SafetyWing Nomad Insurance: What It's Actually Like After 3+ Years of Full-Time Travel
After 3+ years of full-time travel across 33 countries -- including real hospital visits in Bangkok and Budapest -- here's our honest take on SafetyWing Nomad Insurance.
Travel medical insurance is one of those things nobody wants to think about until they really, really need it. We've been traveling full-time with our three daughters since May 2022 -- across 33+ countries, including extended stays in Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, and beyond -- and along the way we've had to navigate actual medical situations in places like Budapest and Bangkok. So when people ask us what travel insurance we use, it's not a hypothetical. We've been in the thick of it.
We use SafetyWing and have for a while now. This isn't a product we've glanced at from the outside -- we've used it, understood its limits, and kept coming back to it. Here's what we've actually learned.
What Is SafetyWing Nomad Insurance?
SafetyWing is a travel medical insurance provider built specifically for people who are traveling long-term, working remotely, or living a nomadic lifestyle. Their flagship product -- Nomad Insurance Essential -- is not a comprehensive health insurance plan. It covers unexpected illness and injury abroad, plus common travel headaches like delays, lost luggage, and trip interruptions.
The key distinction worth understanding upfront: Nomad Insurance Essential is travel medical insurance, not full health insurance. It won't cover routine checkups, pre-existing conditions, or preventive care. What it will do is step in when something goes unexpectedly wrong -- which, when you travel long enough, it will.
SafetyWing also offers Nomad Insurance Complete, which upgrades to full health insurance including routine care, mental health support, wellness therapies, and cancer treatment, usable as a primary health plan in 175+ countries. If you're looking for something closer to full expat health coverage, that's the one to look at.
How the Pricing Works
One of the things that initially drew us to SafetyWing is how it's structured. Rather than buying a fixed policy for a defined trip, you subscribe -- the plan auto-extends every 28 days and you can cancel any time. You can also buy upfront for a single trip as short as 5 days or as long as 364 days. For long-term travelers who don't have a clear return date, that flexibility matters a lot.
Pricing varies based on age and whether you include coverage for travel within the United States. For a quick reference:
| Age Range | Coverage Type | Approx. Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | Kids included free with parent | $0 (up to 2 children) |
| 10-39 | Excluding US travel | ~$45-50 / 28 days |
| 10-39 | Including US travel | ~$62-68 / 28 days |
| 40-49 | Excluding US travel | ~$75-85 / 28 days |
| 50-59 | Excluding US travel | ~$120-135 / 28 days |
Children under 10 travel free with a covered parent – up to two kids per adult. That's actually one of the more compelling parts of the product for families like ours, where three kids would otherwise be three separate line items on an insurance bill.
For current pricing specific to your age and itinerary, use the SafetyWing price calculator here.
What It Actually Covers
The coverage under Nomad Insurance Essential is designed around travel medical situations -- the kind of thing that can derail a trip and empty your savings account if you're not prepared.
| Coverage Category | What's Included |
|---|---|
| Emergency medical care | Unexpected illness or injury abroad, hospital stays, emergency surgery |
| Emergency dental | Acute dental pain resulting from an accident |
| Medical evacuation | Transport to the nearest adequate facility or home country if medically necessary |
| Trip interruption | Costs incurred if travel is interrupted due to a covered medical event |
| Travel delays | Reasonable expenses for delays over 12 hours |
| Lost checked luggage | Reimbursement for permanently lost checked bags |
| Home country coverage | 30 days of coverage per 90 days in your home country |
| COVID-19 | Covered like any other unexpected illness |
Note that SafetyWing covers you in 175+ countries. There are exclusions to understand -- pre-existing conditions are not covered under Nomad Essential, and it's not designed to replace comprehensive health insurance for things like routine care or check-ups. If you want that level of coverage, Nomad Insurance Complete handles it.
What We've Actually Used It For
We've documented some of our family's medical moments on the YouTube channel -- from a hospital visit in Budapest to an emergency room trip in Bangkok. Those aren't fun videos to film, but they're some of the most useful ones we've made because they show what traveling with kids and actually needing medical care looks like in real life.
We ended up in a Bangkok hospital (see that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6d0ZbyNg4) and in Budapest's medical system (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uQVYCh4dJU) during our earlier travels. Neither situation was catastrophic, but both reinforced why having coverage in place matters. Navigating a foreign healthcare system while managing a sick kid is stressful enough without also worrying about what it's going to cost you.
The key thing to understand going in is that SafetyWing Nomad Essential is there for the unexpected. It's not meant to be your full health plan -- it's there for the moments you didn't plan for.
The Subscription Model: Why It Works for Long-Term Travelers
Most travel insurance is sold in chunks -- you buy it for a two-week trip, it expires, you move on. For people who travel the way we do, that model is impractical. We don't always know where we'll be in three months or when exactly we're coming home.
SafetyWing's auto-extending 28-day subscription solves that. You set it up, it rolls over, and you're covered. If you decide to head home or change your plans, you cancel. There's no penalty for canceling, and you're not locked into coverage you don't need.
That structure also means you can buy in while you're already traveling -- you don't have to have started coverage before you left home. There's typically a 2-day waiting period for new subscribers (for illness; accidents are covered immediately), but for people who realize mid-trip that they should sort out their coverage, it's still accessible.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Complete: The Full Health Option
If Nomad Essential is the safety net, Nomad Complete is closer to the full floor. It's designed to serve as your primary health insurance -- the thing you'd have if you were living in a country long-term and needed access to routine care.
Nomad Complete adds:
- Routine checkups and preventive care
- Mental health diagnosis and support
- Wellness therapies
- Cancer treatment
- All of the travel protections from Nomad Essential
It's priced higher than Essential, but for families who are genuinely living abroad full-time and need something that functions like real health coverage -- not just emergency backup -- it's worth comparing against the alternatives.
You can explore both products and get an accurate quote through the SafetyWing website here.
Who SafetyWing Is Best Suited For
Not every insurance product is right for every traveler. Based on our experience, here's an honest breakdown:
| Traveler Type | Fit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term / slow travelers | Excellent | Subscription model is built for this |
| Digital nomads | Excellent | Flexible, cancellable, globally valid |
| Worldschooling families | Very good | Kids under 10 covered free with parent |
| Gap year travelers | Very good | Works well for extended one-way trips |
| Short trip vacationers | Decent | Works, but purpose-built trip insurance may be simpler |
| People with significant pre-existing conditions | Limited | Essential doesn't cover pre-existing; Complete may |
For families like ours who are moving through multiple countries over months at a time, SafetyWing makes a lot of sense. The per-child pricing (free under 10) is genuinely good value when you're traveling with multiple kids. For a family of five with three daughters still in that age range, that matters.
What SafetyWing Doesn't Cover (Be Clear-Eyed About This)
We'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't talk about the gaps. Nomad Insurance Essential is designed around emergencies and unexpected events -- it's not a substitute for comprehensive health insurance if you have ongoing medical needs.
The main exclusions to understand:
- Pre-existing medical conditions (generally excluded under Essential)
- Routine and preventive care (check-ups, vaccinations, etc.)
- Extreme sports injuries unless you add specific coverage
- Travel to certain high-risk destinations (check the policy for your destinations)
- Medical care received in your home country beyond the 30-day allowance per 90 days
None of these are reasons not to use SafetyWing -- they're just reasons to understand what you're buying. If you have specific ongoing medical needs or require full primary health coverage, look at Nomad Complete or compare SafetyWing against alternatives like Faye Travel Insurance, which handles some use cases differently.
How to Get Started
Getting set up with SafetyWing is straightforward. You go to their site, enter your age, travel dates, and home country, and they'll give you a quote. If you're traveling with kids under 10, they'll be included at no extra cost.
You can buy it before you leave or while you're already traveling. The 28-day auto-extension means you don't need to think about it again until you decide to cancel.
Start here: Get your SafetyWing Nomad Insurance quote
Final Thoughts
Travel insurance is a category that most people research exactly once -- when something goes wrong and they realize they needed it. We'd rather you do the research now. We've been using SafetyWing because it fits the way we travel: no fixed return dates, multiple countries, multiple family members, and an ever-changing itinerary. The subscription model, global coverage, and the fact that kids under 10 ride free with a parent make it a practical choice for long-term family travelers.
That said, we want to be clear: we use it because it works for us, not because we'd tell everyone it's the only option. If you have specific medical needs, pre-existing conditions, or want full primary health insurance as a long-term expat, look carefully at Nomad Complete or compare with other providers.
If you're planning a longer trip or you're already on the road without coverage sorted, SafetyWing is worth a serious look. Check their plans and pricing here.
And while you're planning -- if you're heading somewhere like Japan, Vietnam, or Southeast Asia and haven't sorted your data plan, we use Holafly eSIMs with code ADAMANDLINDS for up to 10% off. If you're going to be traveling for 20+ days, the Holafly Plans monthly subscription (from $49.90/month) is worth comparing against per-destination options.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through our SafetyWing link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We use SafetyWing as part of our family's travel setup and only share products we have real experience with. This is not insurance advice -- please read the full policy terms before purchasing to confirm coverage suits your specific needs. Only licensed insurance brokers can make specific insurance recommendations; we're just sharing what we use and why.
