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Working while abroad

Non manual/clerical work including bar and restaurant work is covered for free, if you'll be volunteering, WWOOFing or partaking in any sort of manual labour - our Activity Pack can cover you.

Extend cover from Overseas

If at any point you realise you're not quite ready to return home, you can extend your insurance to include the remainder of your trip. Even if you don't have a Policy with us.

Available when already abroad

You don't need to be in your Home Country to get cover, you can buy a policy from anywhere in the world, as long as you're residential status is still in the UK or EU.

Read more

Home Visits covered

If policy duration is over 4 months: You can put your travels on hold and return home at any time, even if it's not necessary and you're just a bit homesick. We have no limits, so you can be back for as long as you like.

No return ticket required

You don't need to know when you'll be returning home to get cover. So if you're on an open ended trip, have no return ticket booked or emigrating, we can cover you.

Cover for 156+ Activities

Whether you'll be scuba diving, mountain biking, jet skiing, bungee jumping, sky diving or kayaking. Our Activity Packs can cover various levels of adventurous sports.


64 Activities covered
FREE!


24 hour Emergency
Helpline


Up to £10m Medical
Cover


Claim while still
travelling

Backpackers Travel Insurance

Whether you are a student in your gap year or an adventure traveller spending an extended period travelling around the world or living abroad for a few months, backpackers travel insurance is essential. It provides peace of mind that if something happens to you, like an accident, illness, loss of baggage, theft, cancellation, travel delays etc, you will be protected.

Backpackers Travel Insurance

Our backpacker insurance can be taken out for up to 24 months and covers over 70 sports and activities as standard. These can be extended by opting to include our additional Activity Pack or Extreme Activity Pack, meaning you'll be covered for a wide range of additional sports and activities, such as black water rafting, paragliding and sky diving. Winter Sports can also be covered with one of our Winter Sports add-ons. You can find out the full list of sports we cover here.

What’s more, if your policy runs out you can easily extend it online and even buy a new policy if you are already travelling uninsured. Oh, and if you get homesick and would like to come back to see the folks, you can do that too, if your policy is over 4 months long you can come home as many times as you like for as long as you like. Don't forget your gadgets & valuables, we provide cover for those too!

Key Features of Backpacker Travel Insurance:

  • Emergency Medical and Repatriation Expenses up to £10 million.
  • Emergency Dental Cover.
  • Cover duration of up to 24 months.
  • Baggage Cover
  • Gadgets & Valuable Cover 
  • One Way Travel.
  • No return ticket requirement.
  • Free Home visits.
  • Policy Extensions whilst still travelling.
  • 156+ Sports and Activities.
  • Winter Sports Cover.
  • Loss of Passport & Visa replacement costs.

Some more information:

Home visits are allowed if your policy duration is 4 months or more. There are no limits, you can come home as many times as you like, for as long as you like.


21 people found this faq useful.

If you get sick while travelling or you're seriously injured you are covered for emergency medical treatment including:

  • Hospitalisation
  • Ambulance costs
  • Surgery and follow up treatment
  • Visits to the Doctor
  • Repatriation
  • Prescribed Medicine
  • Emergency dental treatment to relieve pain and suffering (limited to £350)

24hrs Medical Emergency Assistance.

 


2 people found this faq useful.

To add any of our Activity Packs, just follow the Quote form - to stage 3 - there you will find all of the optional extras.


2 people found this faq useful.

Non-manual/clerical work is covered automatically with a Big Cat policy. So, there’s nothing you need to add to be covered for things like teaching, caring or nursing.

With the Activity Pack, we can also cover work of a more manual nature. This can include things like WWOOFing, partaking in community or wildlife based conservation work, charity based supervised building / renovation projects or other permitted manual work (defined below).

Cover is excluded for any activity that involves the use of industrial machinery (other than tractors) or non-domestic power tools.


6 people found this faq useful.

Yes, bar work or working in a chalet is automatically covered with all of our policies.


3 people found this faq useful.

WWOOfing is classed as Permitted Manual Work, so with the Activity Pack, you’re covered.

(see above)


3 people found this faq useful.

Means WWOOFing, fruit picking, casual farm work. Other Manual Work can be covered as long as it does not involve the use of plant/trade/industrial/agricultural machinery (other than tractors) or non-domestic power tools.

Please get in touch if you'd like to find out if we can provide cover for any light manual work you will be doing.


3 people found this faq useful.

Decide Canada’s not for you, and want to return earlier than your full period of insurance?

Other insurers will tell you to wave goodbye to your money, but Big Cat lets you claim a partial premium refund for the unused time you didn’t stay in Canada.

 

How does the EARLY RETURN REFUND work?

Let’s say you buy a 24-month policy to cover your time in Canada. But after nine months, you decide that Canada’s not for you, and you want to return home. You may have invested a substantial amount for your 24 months Big Cat policy, most of which you’ll now no longer need. Unlike most insurers, Big Cat is happy to offer you a partial refund on the redundant portion of your insurance as a fair’s fair consolation. Please note that travel insurance premiums are not calculated on a pro-rata basis, as such, no refund is calculated in this manner either.

 

How does Big Cat calculate the amount of EARLY RETURN REFUND?

We take the length of time of the original policy and subtract the actual amount of time you have used, and payout the difference, deducting a £50 Cancellation Charge.

 

Are there other conditions that apply to my EARLY RETURN REFUND?

  1. Only applicable to 24 month IEC policies.
  2. We are not able to offer refunds to cover the first 6 months of the policy.
  3. No refund can be given on a policy where a claim has been made or is likely to be made prior to the cancellation of your Big Cat policy.
  4. You must be back in your home country and notify us by email of your wish to cancel the policy within 14 days of your arrival, please also provide us with proof of your return to the UK (flight ticket / e-ticket / boarding pass).
  5. All refund calculations are based on the base premium paid only. Add-ons are non-refundable.

 

Can you give an example of how much I could receive back in my EARLY RETURN REFUND?

Say you took out a 24-month budget IEC policy costing £525.24, then you wish to cancel the policy after 9 months. Our 9-month budget IEC policy costs £312.55. So we deduct £312.55 from £525.24 = £212.99

Then we apply the £50 Cancellation Charge, refunding you a total of £162.99.


8 people found this faq useful.

Big Cat Travel Insurance Services, a trading name of Flynow.com Ltd (registration No.FRN 745388)  is an Appointed Representative of Campbell Irvine Ltd (registration No.306242) who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You may check this on the Financial Services register www.fca.org.uk or by contacting them on (0) 800 111 6768. © 2023 Big Cat Travel Insurance Services.  All rights reserved.