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The gap year is one of the truly positive inventions of modern education. Then there's ... and of course ... mmmh. Well, moving right along (and you will be, for a year) let's talk about how you cover yourself against disasters during this great little life journey. The trick with insurance is to put it together so you don't need to think about it again, unless you really need to think about it again, and then it works, properly, first time.
We're good at that, and we've lots of experience with budget travellers, backpackers and student excursions, so we have constructed a gap year deal which we think is really great, really cheap, and really works. Now that is an art form. Click here to book now.
If you are travelling light, or staying on some forsaken hillside mission station helping dig a well, or mustering cattle on the Pampas, or the thousand other things gap year people end up doing, you are a bet to nothing to get hurt in about a million different ways. Often enough a quick stitch and a bandage is all it takes, and no lasting harm done. But sometimes you need the full treatment, and that's where our policies kick in.
If you work out how long you'll be out of the UK, and you then run a few different quotes through the blue panel above, you'll find you'll come up with a really affordable premium for a full year in the furthest reaches of the world, and even less for a year on the continent.
Sounds a lot? Well, no, not really, it's between £3 and £5 a week to ensure that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you can be easy about the outcome. And remember, the world out there isn't Disneyland. Go over and ask that swarthy fellah with the AK47 and the red and white chequered cloth round his head what the compensation arrangements are for delaying your journey. Go on, make his day.
Or try explaining to the completely polite, and uninterested, doctor in the Chinese government hospital that it's perfectly ok, your parents will wire you money, after the appendectomy.
Well, if you use the blue panel above, and choose "backpackers" as the trip type, you'll get a low long term rate. Then add on the bits you need. Simple, really. A small premium will get you covered for a year of continuous travel, and it will cover about everything that a half ton Australian shorthorn bull, an Argentinian Pampas pony or a bus trip in Darjeeling can do to your body.
It will do this without a whole lot of bloat and extras, and leave you to add on what you want.
By carefully planning your trip and taking the cover for only that time you will be out of the UK, you can minimise the premium outlay. Once you've worked out the time you need covered, click on the blue panel at the top right of the page. Then, when you've taken your cover, study carefully the conditions and the policy wording so that you can make any claims in a way that will succeed for you. And don't forget, it's not just illness that can find you up to your chin in it, while overseas. What if someone steals the lot? Money, passport, credit cards, clothes? Don't worry, with us, it's sorted. You can get on with the adventure. One last thing . . . the free insurance you got with your student credit card will not, usually, cover you for prolonged travel. Don't rely on chance, check, and take insurance designed for the gap year traveller.
This page of traveller's tips, put together by Sheffield Hallam University is a good resource.
The organisation at the www.teaching-abroad.co.uk web site is behind one of the most exciting gap year initiatives available to UK students.
Anyone considering a year abroad should really look this site over, as it offers exciting and fulfilling volunteer project positions all over the world. So, if you are looking for a place to put your good work into action then go deep into this site, as it has much to offer.
The other great Gap Year choice is working holiday visas, and a call to Australia House is in order, as the Australians have been very active in expanding this scheme to many countries world-wide. Their brochures are an excellent guide to the opportunities available for long term working holiday visas all over the world, not only in Australia.
