Good Advice for Backpackers and Gap Year Travellers

Stay Safe and Trouble- Free:

• Get a good guidebook and plan your journey


• Ask friends who have travelled for advice


• You'll be most vulnerable when you first arrive, so book accommodation in advance for your first night away


• If you go out at night, make sure you know how to get back to your accommodation, many hotels and hostels can give you cards that show you how to get back


• Obey and respect the local laws - we can't get you out if prison if you get arrested abroad


• Respect local customs and dress codes - you may cause offence and stand out as a tourist(and be a target) for thieves


• Only change money in banks or legal foreign exchange bureaus - You do not want to be given fake currency, Keep a receipt of all money exchanges


• Be very cautious about hitchhiking, especially at night - always travel in pairs and be aware that drivers may expect payment


• Take a first aid kit, especially if you are travelling to remote area's


• Send important information to your web-based email account for easy access

Visa's and Passports

• Make sure you've got the correct work permits if you're planning to work whilst travelling you could face severe penalties or deportation if you work illegally


• Do not overstay your visa - it could lead to a fine or prison. You can extend your visa in most places.

Do not forget to buy travel insurance

Holidaysafe.co.uk offer specialist backpackers travel insurance and gap year travel insurance from as little as 17 pence per day. To get a quote or to buy travel insurance please click here

Source: Foreign and Commonwealth office. For more information on backpacking holidays have a look at their website http://www.go.gapyear.com/top-tips

Use your gap year to enhance your CV

Ever since Prince William embarked on his "value added" gap year, teaching in South America, working on a farm in the UK and building walkways being amongst his projects, the concept of the gap year has changed.
UCA's confirm that seven percent of all students with confirmed places at university in 2008 will take a gap year.
That is over 30,000 young people setting out to conserve Rhino's in Africa or doing some sort of unpaid internship with an international company.
So what is your future employer really looking for when he scans your CV?

Simon Owen, partner at global proffesional advisory firm Deloitte, agrees that a gap year should be a carefully considered choice. " I head a team of 550 people and we take on 120 new staff every year.
Whenever I see a gap year on an application form, I want to know that there was a process of planning involved. Aimless globe-hopping is not going to impress me, but a series of well thought out projects of reasonable duration will make me sit up and take notice."

Richard Broom, Admisssion's officer for undergraduates at City University London says 600-700 would-be students apply for deferred entry each year, and it can be a positive advantage. "students who take this option tend to return more mature and well-rounded," he says. But it's not the case that anything goes." The most important thing is that the student has thought about why he or she wants to defer and can explain it coherently," he says.

Specialist travel insurer Holidaysafe comments" work life balance is important too, time spent trecking, scuba diving or paragliding is also a valuable part of the whole experience but whatever you decide do make sure you are well protected by your gap year travel insurance with top up cover for the specialist activities you plan to undertake. Many of those taking gap year travel insurance fail to realise that these slightly higher risk activities may not be included in the standard package."

Fortunately cover is available for as little as 17 pence a day to buy travel insurance or to get a quote just click here.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Take a gap year to test drive your chosen career path

Students across the UK will be opening that envelope containing their A Level results this morning and while a lucky few will realise their immediate ambition of going to uni in October for many the next step will be more problematic. One of the options open to students is ro extend their horizons by taking a gap year break.

Tom Griffiths founder of gapyear.com, said it was vital for the confused teeneagers to find the right life path. Speaking at the offices in Ipswich the expert put forward a compelling case for school leavers to emabark on a constructive gap year packed with work experience, before moving onto university or that dream job.
"If they dont know what they want to do it is important to test drive careers, to showcase their talentsand get the opportunityto get a crack at being a journalist, a photographer or whatever they want to do , to see if they enjoy it and get a feel for it."

He also commented that a gap year gives them a chance to make local contacts and develop a network which will be useful later on.

If you are a student offspring decide to take up this challenge dont forget the essential gap year travel insurance to cover any unexpected emergencies.
For students who need gap year travel insurance cover starts from a very reasonable 17 pence a day. To get a quote or to buy travel insurance, please "click here"

Source:- Evening Star24 am edition

Beat the recession

Beat the recession? Extend your gap year but remember to extend your gap year travel insurance too!

It has been revealed by Projects Abroad a company specialising in arranging gap year opportunities that growing numbers of gap year school and university leavers are extending their stay abroad beyond the originally planned term since the onset of the recession last year.

An unprecedented number of requests have been received from young people who fearful of the slim opportunities to find work or embark on their careers have decided against returning to the UK just now.
The job situation is exacerbated by the increased number of school and university leavers planning to take a gap year because of the recession.

The firm’s chairman Dr Peter Stowe said “In nearly 20 years of operation we have never seen young people basically not wanting to come home.” He explained that More than 130 requests have been made this year on behalf of youngsters working in third world countries

Fortunately for them Holidaysafe’s gap year travel insurance cover can be easily extended to a maximum of 18 months in one phone call.

Holidaysafe.co.uk offer a range of backpackers travel insurance and gap year travel insurance from as little as 17pence a day. For a quote or to buy travel insurance, please click here.

Source - Politics.co.uk

Lost luggage

Its infuriating when you lose your luggage. It’s even worse when the airline responsible only offers you the amount that they have to under the Montreal convention (currently £972.80), rather than covering the full cost of the case and its contents. The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organisation has proposed increasing the maximum level of compensation, currently £972.80, to £1060.48 next year. Well if you are one of the 33,000 people that has to make a claim from their airline annually, the additional £87.68 proposed probably does not even cover one of the items in the luggage!

Not to worry however as any good travel insurance policy on the market will also have cover for such an event and will cover the shortfall up to the section limit. Another reason not to forget to buy travel insurance. Holidaysafe.co.uk can offer policies that include such cover, for two weeks in Europe for a family of two adults and two children from just £16.01.

Lying in the sun this summer could seriously damage your wealth

Dishonest holidaymakers were given a stark warning by the ABI. This summer, anyone caught cheating on their travel insurance will face higher insurance costs, problems in obtaining other insurances, more expensive credit, and possible prosecution. Last year, travel insurers detected 4,300 dishonest travel insurance claims – over 80 every week – worth £5 million.Insurers and overseas police forces are becoming more vigilant, and are determined to crack down on the cheats. Details of fraudulent claims are kept on industry-wide databases used by insurers, and other financial institutions, and they may increase the cost of other insurances such as motor and household, as well as impacting on an individual’s credit rating.

Potentially suspicious claims include the last minute loss, where items are reported lost or stolen to the insurer very shortly before returning home, with no time to report the loss to the police, and claims for high value items, such as cameras, jewellery and camcorders, where there is a lack of proof of the loss or theft.

Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health, said:

“Travel insurance is there to cover you if things go wrong, not to pay for the cost of your holiday. The vast majority of claimants are honest, but the dishonest few are in for a nasty and expensive shock this summer. Details of fraudulent claims are held on industry databases, which will impact on the cost and availability of other types of insurance, such as motor and household, and affect an individual’s credit rating.”
Some of the more unusual travel insurance frauds exposed in the past include:

- A photographer was jailed for three months after he claimed for £8,000 worth of camera equipment allegedly damaged while on holiday.
- A holidaymaker in Cyprus reporting an alleged theft was caught out when the resort police discovered the ‘stolen’ items in her friend’s handbag.
- The ‘recovery expenses’ claimed by a traveller following a bout of malaria contracted in West Africa were in fact for services provided by the local brothel.
- A doctor was given a custodial sentence and barred by the BMA after making multiple baggage claims.

Holidaysafe.co.uk, providers of travel insurance for single trips, annual multi-trips and backpackers travel insurance comments:

As always the few spoil it for the many. Those that are manipulating the system and making fraudulent claims are increasing the costs of travel insurance for everyone. Whilst we do everything we can to provide reasonably priced travel insurance with great cover levels, pricing is effected, as are all travel insurers, by those making fraudulent claims.

If you are looking to buy travel insurance, please click here for a quote.

Source: Association of British Insurers August 2009

Fraudulent claimers beware!

The Association of British Insurers reports that the number of false travel-insurance claims is on the increase.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the practice has become so rife among young backpackers it is considered a reasonable way to recoup expenses.
Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner were in Rio de Janeiro, on the last days of a nine-month round-the-world trip, when they told local police that belongings worth more than £1,000 had been stolen during an earlier bus journey.
According to reports, police were suspicious of the girls’ delay in reporting the incident and asked to search their hostel — where they found the items in question.

The girls are now being held in the notorious Mesquita jail and face up to five years in prison if found guilty. Andrews’s mother, Simone Headley of Tunbridge Wells, is adamant that the incident is a terrible misunderstanding.
Laura Davies, a British backpacker, knows all too well that tourist police are becoming more vigilant against scams. “We ran out of money in India and we knew there were robberies all the time,” she recalls.

“I’m ashamed to admit that we pretended our rucksacks had been rifled through. We went to the police, who were clearly dubious. They offered us the chance to come clean, warning that if we went ahead with the report and were found to be lying, the consequences could be bad. We took our things and left in silence.”

Gabe Hadar, from Israel, travelled to Asia many times between 2000 and 2006, using his trips to accumulate gadgets. “I would treat myself to expensive cameras at the start of my trip, then report them stolen to the police,” he says. “Buy the holiday, get the kit free — thank you very much.”

Malcolm Tarling, of the Association of British Insurers, says members have seen an increase in fraudulent claims over recent months. “Overseas police are cracking down on cheats,” he says. “They are fed up with tourists wasting their time. And if a fraudulent claim does reach us in the UK, we can spot suspicious cases quite easily. When we challenge a statement, a fraudulent claimant usually goes away.”

Studies show that up to 15% of British travellers have made at least one false travel-insurance claim — usually by adding to a genuine list of stolen items or by inflating their cost.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article6734928.ece