SafetyWing Travel Insurance Review:
An Honest Review From A Full-Time Traveler

SafetyWing Essential: Our Quick Verdict

Best for: Long-term travelers and digital nomads who want affordable coverage for unexpected illnesses, injuries, and travel emergencies.

Typical price: Varies by age, destination, and coverage choices. U.S. coverage costs more.

Our experience: SafetyWing reimbursed $1,000 of Kim’s $1,600 emergency dental bill in Switzerland within approximately one week.

Our rating: 9/10

Bottom line: SafetyWing Essential can be a good affordable option for major unexpected situations while traveling, but it is not comprehensive health insurance. It may not be the right fit for travelers who need routine care, extensive home-country coverage, or broader non-emergency benefits.

What’s In This SafetyWing Review?

1. What Is SafetyWing Travel Insurance?
2. What Does the SafetyWing Essential Plan Cover?
3. How Much Does SafetyWing Cost?
4. What Happened When We Filed a SafetyWing Claim?
5. SafetyWing Essential Plan Pros and Cons
6. Who Is SafetyWing Essential Best For?
7. SafetyWing FAQs

What Is SafetyWing?

Overview of SafetyWing and Its Purpose

SafetyWing isn’t just a travel insurance provider; it’s a lifeline for short-term travelers, full-time travelers, digital nomads, and remote workers. Imagine a company that understands the unique challenges of living life on the go and offers flexible, comprehensive travel medical insurance solutions tailored just for you. That’s SafetyWing. Their mission? To create a global social safety net that transcends borders, providing global health insurance, pensions, and disability coverage as a modern replacement for traditional national welfare systems. Essentially, SafetyWing aims to build a community as a health and travel insurance provider on the internet, ensuring that wherever you are in the world, you’re never without support.

Importance of Travel Insurance for Full-Time Travelers

For full-time travelers, travel insurance isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. Picture this: you’re exploring a remote island, and suddenly, you need medical attention. Without travel insurance, the financial burden of medical bills, lost luggage, or trip cancellations can be overwhelming. That’s where SafetyWing’s travel medical insurance steps in, offering you peace of mind and financial security. With their coverage, you can focus on your adventures and work, knowing that you’re protected against the unexpected. It’s like having a safety net that catches you when life throws a curveball (and it surely will at some point!), ensuring that your journey remains as smooth as possible.

SafetyWing Nomad Travel Insurance:
The Best Travel Insurance for Travelers

Traveling is the ultimate way to shake up your routine, meet incredible people, and experience the wonders of the world. But if we’re being honest here—if you’ve ever traveled before, you know that things don’t always go as planned. A sudden medical emergency, a missing suitcase, or a trip delay can really throw a wrench in your plans. That’s where SafetyWing swoops in like the bird superheros of travel insurance they are, ready to save the day and keep your journey as stress-free as possible.

SafetyWing offers nomad insurance, a specialized travel medical insurance specifically created for digital nomads, offering flexible, subscription-based policies that cater to long-term travelers, although they have really affordable plans for short-term travelers as well allowing you to get coverage even if you’re traveling somewhere for as little as 5 days!

SafetyWing Is More Than An Insurance Company, It’s A Vibe

Ok, before I go into telling you all about SafetyWing, their plans, and our personal experience with SafetyWing and using their Essential Plan, I think it’s appropriate to tell you how much I (Kim) love their branding!

I mean, come on! The whole website (even my travel insurance card!) is covered in happy animated birds with human clothes, human emotions, and human vibes. They even have human hair. They’re out surfing, working from a laptop on a beach, holding their skateboard while wearing a beanie, napping on a bench…wait, I’m pretty sure real birds do that too.  

But how can we not already be excited about using SafetyWing Insurance?! I mean logic states that if these SafetyWing birds are happy and look so cool, I’ll be cool if I use SafetyWing Insurance right? I think that’s how logic works.

Benefits of Travel Medical Insurance

Why Full-Time Travelers Need The Benefits of Travel Medical Insurance

SafetyWing travel medical insurance is the unsung hero of travel insurance, especially for full-time travelers. Imagine you’re trekking through the Andes, and you suddenly need emergency medical evacuation! Or perhaps you’re savoring street food in Bangkok, and you require urgent medical and dental coverage. These scenarios are absolutely unexpected which is why travel medical insurance is so important and so needed. SafetyWing’s travel medical insurance offers comprehensive coverage for such unexpected medical emergencies, including hospital stays, surgeries, and even emergency medical evacuation. Essential is designed to help with eligible new and unexpected medical situations while traveling, while Complete provides broader health coverage that also includes routine and preventive care. With SafetyWing, you can explore the world with confidence, knowing that you have a peace-of-mind safety net to fall back on.

SafetyWing Travel Insurance Plans

SafetyWing offers two travel medical plans for individuals under Nomad Insurance: Essential and Complete.

NOMAD TRAVEL INSURANCE

Nomad Insurance offers two coverage levels. Essential focuses on unexpected medical emergencies and core travel protections, while Complete also includes routine and preventive healthcare and additional travel benefits. Nomad Insurance is designed for people traveling or living internationally, but both plans also include home-country coverage. Essential provides limited home-country coverage, while Complete offers full coverage at home.

We used the Essential Plan Travel Medical Insurance when we spent 3 months in Europe and we had such a great experience using it, especially because we actually had to use it. Not that we WANTED to use it but don’t worry I’ll tell you more about it below!

What SafetyWing Nomad Travel Insurance Covers:
Trip Interruption, Delays and Luggage Coverage

SafetyWing is not your average travel insurance company. They’ve crafted plans that are as adventurous as you are—perfect for digital nomads, globetrotters, families taking a week or two week trip, and everyone in between. It doesn’t matter whether you’re taking a quick trip and need some budget-friendly travel insurance or if you’re taking a 6 month adventure, they have plans to suit every type of traveler. Here’s what they’ve got going for you:

• Worldwide Protection: You’re covered in 180+ countries!
• Medical Emergencies? Covered! Whether it’s an eligible hospital stay, surgery or emergency dental treatment, you’re in safe hands…I mean wings.
• Lost Luggage? No Worries! If your stuff goes MIA, SafetyWing’s got your back (and your bags).
• Trip Delays? Bring It On! Even the best-laid plans can hit a snag, but their coverage helps you get a good place to stay and get back on track.

Understanding your plan details is crucial so you know which trip cancellations, interruptions and delays are covered, and which are not.

Our Personal Experience Having To Use SafetyWing While Traveling

It was a cozy day on the tip top of the mountain town we were staying in Switzerland called Seelisberg with a whopping population of 729 people. Out of nowhere, my tooth was KILLING me one night. At the time, we didn’t have a rental car and we were using public transportation. Long story short, the nearest dentist meant taking a train ride to Lucerne…a slightly bigger city with nearly 83,000 people lol.

I had an awesome, kind Swiss Dentist who could barely speak English, (mostly German), but turns out I needed a root canal. I started to panic. I’ve never had a root canal before and I’m in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY!? AH! I called Isaac and told him what was going on and he calmed me down after reminding me we have SafetyWing Travel Insurance and this is exactly why he made sure we had it, because you just never know what’s going to happen when you travel!

My bill ended up being $1600 USD. I filed a claim with SafetyWing online and it was honestly incredibly easy to navigate and fill out. The claims process was efficient and simple, allowing me to submit my claim quickly and receive reimbursement in a timely manner. Within the week, they had covered $1000 of my dental work!! Their customer service team was quick to answer any of our questions through their online chat feature on their website and, on top of that, they were empathetic. I could tell I was chatting with a real human! They really wanted to help me use their insurance and get money back. Wow! 

(PS scroll all the way down to the end of this blog to see my weirdo half numb face after my dental work lololol)

Pros and Cons of SafetyWing Travel Insurance – Essential Plan

PROS

• Budget-friendly – Seriously, I haven’t found a better price anywhere.
• No deductible – Eligible claims are covered from the first dollar, subject to policy limits and exclusions.
• Requires a 5 day minimum coverage period – Great for short-term travelers!
• Flexible subscription model – Perfect for long-term travelers.
• Purchase anytime, anywhere – Even if you’re already abroad.
• Easy online claims – The process is simple and stress-free.
• 24/7 online support – Their communication is so great and authentically helpful. Help is just a click away, anytime you need it.
• Quick and easy claims process – Takes as little as 5 minutes to complete.
• Fast processing – SafetyWing says straightforward claims may be reimbursed within a few days. Our dental claim was paid in approximately one week.
• Limited home-country coverage – Essential includes up to 30 days of medical coverage in your home country.
• COVID-19 coverage included – Travel with extra peace of mind.
• Free coverage for kids – One child under 10 per adult (max 2 per family) is covered at no extra cost.
• If you pay for a year (364 days) up front, you get a 10% discount, extended coverage in your home country (90 days instead of 30, or 45 instead of 15 if your home country is the USA) and a pre-loaded debit card with a $150 limit.

CONS

        ….

No, I’m serious! I just honestly don’t have any cons. I’m sorry I tried really hard to think of any negatives like I guess it could be a negative that the max age you can get this insurance is 69 years old or that you may be charged extra if you want extra coverage for things like high-risk adventures like skydiving and kite-surfing, or if you want to cover important electronics like your laptop or expensive camera while you’re traveling, but everyone at SafetyWing was just so NICE and so freaking helpful and made it so easy to use them when I was facing a really scary situation (my dental emergency)!

Try SafetyWing Out For Yourself!

We’ve honestly had such a great experience with SafetyWing that we decided to team up with them as ambassadors. SafetyWing Nomad Insurance offers various plans tailored for digital nomads, people taking a quick week or two week trip, and long-term travelers. By signing up for a plan, you’ll not only be protecting yourself but also supporting our travel brand, Full Time to Travel Time so we can continue sharing helpful and entertaining content for you. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Use the insurance calculator below to see how much a Travel Insurance Plan may cost for you: 

SafetyWing Review Summary: Travel Insurance Company

If you’re hunting for travel insurance that’s affordable and just plain awesome with incredible customer service, look no further than SafetyWing. It’s like having a travel-savvy best friend in your corner, ready to swoop in when things don’t go as planned. Unlike traditional travel insurance providers that impose restrictions such as maximum trip limits and residency rules, SafetyWing offers specialized options that cater to the unique travel patterns of digital nomads. Whether you’re planning a quick 1-2 week getaway or heading out for months on the adventure of a lifetime, SafetyWing has your back.

Whether you want to go wine-hopping through France, visiting the Green Acres Skyscrapers in Singapore, or hiking in Peru, it’s clear that having SafetyWing Travel Insurance is a no brainer. Seriously, it’s better to be safe than sorry! SafetyWing Complete includes trip cancellation coverage for qualifying situations, while both Essential and Complete include certain trip interruption benefits, including a return ticket following an eligible family death. I hope this review has been helpful 🙂

Oh yea, that embarrassing photo I promised of my half numb post-root canal face….

HAHA!! Isaac would NOT stop making me laugh while we were walking around Lucerne after my dental work! I felt like I looked like a complete crazy person laughing so much around so many people but only half of my face would laugh hahaha. I kept covering my mouth because I just knew how absolutely ridiculous I looked. At least I got a delicious pretzel after my dental work. SO GOOD! They cut the whole pretzel in half and lather the inside with butter. So comforting!