On top of the world – with cash for travel
Trip a lifetime can end in financial disaster unless gap year students take steps to avoid expensive pitfalls
GAP year travellers set off around the globe in their thousands at this time of year. Flights are typically cheaper and students taking a break between school and university have had time to work to fund their global adventure. The good news for the throngs heading for the Aussie outback or Thai islands is that the strengthening of the pound means it has become much cheaper than a year ago. But currency isn’t the only concern. It is crucial to pack the best means of paying your way, plus an insurance policy that will cover you against potential disaster. SALLY HAMILTON reports.
PAYING YOUR WAY
GAPPERS can celebrate the fact that their pounds are buying more than 12 months ago in many destinations, with the Australian dollar nearly a quarter cheaper.
According to Gapyear, an advice website for travellers, Australia is a good bet for UK gappers wanting paid work on their travels. Will Jones, spokesman for the website, says: ‘Although it’s an expensive country to travel and live in these days, the wages are excellent and anyone aged between 18 and 30 can apply for a working holiday visa. Even on minimum pay, two or three months are usually enough to reinvigorate the bank balance to fund further travel.’
Fenella St John, 27, found ‘everything was massively expensive’ when she arrived for a 12-month stay Down Under in July 2012. But she managed to easily pay her way from Sydney to Cairns by working as a makeup artist – her usual job at home.
She says: ‘I did all sorts of work – from weddings to fashion shoots.’ Fenella earned enough to cover her costs in Australia as well as pay for a two-month holiday in Thailand on the way home.
Nervous about the high cost of using standard credit and debit cards, she did her research and took a FairFX pre-paid sterling currency card with her.
She says: ‘I topped it up online and with my phone from my UK bank account. I could check out the exchange rate and pick my moment to buy.’
Such cards are chip-and-Pin protected and can be used like a credit card. They can also be replaced if lost or stolen, typically for a fee of £5 to £10.
Bob Atkinson, travel expert at website TravelSupermarket, says: ‘Gappers should take a variety of money methods with them. They should avoid travellers’ cheques as they are outdated and are no longer a good deal. You should have some cash to get you going and ideally buy it online before you go. Don’t buy when you arrive at the airport as you’ll see £10 in every £100 wasted.’
He likes pre-paid cards, as long as you pick one with no – or low – charges for cash machine withdrawals and spending. FairFX and Caxton get the thumbs up for this and for their ‘very good exchange rates’.
But beware of hidden costs on some cards, such as inactivity penalties or fees for cashing in.
Atkinson adds: ‘Credit or debit cards can work better for you if you have the right deal. Get one that is designed for overseas usage such as Halifax Clarity credit card, which has no transaction charges or currency loading. You also get card protection under the Consumer Credit Directive, which you don’t on a currency card. Building societies Nationwide and Norwich & Peterborough also have great card deals on overseas usage.’
TRAVEL COVER
WHEN Sophie Morbey packed her rucksack last August to set off to the Far East she was full of anticipation. She had worked 60-hour weeks as a waitress to fund the holiday of a lifetime.
Her first stops in Thailand and Cambodia went smoothly, but in late September it all went wrong for her. Soon after arriving in neighbouring Laos her group went for a day’s tubing – floating down a river on tyre inner tubes – with visits to bars en route.
But Sophie, 23, had only made it as far as the first bar before a plunge from its rooftop terrace left her suffering a broken leg.
The keen sportswoman from Plymouth says: ‘There were no safety railings and I fell backwards several metres to the ground and blacked out. When I woke up I was in agony.’
With no ambulance to call, a friend accompanied her to the
nearest hospital in a tuktuk, a motorised rickshaw. After a long wait, doctors put her leg in a cast and prescribed just paracetamol. Returning to her hostel in terrible pain she finally phoned her parents who got in touch with her insurer, Alpha Travel Insurance.
Alpha advised her to go to a hospital in the capital Vientiane, a four-hour coach drive away. But neither the public nor the private hospital she visited there could deal with her injury.
The insurer then recommended she fly to Bangkok, just over the border in Thailand. Sophie says: ‘I caught the last plane and the next day doctors diagnosed a broken tibia – shin bone – and told me to come back in a week for an operation.’
By this time a friend she had met during her previous visit to Thailand, Chris Storrank, had joined her. He invited her back to rest in a house on the Thai island of Ko Tao.
She says: ‘When I returned to the hospital a week later – now 16 days after the accident – they demanded several thousand pounds from me up front. I was so upset and wanted my mum and dad to come.
‘But, thankfully, a woman at Alpha Travel Insurance took control. She could speak Thai and arranged for me to be sent to another hospital instead. She was
fantastic. Without her help I would have been lost.’
Sophie had an operation the next day, was given a private room and afterwards was put up in hotel. She says: ‘I couldn’t fly for four weeks because they were concerned about deep vein thrombosis so I stayed with Chris while recovering.’
Sophie finally flew home in October – more than six weeks after her accident.
What sends shivers down her spine even today is that she almost set off on her adventure without travel insurance.
Sophie says: ‘I only took out the policy the day before I left on the advice of a friend who was with me while I was packing.
‘It cost me £68 and saved me £4,000.’ Sophie’s experience has not curtailed her travelling and she is back in Thailand with Chris – who is now her boyfriend.
‘We hope eventually to set up a diving school somewhere in the world and live the dream,’ she says.
Will Jones of website Gapyear says stories like Sophie’s are not unusual. He says: ‘We’ve heard many horror stories of gap year travellers injuring themselves and the family being faced with crippling medical bills. Insurance isn’t expensive, typically between £100 and £200 for a year of standard cover. It is crucial to get it.’
Travellers should not leave insurance to the last minute as Sophie did as they lose vital cancellation cover if illness prevents them embarking on their travels.
Neil Wyatt of insurance broker Higos Insurance, says: ‘You should also buy it before you depart because once you are out of the country you will find it hard to get cover as insurers will have deemed you to have started your trip. Even if you do manage to purchase cover, it will cost a lot more.’
Age, length of trip, destination and how much medical cover you require all affect the premium. Higos, for example, offers a 12-month policy with £2million of medical cover for a 19-year-old travelling in Europe at £125. For £5million cover, the premium is £200.
A 30-year-old going to Australia for 12 months would pay £195 for the basic policy and £259 for the higher level cover.
Plans often limit the cover for possessions to about £2,000 overall and £250 for an individual item – a problem for those taking a fancy camera or computer equipment. It may be worth checking out the family home insurance policy.
At NFU Mutual, for example, gap year students whose parents have its Bespoke household policy have a single article limit up to £20,000. The only catches are that they must still live at their parents’ home and the trip must fall within the 12-month period of the home policy.
Wyatt warns youngsters to ensure that a policy includes activities they might want to try out such as bungee jumping and safari trekking. More hazardous activities may not be included in some plans and will require an extra premium.
So, if you fancy snowboarding, white water rafting, glacier walking, camel riding or sky diving, check your policy first.
To find a suitable policy, try comparison websites or for a specialist broker contact Biba on 0870 950 1790 or at biba.org.uk.