24/7 Travel Insurance Blog

If you are shopping around for things that you need to take on your gap year you will no doubt have been amazed at how much is available – more than you could ever hope to carry! So now is the time to be selective and spend wisely.

Your Backpack
This is an item which you really should try before you buy as even subtle differences in design will affect your comfort. If you are only five feet tall and petite you will need a different bag from a strapping six-footer. A good shop should let you try it on and load it up. Keep it on your back for 20 minutes and if it is the right bag and adjusted correctly you should feel comfortable and not achy. Try bending over and turning round in it - if you fall over or knock things off the shop shelves it is probably not the one for you! You will also need a small day bag – try carrying both at the same time or choose one small enough to go in your main backpack when empty.

Sleeping Bag
Hired linen can be dubious on non-existent in some places so take your own sleeping bag. Many of them can be compacted to a very small size, especially if you don’t need one that can cope with below-freezing temperatures.

Travel Towels
You can buy some superb little towels that are about the size of a postage stamp and dry out in half an hour. If you are tight on space, these are brilliant. However it is worth saving room in your luggage for a nice big towel to lie on at the beach, as a blanket or pillow while in transit, to preserve your modesty or, well, to use for drying yourself.

Flip Flops
Can be purchased for a couple of pounds from Primark – and are a real must-have in your luggage. You will encounter lots of things that you do not want your feet to make contact with like scummy showers and sea urchins.

Water Purification Tablets, Mosquito Net, Emergency Blanket etc…
Before shelling out for these consider where you are going and what you are doing. If you are backpacking in a developed nation and staying in hostels you can probably do without these.

Plug Adaptors
If you are bringing something electrical, that is. Many mobile phones and MP3 players can be charged using the USB port on computers so you can put them on to charge while sending your emails home. Failing that many hostels and fellow travellers have them to borrow so consider if it is worth packing if you will only use it occasionally.

Torch
Another must – but a small plastic one will do the job nicely as this is an item that is likely to go AWOL at some point!

Money Carrier
Choose one that can be worn under clothing (to prevent advertising that you are potentially carrying something valuable) and waterproof so you can take it everywhere – swimming and showers are the perfect opportunity for a thief to get their hands on your money.

First Aid Kit
Check the contents carefully and consider customising rather than bringing items that you are very unlikely to use. If you are taking prescribed medicine check for any restrictions on taking them through customs, and check that you can obtain replacements at your destination.

Luxury Items
Take one book with you and once you have finished that swap it for another, then another then another. MP3 players could have been invented for backpackers – gone are the days of a Walkman, a stack of tapes and a packet of batteries for it. And – assuming you like it – a small jar of Marmite makes a tasty snack out of even a stale crust of bread. I certainly couldn’t live without it.

Travel Insurance
Even if you pack none of the above, travel insurance is the one thing you should definitely take with you. 24/7 travel insurance costs from as little as 18p per day* and could save you from a hefty bill after a medical emergency.

For more information visit http://www.247travelinsurance.co.uk/travellers_checklist.asp



* Premium £5.48 includes Insurance Premium Tax; based on an individual aged 18-35 travelling in Europe for 1 month purchasing a backpacker ‘standard’ policy.

Labels: Backpacking

This blog tells the story about my experiences of travel. Not the travel itself, as the story of where I went and what I did is less interesting than how I did it and how it changed me.

The background: I was 19 years old and at university. During my first year I had come down with appendicitis and to cut a very long story short, the surgery didn’t go to plan and I felt ill and drained for a long time afterwards. Prior to the illness I had been struggling with my course and finances, and towards the end of the year I realised that Uni wasn’t going to work out for me. But now I had no idea what to do with myself. After all I had spend the last 15 years in education and the last five years working alongside that, as well as spending most of my childhood in gymnastics training. No wonder I was tired.

I had occasionally thought about going travelling but had no idea where to begin. My past travels had largely consisted of family holidays to France and I had never been outside Europe.

I started off by thinking about where I wanted to go. I had always wanted to go to California so that was top of my list. I had also heard great things about New Zealand so included that too. And I really wanted to visit a stunning tropical beach like the ones I had only ever seen in photos – Fiji was the obvious choice. I worked in a shop for 11 months prior to departure, and I was going to spend 3 months travelling, returning home in time for the next academic year.

My departure date was 4th February 2001. With eight days to go, I very nearly cancelled the trip in a fit of panic. The only thing that stopped me was the feeling that if I didn’t do this trip, I would probably regret it later.

I arrived at Auckland airport early in the morning, jetlagged and nervous. Luckily I had booked my first three nights of accommodation already so I took the bus into town and used my guidebook to find the hostel. Even small things such as successfully getting from one town to another gave me a sense of achievement – I was well and truly fending for myself.

Four weeks into the trip and disaster struck – my bag was stolen from my dormitory containing my passport and wallet. All I had to my name were the clothes I stood up in with £2 in my pocket. I’d only had a small amount of cash in my wallet but it was the loss of the cards that was tricky. To complicate things further, it was a Friday evening preceding a bank holiday. The banks wouldn’t be open for four days. What should I do with that £2?

£1.12 of it went on phone calls (to my insurer – thank God I had that). The remaining 88p went on a stiff drink where at the hostel bar where I told some fellow travellers what had happened. I had just seen the worst in human nature with the theft, but now I was about to see the very best. People gave me clothes and toiletries they no longer needed, gave me phone cards with a few pence left (in New Zealand you can combine phone cards and so I gained an extra £3 to make more important calls), shared their meals with me and listened when I felt a bit weepy and homesick. I pulled myself together and assessed the best way to continue, and a week later I had a new passport (I had left some photocopies at home which speeded things up) and a New Zealand bank account with money transferred from my British branch. I was off again.

I had been worried about travelling solo, both from a safety and a loneliness point of view, but it proved to be the best decision I made. While other pairs were discussing what they were going to do today, I was already off doing exactly what I wanted. Hostels are very sociable places and even a shy person can easily be included and make friends. As for safety, my mum always used to say to me “keep your wits about you!” I never really understood what she meant until this trip. I learned to read situations and trust my instincts if anything felt wrong. Going solo taught me a lot more about myself. I did get homesick at times, but I had a Hotmail account that I was able to check worldwide and I kept in regular contact with home.

I returned home in one piece, and a very different person. Before I would have described myself as a bit of a brat who relied too heavily on others to sort out my problems. Now I was back, and I was an adult in every sense of the word. My parents, who had serious reservations and concerns about how worthwhile my trip would be, were amazed at the change in me and they are now of the opinion that everyone should take some time out before study.

The ending of the story is that I didn’t go back to University. The shop where I was working had an Assistant Manager vacancy and the new mature me impressed the interview panel and got the job.

If you are still nervous about whether to go travelling it would be very easy for me to say “just do it” – but only you can make that decision. I recommend it very highly though - the good times were great and even the bad times are good for you in the end. Enjoy your time out – and don’t forget your insurance!

Labels: Backpacking