An ambition fulfilled for Martin Dorey: The Outer Hebrides.

If we asked you to name your seven wonders, what would they be? Now what if we asked you to give us your best travel advice, the thing you always have to take with you and why or your funniest story? It’s not easy is it? Well, over the coming weeks and months we’re going to be asking the same seven questions to travel bloggers, travelers, customers, celebs and anyone who we think will have something interesting to share with us. Starting with Martin Dorey, a World First customer who is better known for his camping and cooking ‘bible’, ‘The Camper Van Cookbook’ and his BBC2 TV series, ‘One Man and his Campervan’. Read his Campervanliving blog here.

Here goes… (more…)

We hear our fair share of travel insurance horror stories. Yet sometimes the worst examples aren’t from happy-go-lucky holidaymakers who ignore the importance of travel insurance, but from those who thought they had adequate cover only to be caught out when they tried to claim. If you have a travel insurance deal bolted onto a banking package, there’s a chance you could be next.

Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen…

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How far would you go to support your charity of choice?

Turns out World First Customer Service Administrator Colin Cuppleditch didn’t have to go far at all. About 20 feet to be precise. Although the fact that those 20 feet were walked bare foot across embers burning at 1200^oF makes Colin’s a particularly remarkable achievement.

There’s a photo below of Colin strolling across fire in Exeter on 1st November. It has to be said he’s looking pretty nonchalant considering the conditions underfoot. In completing the task, Colin became part of a team who raised more than £4,000 for the MS Society. It’s a success that resonates particularly strongly with us at World First as we’ve been providing affordable travel insurance for multiple sclerosis for decades. Long may it continue.

Well done Colin. What an incredible photo… (more…)

Time to put the testosterone in the World First office to work.

November has arrived. It’s time for men across the world to begin a journey of furry self-discovery for Movember. The increasingly-popular month-long campaign encourages men to grow moustaches during November to boost awareness of prostate cancer – and hopefully raise some cash. (You can find out more here: uk.movember.com.)

The rules are simple: no shaving above the upper lip for a month. All but the most follicly-challenged of face can take part. So we thought we’d put the testosterone flying around the World First office to good use and get involved ourselves.

Here are some shots of the gentleman-folk from our team who are taking part. Freshly shaven, of course. We’ll take some more mugshots at the end of the month and have a little compare and contrast. And if you’re giving it a go yourself, feel free to tweet your snaps to our social media man @WFTristan. We’ll publish the best right here on our blog.

Let’s get grizzly. (more…)

Digesting the latest travel news, opinion and advice is as easy as scrolling through your Twitter timeline. When you know who to follow, travel inspiration is only ever a click away. From voyeuristic real-time updates from gap year travellers to beautifully written travel editorials from bona fide experts, World First social media man Tristan Rothwell shares a rundown of the travel tweeters worth shouting about. (more…)

So long, Suzanne.

On Monday 24th September we said goodbye to one of the pillars of the World First customer service team, who is leaving to begin her retirement. During her years with us, Suzanne went from doing the office filing to passing the first policy in the UK that allowed people with HIV to get travel insurance. Incredible.

Suzanne Rothwell is the wife of our Founder (Stewart Rothwell) and the mother of our Managing Partner (Martin Rothwell). She’s been involved in the company in one way or another since day one. (You may well have spoken to her if you’ve ever called us.) In the spirit of celebrating her dedicated graft, unwavering spirit and savvy business ideas, we’ve put together a short Q&A post about her time with World First.

Here’s to Suzanne Rothwell. (more…)

A round of applause and glasses charged for our Managing Partner Martin Rothwell and his wife Kate, who have just welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world.

Noni Alice Elsie Rothwell was born at 15:10 on 22nd August 2012, weighing a healthy 9.7 lbs. You’ll have to forgive us for getting excited. As a family business, there are some things we can’t help shouting about.

It’s baby number three for Martin, who was recently included in a list of the westcountry’s 42 most successful entrepreneurs under the age of 42 (for his business acumen, you understand, not his procreation expertise). Baby babble, sleepless nights and nappy changes. He’s got it all to look forward to – again – and we couldn’t be happier for him!

Congratulations Martin and family.

The judges have had their say and the votes have been counted! The winner of December’s My World First travel writing competition has been decided. Find out who bagged themselves a Kindle and read the winning entry now.

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December might be a busy month, but we still received plenty of entries into our monthly travel writing competition, My World First. Just like last month, there’s no shortage of rousing reads and the overall standard of writing is great. Thank you to everyone who entered. Our judging panel are about to get to work and the winner will be announced in our newsletter shortly. You can sign up at www.world-first.co.uk.

Forgot to enter last month? All is not lost!

My World First is a competition that rolls from month to month and we’ve already been sent the first few entries for January’s competition. Best of all, we’ve got another Kindle to give away to the author who best dazzles our judges with their literary flair.

So if you fancy being able to carry up 1,400 books in your bag for reading on the run, now’s the time to start reminiscing about your most memorable travel experiences. We want to hear your world firsts. It could be the first time you flew, the first time you went snorkelling with your daughter or the first time you celebrated New Year abroad. Anything. It’s up to you! Entering is really easy too. All it takes is 400 words and a couple of clicks. Ready to get started?

>> Find out how to enter now

Mention festival season and you might think of long summer days lazing around in fields dried from the sun. But festival season in the northern hemisphere isn’t just a warm weather summer love-in, as these ski and snowboard parties show.

With line ups as good as their summer counterparts and all encompassing tickets to get you there, put you up and get you on the slopes, these winter festivals are a hedonist’s dream. You have the beauty of the mountains, the daytime thrill of the piste and sparkling night-time parties to give you a fantastically fun – but no doubt very tiring – winter break. Pack winter sports travel insurance from World First and you’ll have everything you need for the trip of a lifetime.

What more could you ask for? Here are five of the best winter festivals in the northern hemisphere.

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