Travel Insurance for Digital Nomads: SafetyWing

Getting sick in Spain.

Back in February, while I was in Dubai, my boyfriend flew from Zurich to Barcelona so we could eventually meet there. After arriving in Spain, he started feeling sick and decided to get a PCR test just to be sure. This test turned out to be positive. 

I wish I could tell you that was the end of the stress and that he returned to his hotel room and relaxed until he felt better, but that wasn’t the case!

Spanish rules at the moment said he needed to move to a quarantine-hotel (literally on the other side of town). And that’s how the whole sickness abroad rollercoaster began. 

For reference, my only experience of sickness abroad happened while working as a flight attendant for Emirates. 

Boy, did I miss being taken care of when being sick in a foreign country (probably one of the few things I miss about being cabin crew!). 

Any time I got sick while outstation, I was provided with doctors who’d come see me in the hotel, I was given an allowance to cover food, my hotel was paid for, and Emirates would arrange my tickets to get back to Dubai as soon as I felt better. 

I wish life were so simple when getting sick as a digital nomad! But even if things weren’t as simple, we did have insurance (which I recommend you get if you’re a digital nomad or tourist!).

We both travel with SafetyWing insurance, so this was the first time we ever had to use it. 

I jumped on a plane sooner than expected, stayed at my Mom’s home in Barcelona while visiting him outside of his hotel every day, and supported him as much as possible. So here’s what the entire experience looked like.

Expenses of getting sick.

On top of feeling lousy, having to keep track of the paperwork, figuring out how to get food to someone who’s in quarantine without spending a crazy amount of money, and managing flight changes, we had to consider expenses we hadn’t thought of. Here are some things we spent money on while experiencing sickness abroad.

Expenses we had to consider when getting sick abroad.

• Hotel isolation.

 The quarantine had to happen in specific hotels mandated by the Spanish government, which means we couldn’t look for cheaper rates, and we had to stick with whatever hotels we were allowed to book.

• Potential medical care.

We had to consider hospital charges just in case we needed to seek medical care at some point. This can be expensive depending on the country (consultations from 100 euros, for example). 

We also had to buy an oximeter (oxygen monitor) and over-the-counter drugs to treat Covid symptoms.

• Transfer to covid hotel.

With Covid particularly, you can’t call an uber to transfer from a regular hotel to a quarantine hotel. You have to book an ambulance to take you. Again, government requirements. The price was around 50 euros.

• Food expenses.

The hotel offered a costly meal plan (50 euros per day). 

We tried it for one day, but the food was not good. 

Luckily, grocery shopping is very affordable in Spain, and the food quality is fantastic, so I grocery shopped for my boyfriend every other day and took it to the hotel. I also ordered food from Glovo so it could be delivered to him for a treat that would make being locked on his own a little more bearable! (I know, I’m an amazing girlfriend!).

3 things to consider when purchasing digital nomad insurance.

From our experience, here are 3 things you need to consider when getting digital nomad insurance:

• Does it cover covid expenses?

The biggest expense we had during this sickness was hotel expenses. It depends on the country you’re staying in, but if they require you to quarantine in a specific hotel, the price can get really high. SafetyWing covered $50 per day, which was just a couple of bucks short of the cost of the quarantine hotel. We were so happy that there was one less expense to think of!

• Check the deductible for the plan you choose.

The SafetyWing deductible for its most affordable plan was of $250, which made sense to us – and in case you have no idea what deductible means (I had no clue!), it’s the amount of money you have to spend before the insurance starts covering you. Here’s an important tip: SAVE EVERY RECEIPT!

Because we went back to our home countries a few times at the beginning of 2022 (which means we could get our yearly check-ups done there), we got SafetyWing’s most affordable package of $42 for 4 weeks. But some packages have a lower deductible or no deductible at all.

The cost of SafetyWing’s packages varies depending on your age, where you’re traveling, etc. You can use the calculator below to see how much it would cost! 

• Find out how easy/difficult it is to get in touch with someone at the insurance company.

In the past, I’ve signed up for medical insurance companies that take their sweet time in replying back to me. Any time we contacted SafetyWing we had someone reply to us right away. They were friendly, knowledgeable, and tried to solve our issue as quickly as possible. A true breath of fresh air!

Our Experience with SafetyWing.

• So far, we’ve had a positive experience with SafetyWing.

They covered the cost of the Covid hotel, just as advertised. They asked us for a lot of paperwork for the reimbursement, but they paid us back as soon as we could provide them with all the documents they needed.

I think what I loved the most about SafetyWing was the treatment. They were so thoughtful, checked up on us, and even recommended hospitals they had dealt with in the past so that the reimbursement process would be faster and easier for us.

Their platform is very intuitive too, so it’s easy to find the information you need regarding your policy and the information

hospitals or embassies ask you for.

It was a positive experience, so we still choose them in our current travels!

How much is SafetyWing insurance? 

One of the things I love the most about SafetyWing is that you can sign up only for a specific period. This means you don’t have to commit to one or three months. You can sign up for the exact amount of time you’ll be traveling for. 

Conclusion

We had a great experience: friendly staff, quick response, full reimbursement exactly as advertised, and an empathetic team that really took care of us and genuinely cared.

Having worked in customer service for so long, I know that the treatment you get is what will stay with you. 

With SafetyWing, what makes the experience memorable is that it’s very user-friendly and that the founders (as well as all of the employees) are digital nomads, so they can easily understand a situation in which you’re scared, alone, isolated, and you need support. 

There also seems to be a lot of common sense (which I haven’t seen with other travel insurances I’ve signed up for). 

They understand the reality of being in a foreign country, so they provide you with the correct information as quickly as possible, so you don’t waste your time and can plan your next step accordingly.

Sign up for SafetyWing’s insurance by clicking here.