Travel Insurance Tips For Dummies

Travelling abroad neednt fill you with worry, but its important to be covered just in case the worst does come along. Flight cancellation and loss of baggage or passport are some of the more trivial things that could happen while your away, but you could also find yourself in a very sticky financial situation should you or one of your group become ill or suffer an accident. Outside the EU, medical expenses wont be covered, while even inside the EU you may need to pay for transport home or private treatment. Taking out the correct travel insurance policy can cover you against all of these misdemeanours, and give you peace of mind while youre away. If youre looking for the best travel insurance deal for this summer, then take a read of this article for some tips for finding the best policy.

Check What You Already Have
If youre a premium customer with a bank or credit card company, then chances are that youll already have travel insurance included. This is particularly likely if youre paying a monthly fee for your banking. Make sure you check this out with your bank and read the small print of the deal it might not be valid outside of the EU or if you have special circumstances, but a phone call should clear this up. If you dont have a policy already, then it really pays to shop around. Its easier to do now thanks to the web all you really need to do is key travel insurance into a search engine, flick a few of the results and enter your requirements. Price comparison websites are particularly useful, so if you filter through a couple of these then youll be on the right track.

Special Clauses
Anyone with special conditions can get quoted ludicrously high amounts from most traditional insurers. People with histories of serious illness or disability, and those who are pregnant or over sixty-five can all find themselves struggling to justify the cover price. Make sure you have an EHIC card (when travelling within Europe) and check out specialist insurers that may be able to give you a better deal. If you find the cover to still be unaffordable, then the price may drop if you ask the insurer to exclude pre-existing conditions; though its then your call on the risks of going abroad with limited cover. Also, the EHIC card wont cover you for everything. In fact, it will only give you as much medical cover as a local citizen in your destination country it wont cover you for luggage loss or plane ticket cancellation.

Dont Over Cover
When searching for a policy, its important to understand what kind of cover you need. If you just take the first policy you find, youre likely to either be substantially over insuring yourself, or perhaps even under insuring. Be particularly wary of premium insurance deals offering extremely high amounts of cover when you dont really need it. For instance, do you really need 50 million worth of medical insurance cover? The answer is almost certainly not. In fact, its probably best to go for something more towards the 2 million mark for maximum medical expenses cover, while you should go towards 1 million for personal liability. Flight cancellation is also worth considering too no one wants to be in the nightmare scenario of not being able to go on holiday for whatever reason, but then having to stump up for it anyway.

Tour Guide Europe Simplifying Challenges While Travelling

Have you been planning to travel to Europe, but are unsure as to where would you like to go? If you are nodding to a YES, then you should consult tour guide for Europe before actually embarking upon your trip. Tour guide for Europe can be easily accessed by means of the numerous travel agents are have their shops in and around your street. To begin with, you could even ask your friends or relatives who have been to Europe, and get some insight into the things to do or not to do. However, besides a personal experience getting access to some professional guidance would be far better.

Guide for your Europe tour can facilitate you to gain more information pertaining to the sites to visit in the second largest continent. Europe encompasses a wide treasure of history and cultural diversity that can be enjoyed by its visitors. Countries such as Greece, Italy, France, England and Germany are some of the instances of the treasure-trove of the vibrant past and present that attracts thousands and thousands of tourists all across the world to Europe. If you consult a tour guide before going to Europe, you can save upon a lot of hassle that you may otherwise encounter while traveling. A guide would brief you upon the climate, places of interest, get suitable accommodations as well as manage all these within your budgetary framework.

The importance of a tour guide can be aptly understood by those who had to face numerous obstacles due to lack of planning and insight. An unplanned tour could land you in a troubled circumstance wherein you have to undergo difficulties that may result in turning your enjoyable trip into a worst nightmare.

Advancement of technology has caught up everywhere including the tourism industry. This means that, you could even get assistance for your tour guide to Europe online without any botheration. A number of online websites have come up in the recent past that can cater to this need effectively. However, before availing services from online websites, it is always advisable to authenticate it and go through its terms and conditions to avoid any confusion in the future.

What’s So Great About Travelling Alone

The hardest decision that faces most gap year and career break travellers is not choosing between Africa, Asia, Europe or South America. Nor is it, packing the complete world travel guide (just in case) or a lifetime supply of insect repellent. Choosing whether to travel with friends or to go it alone is actually the most important decision youll ever make, and its one that will affect every aspect of your trip.

Whether youre 17 or going on 70, if you havent ever been away by yourself before, it can seem like the most terrifying thing in the world. Though it seems incredibly daunting, boldly going where youve never gone before can be a fantastically liberating experience. Travelling alone gives you the freedom to go wherever you want and do whatever you want; all you need to do is make sure that you make the most of every opportunity and experience along the way!

A little soul searching

Spending time away from everything and everyone youre used to will give you the perfect opportunity to not only do new and exciting things, but to learn a lot of things you never knew about yourself. Relying on your own abilities may seem a little too Bear Grylls but youll be surprised by your newfound sense of capability and independence.

Travelling is a great way to learn about new cultures and challenge yourself, and that doesnt necessarily mean eating unidentified bugs. From climbing Everest to teaching a class of 200 in northern Africa, going it alone will open up a whole world of new experiences that you never thought you could cope with, and give you a whole new set of skills to bring home with you.

A social extravaganza

Travelling with friends can be an amazing experience, but it can also be a limiting one. Setting off with your buddies or your partner might feel comforting, but its all too easy to end up relying on each other so much that you miss out on opportunities to meet new people. Without your trusty friends at your side, youll be far more likely to make an effort to seize each chance to make new friends and youll get to know a lot more people.

Whether youre travelling independently or with a company you will come across people from all walks of life; staying in hostels, interacting with the locals and even as you travel from place to place, its guaranteed that youll meet some like minded people along the way, and almost certain that youll find a few lifelong friends. Dont forget that there are hundreds of travellers out there who have decided to go it alone and they will be just as keen as you are to make new friends.

If you want, a cast-iron guarantee that youll see a few friendly faces when you get out there, the best solution is to go through a company. Travelling as part of a group or volunteer project, you can be certain that there will be other people there and quite a few of them will be solo travellers too. Companies like Real Gap send out a buddy list a few weeks before you go, which gives contact details of all of the travellers going on the same trip as you so you can get in touch before you leave, swap packing tips and maybe even arrange a group flight.

A chance to be selfish

Travelling on your own gives you the chance to be utterly and completely selfish. You can plan to do exactly what you want, where you want, and for however, long you feel like doing it. There will be no need to compromise on which famous sites you want to see and how long or how short your trip up the mountain is; your itinerary will be completely up to you. You might miss your friends for a little while but youll soon appreciate the freedom of choice you have without them.

Youll also be able to make the most of any opportunities that come your way; if you make some new friends and decide that you want to tag along with them for a few weeks or fall in love with a place and want to stay there a little longer, you can. If youre travelling with a company and decide that you want to change your trip or project, there will be no other feelings to consider than your own, so you can always do whats right for you. After all, if you cant make your trip of a lifetime all about you, when can you?

Top solo travel tips

If youre travelling alone, there are a few essential things you need to do to get the most you possibly can out of your gap year or career break trip, here are the top 3.

Be outgoing

Life as a traveller is nothing like life at home, while you wouldnt strike up a conversation with the person next to you in Tesco, thats exactly the kind of thing that will win you friends overseas. Now is the time to get yourself down to the hostel bar, take part in the optional activities and try out your phrase book on the locals! Travelling alone is the best possible cure for shyness, and you will definitely get back what you put in!

Be aware of your personal safety

Through travelling is probably the only situation where its good to talk to strangers, you still need to be aware of where you are and what youre doing. Personal safety may not be the most exciting of things but it is important when youre in an unfamiliar country with not altogether familiar people. Making new friends is great but make sure you dont get too intoxicated, and keep any eye on your valuables when youre out and about. Its a good idea to keep your loved ones updated on how youre doing by sending emails or writing an online blog, that way theyll be able to track of where you are and whats going on.

If youre keen on safety issues, companies like Real Gap offer specialised safety courses that will help you to prepare for any eventuality and give you a lot more confidence about setting off on your own.

Manage your expectations

When youre travelling to a new country youre likely to experience a little of whats known as culture shock. The best way to make sure you get the most out of your trip is to be prepared; do some research into your destinations cultures, traditions and history. Its important to respect the culture of the country youre visiting; different countries have different social rules and different standards of life, its your job to fit in and knowing what to expect will make it a lot easier.

If youre travelling with a company youll get a pre-departure pack full of country and trip information, it might seem tedious but its a good idea to read every single page. Youll definitely be wishing youd read up a bit more if youre the only one who turns up in shorts and a t-shirt in monsoon season!