Some might say there’s often little cause to celebrate Wednesdays. But tomorrow is different. It marks the beginning of the one year countdown to the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, which we seem to be racing towards with a pace not dissimilar to Usain Bolt’s.

So how will you be enjoying the Games? Even if you weren’t lucky enough to land tickets for one of the events in the ballot, lots of people are planning to visit London and the various other hosting towns and cities to soak up some of the Olympics spirit. And why not? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have the Olympic Games in our own back yard.

But with an additional 700,000 journeys forecasted to take place in London alone, it’s clear that planning your Olympic adventure is key if you’re to scoop gold. That means making sure everything for your trip away is arranged as early as possible, from your transport requirements to a convenient and comfortable place to stay. Thankfully, whether you’re a UK citizen or someone visiting the UK from abroad, there’s one simple little thing you can do to help make sure you glide over any planning hurdles like a true pro.

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Every Monday, our social media man Tristan Rothwell publishes a list of the best new pieces of travel writing to catch his eye. It’s a super-easy, super-speedy way to catch up with the latest rumblings in the travel blogosphere. And it’s great if you’re suffering a little with the post-weekend comedown. Blow off the Monday blues and find out what’s new in the travel world with this week’s World First Weekly Wander.

Take it away, Tristan!

Greetings travellers!

So where shall we head to first?

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The current news story of a British traveller’s tragic motorcycle incident in Indonesia highlights how crucial it is to travel with good travel insurance.

Richard Plummer, from Kent, is currently in a coma in hospital after being seriously injured in a road accident in Indonesia. He did not have a valid travel insurance policy at the time of the incident.

As a result, Richard’s father has already spent over £20,000 on medical bills for his son’s treatment. Richard’s parents now face the possibility of being forced to sell their home to fund Richard’s repatriation to the UK for treatment, which will cost around £98,000 due to medical requirements.

Read the full story on the BBC News website

It’s a tragic story that’s made even worse with the fact that these costs could have been avoided. It underlines how important it is to travel with travel insurance that has adequate medical expenses cover. At World First, our policies automatically include cover for up to £5 million of medical expenses. That includes the cost of repatriation for patients who are still alive. We also fly paramedics out to any seriously injured traveller(s) to make sure the highest standards of care and medical assistance are in place. Quotes for a single trip begin from just £7.

£7 is nothing in the context of £20,000 of medical bills and a £98,000 repatriation fee. It’s simply not worth the risk.

Yet people continue to travel without travel insurance.

Research published by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) showed that a third of travellers visiting friends or family abroad did not take out a travel insurance policy last time they travelled. While the statistics only apply for travellers visiting friends and family abroad, the figures are alarming. You can read more in the post Thinking of travelling without insurance? The FCO say think again. An EHIC should also be considered essential when travelling within the EU. It’s free.

Serious incidents such as Richard Plummer’s are not one-offs. It’s easy to assume an it-will-never-happen-to-me mentality while abroad. But less than a year ago another uninsured British citizen was hospitalised from a motorcycle accident, this time in Thailand. His family had to launch an urgent appeal to fund £60,000 worth of medical care.

Read the full story on the Daily Mail website

The message is clear: do not take the risk of travelling without travel insurance. If the worst happens, you could be left with life-changing medical bills.

Find out more about cost-effective, comprehensive travel insurance cover with World First at www.world-first.co.uk.

Fallen behind on your travel reading? No problem. Let the World First Weekly Wander fill you in. Every week our social media man, Tristan Rothwell, scours some of the best travel blogs in the business to bring you a list of the most entertaining and informative new posts. It’s a super-speedy way to stay in touch with news, travel tips and the hottest holiday topics from all around the world.

Take it away, Tristan!

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Twitter happy?

On Friday 15th July, Twitter is five years old. Yes, five years since that little blue bird first flew into our binary world. Various digital celebrations and festive messages will no doubt trickle through the Twittersphere today. But we’d like to use the opportunity to tell you about the great ways we’re using the social networking phenomenon. And it’s all good for travel fans like you!

Let us explain.

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This weekend sees the sixth International AIDS Society HIV Conference get underway in Rome. The conference runs from Sunday 17th to Wednesday 20th July and will see thousands congregate for what is the world’s largest open scientific conference on HIV and AIDS.

It’s a hugely important event. The world’s leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts and community leaders meet to examine the latest developments in HIV-related research and explore how scientific advances can make a positive difference in the global response to HIV and AIDS. It also recognises the work of experts from around the world who have made an outstanding contribution to the ongoing research into the disease.

As travel insurers, we come across all kinds of different medical conditions on a daily basis. But few people know how important HIV was in the development of World First. It helped shaped who we are and set us on the path to becoming one of the fairest and most thorough providers of medical travel insurance out there.

So what’s the story? And how did we make travel insurance history?
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It’s Monday and that means it’s time for our super-speedy weekly rundown of what’s hot in the travel blogosphere. Give yourself five minutes with a cuppa and see what’s new as our social media man Tristan Rothwell takes you through the latest travel stories to catch his eye. And don’t forget, you can follow Tristan on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news, offers and competitions from World First.

Take it away, Tristan!

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Zoë Dawes – aka The Quirky Traveller – is a travel writer.  She was recently voted Britain’s Best Travel Blogger and her website www.thequirkytraveller.com was voted in the Top 10 Inspiring Travel Websites 2010. We asked Zoë to give us a few ideas for brilliant places to visit. We never guessed that it would be good old Blighty that would take the top spot. But there it is. And Zoë really does know what she’s talking about.

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For many of us, going on holiday is one of those rare times when you can settle into a deckchair and get stuck into a really good book. It’s a glorious indulgence isn’t it? Once you know that everything, including the travel insurance, is in order you can begin to relax.

I love reading and adore books so I’ve spent many trips hauling piles of novels around with me. On one trip, to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bali I endured a couple of months with three volumes of Indian epic ‘A Suitable Boy’ in my rucksack. They must have weighed over a kilo but I just couldn’t bear to be parted from them. What a fool I was. But then again, they hadn’t invented e-readers yet!

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July 4th 2011

Busy day today? Too stretched to catch up on the best in travel news and writing? Manic Monday making it impossible to manage those blog feeds? Don’t panic. The World First Weekly Wander is our very own weekly breakdown of the best travel based web content. It’s compiled by our very own Tristan Rothwell ( @WFTristan for all you tweeters). So sit back and let him do all the work.

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