Every year thousands of people think about taking an extended holiday.

School leavers and recent graduates make up the majority of people taking extended holidays, but many professionals also consider taking a career break to explore the world.

Only the most seasoned travellers realise the many potential problems they may encounter on such an adventure and take out a suitable travel insurance policy. Recent research has shown that as many as 25% of gap year travellers jet off without adequate insurance protection!

Many younger, less experienced travellers are likely to embark on an expedition without realising the potential problems that may occur or without taking suitable precautions to protect themselves against them.

Do not forget to include travel insurance in your to do list before planning your travel.
Most people take travel insurance lightly and never discuss travel insurance in detail with their travel agents. It is important to know what your travel insurance covers you against in the event of any unforeseen situations which may subject you to a financial loss or otherwise.
Travel insurance covers different features and it is up to you to choose and ensure you are adequately covered.

If you are planning to travel abroad, you need insurance, but it is not something you should be sorting at the last minute as not all policies are the same and you should always read the small print. For example, is cash and indeed any of your valuables are covered? This is often not the case on very cheap policies.  Also how much excess will you need to pay in the event of a claim? Economy type policies are fine for the important health aspect, but don't expect to have your £500 camera covered without additional payment.

More people are taking holidays abroad than ever and most of them who live in UK have no problem finding excellent Travel Insurance cover at quite low premiums. But it’s not so easy for the millions of people who have left UK to live in other parts of Europe.

Brits living in Spain, Portugal, Greece and France find it almost impossible to arrange cover with a local insurer at a reasonable price and those living in other EU countries find it almost as difficult.

Austria is known as a year-round holiday destination, with plenty of winter sports in the Alps, some of the most impressive architecture in Europe and a great musical tradition.

The cities attract great deal of visitors. Vienna is the capital, the center of the country's musical life and littered with beautiful buildings. Music, art and architecture reach baroque perfection in Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace.

There are so may different places and things which are worth seeing around the world and it is not enough for us to see them on TV or post cards, we want to see them ourselves.  Besides it is a great pleasure to travel and to discover new countries and cultures.  But the first thing travelers should take into consideration that there are no identical counties and cultured. All of them have both advantages and disadvantages and we should be ready for them. It is impossible to find out everything about the country you are going to, besides you never know what unexpected situations you can get into. The weather is unforeseeable and many countries all over the world suffer from natural cataclysms.

I reached the age of 30 and had just finished with a long term relationship, I was bored at work and just wanted to experience something different in my life. I decided to fulfil my lifetime ambition and travel the world.

I sold my flat and my car to raise the money and set about planning my journey. I surfed the internet to get as much information as possible about the countries that I planned to visit, where to stay, what I wanted to do and see whilst in that part of the world. I looked at other travellers stories to get an idea of what to look out for and what to avoid. I read some horror stories about problems that other people had experienced and decided at that point that I must get the best travel insurance policy that I could find. I particularly wanted to be covered for sporting activities that I was determined to try: things like White Water Rafting in Africa, Scuba Diving and Horse riding in Australia, trekking in the Andes and I wanted to have a game of Rugby whenever I had the opportunity, plus other activities that might take my fancy as I travelled around. Most of the travel insurance policies I looked at would not have covered me if I got injures whilst doing these things.