Before I went to the Czech Republic I bought a year’s worth of travel insurance (from a man who asked me if the Czech Republic was in the USA or Canada…). After that I completely forgot about it, which was probably very careless, but it didn’t even cross my mind. I had the EU health insurance card, which covered the most important thing, and I forgot about everything else. This is odd because I wouldn’t dream of going in holiday from the UK without travel insurance.
Now that I’m about to move to a none-EU country, the question of insurance has crossed my mind again. As before, I have medical insurance, but what about everything else? What about missed flights or lost luggage? What about repatriation to the UK if I need it? I hope I never do, but it seems risky to have nothing.
What do you do? Are there any companies you can recommend?
Sandy Millin 
I think this si somethong that depends a lot on your circumstances and attitude to things… Insurance is best for things you’d struggle to pay for yourself (so medical insurance is usually pretty important). For things that would be a pain to replace, but you could do it it’s worth thinking whether it’s worth it ( I never bother with insuring my phone – it’s really expensive, and I don’t lose them often enough for it to be worthwhile).
What I tend to do is go for insurance with a fairly high excess – so it’s cheaper, but if the worst happens I’m covered for the really expensive stuff – if that makes sense.
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When I was abroad I worried about not having insurance for ages, then eventually my dad told me off and I got my act together and found some!
Firstly, watch out for ‘travel insurance’ because it doesn’t normally cover people who are working (small print!). They also don’t usually let you claim for smaller things until you return, and then you would have to return for a long time to process the claim, so for people living abroad it is pointless. On the other hand, professional ‘expat’ insurance is normally way beyond the price range for an ELT teacher / professional (when I looked, decent policies were over £1500 a year, sometimes triple that).
If I were you, I’d leave this until you get out there. In Vietnam I found medical insurance for a tenth of the cost, which covered medical evacuation to a country of my choice. Your school can probably help you out when you arrive to find some, so long as you have medical, you’ll be fine.
Good luck!!!
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Yes, it might be worth waiting til you get out to Ukraine. I’m flying off to China, hopefully next week, without any insurance. It is risky, I know. But in my experience any insurance policies I’ve had – I’ve either never had any need to make a claim or the excess has put me off. The only thing I am concerned about would be dire situation where it was life/death and had to be repatriated. Small little claims aren’t worth the paperwork usually. So I just take care when I travel abroad. Let us know if you do decide to take something out either before or after you get to Ukraine. Safe travels!
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