We’ve use the same paramaters for comparing the cheapest travel insurance options for Australians by looking at a 3 month around the world trip visiting the USA, Canada, Japan and some Asian and European Countries. This is looking purely at the price and there are other factors which should be taken into account when choosing your travel insurance policies.

We’ve left out the Travel Insurance Centre which was in the last report as it has so many different options. Still worth checking out, but hard to draw direct comparisons.

World Nomads still comes in as the Cheapest, and Travel Insurance Direct as the most expensive of these options – but also the most comprehensive.

Remember to always read the fine print and make sure you’re covered for what is most important for you.

Quotes are accurate as at 18th of June, 2007.

One does have to question whether the research is slighly biased when completed by and online company. Surely not? There is no doubt that travel insurance purchased online can be cheaper, this is due to a number of reasons, eg low staff overhead, no need for an expensive shop front, and highly automated processes. These all help to reduce the cost of purchasing travel insurance online.

World Nomads are able to provide highly effective travel insurance quotes for travellers from over 150 countries around the world. They don’t need an office in any of those countries.

Another issue to bear in mind is that it’s very difficult to compare like with like. Travel Insurance policies can differ enourmously from provider to provider. You need to read the fine print to ensure the policy you are purchasing is the best one for you. You can visit our Travel Insurance Websites page to read up on a few of the available providers.

Call me cynical, but I think it’s just a ruse to get a bit of publicity for some other new Travel Insurance products they’ve slipped into their press release. The reality is even if Branson does get flights into space as early as 2009 – who’s going to be travelling on them?

Since I read this annoucement I’ve been wondering – what will the travel insurance policy cover?

Whatever is covered – I’m sure it won’t be cheap travel insurance!

World Nomads Footprints broadly supports the Millennium Development Goals that aim to significantly reduce world poverty by the year 2015.

1. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieving universal primary education
3. Promoting gender equality and empowering women
4. Reducing child mortality
5. Improving maternal health
6. Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensuring environmental sustainability
8. Developing a global partnership for development

Some of the projects they are raising funds for at the moment are:

1. Build a community primary school, Bhutan
2. Provide water & sanitation for a school, PNG
3. Teacher training program, Himalaya
4. Provide Water to Qelqanqa Village, Peru
5. Repair the Kiwanje Ndege Primary School, Kenya

When you purchase an insurance policy from World Nomads, a portion of the sale goes to the Footprints program. You can also donate more when you purchase.

This is a fantastic initiative by the guys at World Nomads. Make sure you at least get a quote from the when planning your next trip.

The first one plays on the conditions of hospitals in foreign countries, check out the following clip on unnecessary surgery:

A lads tour to Bangkok goes a weee bit wrong when one of them meets a ‘gender blender’ – Bangkok Ladyboy:

When a small turns into a BIG, this guy is very glad he is covered:

Going traveling? don’t forget to get a quote.

Click here to visit our new Travel Insurance Glossary page. Or click on the menu on the left.

In this case it looks like Columbus is the cheapest options for travel insurance for Europe overtaking World Nomads from our previous report on the cheapest travel insurance for around the world trips.

As you can see the Travel Insurance Center is quite clearly the cheapest. However it is also low on Medical Benefits and missing any other items such as luggage etc. World Nomads I think is the best value if you are on a budget coming in at just $243 for a 3 month policy. Undoubtably Travel Insurance Direct is the best policy if you’re not concerned about the cost.

Remember you must read the full policy document to ensure areas you are traveling to are covered and the items you want covered are covered.

These quotes are accurate at the time of writing on the 20th December 2006.