, beyond the money, from our experience we can tell you that every time we’ve tried to do it that way we’ve ended up in medical centers you don’t even want to imagine. In one, a doctor’s dog was peeing in the hallway; others were full of unsanitary bird nests; others full of bird droppings… In India, after drawing blood they transferred the sample to the test tube using their mouth!
Traveling with your policy ensures you visit places that meet high standards. From experience, using IATI Mochilero, the two times we’ve been admitted it has always been in top hospitals.
Top: private hospital with insurance. Bottom: public hospital without insurance.
It also covers your baggage and belongings
The difference between medical insurance and travel insurance is that the latter goes far beyond health. The two of us have private Adeslas insurance and we use it when we’re at home. But although it includes assistance abroad, we never use it because getting travel insurance is what really makes sure we’re fully covered.
Private insurance forces you to pay out of pocket and then start the heavy paperwork to get reimbursed (imagine if that had happened with the 22,000 euros in Manila), whereas travel insurance takes care of everything. Beyond that, we have the enormous peace of mind of knowing we’re also protected, for example, if something happens to our baggage or if we suffer one of those typical incidents that can happen on a trip.
All IATI policies include coverages focused on problems with your baggage and belongings ranging from theft (note, travel insurance covers theft, not simple loss) to delays in the delivery of your baggage (if it takes more than 24 hours to receive it from your transport company, they cover the essential items you have to buy).
Depending on the policy you purchase, the coverage varies. Here are the figures:
| Theft and damage to baggage | Delay in baggage delivery | |
| IATI Estrella | 2.500 euros | 300 euros |
| IATI Mochilero | 1.500 euros | 300 euros |
| IATI Estándar | 1.000 euros | 120 euros |
| IATI Anual Multiviaje | 1.200 euros | 120 euros |
| IATI Grandes Viajeros | 1.200 euros | 120 euros |
By clicking any of them in the table above, you get the discount.
You get your money back if you can’t travel
Insurance keeps getting more modern over the years and covers more things, which is great. In recent years we never travel without also purchasing what’s called the Trip Cancellation Add‑on. It’s only a few extra euros and it can save you a lot of money.
Planning a trip usually means buying your flights to the country you’re visiting, booking hotels, paying for some tours… it all adds up and, in the end, before you even get on the plane you’ve spent a fortune. But what if a serious reason ultimately prevents us from traveling? This add‑on reimburses us up to 6,000 euros (in the case of IATI Estrella) for expenses you can’t recover directly from official providers.
The list of reasons is very long. They reimburse your travel costs if you test positive for COVID‑19 and can’t travel; if a close family member is hospitalized; if you have various work-related issues that prevent you from leaving; or even, among many others, if you have to attend a trial. It’s really worth it (especially for how little it costs).
The insurance can refund your money if you can’t travel, for example, due to COVID
It includes repatriation, which is extremely expensive
If you search Google for “MAEC + Country name” you’ll see the recommendations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the country you choose. In all of them, they insist on the reasons why getting travel insurance is indispensable nowadays and, in addition, they always stress the importance of having repatriation coverage.
Repatriation is insanely expensive and a national government isn’t obliged to pay for it. You’ve surely seen news stories of travelers’ families raising thousands of euros to bring someone back from the other side of the world after a serious accident. This kind of transfer is done with a medicalized aircraft that must meet strict safety standards, and that costs thousands and thousands of euros.
All the policies we’ve just talked about include repatriation—from cases of illness to (hopefully not) death, situations where a close relative is hospitalized or dies, or even if a state of emergency is declared and border closures are expected.
We were offered a Business Class flight home after what happened in Manila, so we can assure you they do this without issue if it’s medically necessary.
Why get travel insurance: extra reasons
With what we’ve just told you, it’s clear why you should have travel insurance, right? But to wrap up this guide, here are other advantages that come with enjoying your trips protected by a policy that’s up to the task:
- Coverages for flight and transport issues: These policies also have specific coverages focused on your transport. They compensate you financially, for example, if you have to wait more than 6 hours for departure, if you miss your connection, if you suffer overbooking, or if your flight is canceled…
- Bodily injury in motor‑vehicle accidents: If you have an accident on a motorbike, in a car, on a bus… your medical care is covered.
- Family member travel: As happened with one of our mothers, if you have to be hospitalized for more than X days (varies according to the policy), they cover a family member’s travel so they can be with you.
- Convalescence in a hotel: Imagine that just before heading home you suffer an accident or illness that prevents you from traveling. The insurance covers your hotel stay, up to 840 euros with IATI Mochilero.
- Civil liability: No less than up to 60,000 euros.
All that said… any doubts about why you should get travel insurance? No, right? If you do, don’t hesitate to leave your question down below in the comments so we can help.
If not, you already know that by clicking and accessing IATI’s website through any link on ours you’ll get a 5% discount on the price (and if you follow us on social networks you’ll also hear about other promos, like the 15% on Black Friday).
Travel safe!
