World First Travel Insurance Blog

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office today released their annual British Behaviour Abroad report saying rather wearily that we’re “still” getting into trouble abroad like some kind of exasperated parent. And what’s more, all that trouble is avoidable. Top of the list of reasons why people get into scrapes is the high numbers of drink and drug related arrests. Embassies also helped many people stranded by the problems with volcanic ash. But there are far more quite mundane reasons. Here’s a list of them. (more…)

The biggest killer in sub-Saharan Africa and in many other places in the world, way ahead of AIDS or famine, is malaria. Without wanting to be sensationalist, it kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds, Africa accounts for 90% of deaths from it as it is home to the most deadly form and it is responsible for 20% of the deaths of under 5s and 10% of all deaths in Africa. South Africa included football fans.

Cheryl Cole (or Tweedy or whatever she’s called these days) and her problems will hopefully place something of a spotlight on malaria and help reduce the incidence of this preventable disease – I know, most diseases are preventable one way or another, but this one can really be prevented cheaply. (more…)

The World Cup is finally here and thousands of football fans are packing their bags and planning their trip. Because we’re nice people, World First Travel Insurance is giving you a few helpful hints and tips to make sure you don’t score an own goal when it comes to your holiday. And you won’t need to make a claim. (more…)

Cuba’s one of those places I’ve always wanted to go to. During the years of continued support from the Soviet Union and other Eastern Block countries and the US trade embargo, tourism was a largely ignored and underdeveloped sector. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in the last ten years or so, it has expanded exponentially. (more…)

The new World First web site is to be launched this weekend. It marks the completion of first stage of a new era for us with a new emphasis on building our reputation across the Internet with a variety of social media outlets, this blog being one of the main ones.

Insurance doesn’t have a very good reputation. Insurers are only about one rung up on the interesting chain from accountants. But there’s more to us than you might think. Travel insurance is part of the travel industry. That’s already more interesting isn’t it? So we’re going to be talking about the travel industry, not just insurance. (more…)

It’s official: 60 is the new 40, 70 is the new 50 and – well you get the picture.  If the silver surfer phenomenon continues, we will all be travelling well into our 90^th year, as long as we can afford it that is.

The opportunities for travel post retirement are so much greater these days, whether it is a short hop for a city break or an extended visit to friends and family on the other side of the world.  Most of us have so much more time to live out our travelling dreams later in our lives.

No kids (unless you are staying with them!), no job to return to, no limits on what we can do. Right? Well, at World First Travel Insurance that’s what we believe. (more…)

That’s a bit of a mouthful isn’t it? E111 forms were obtained from the Post Office, you got them to cover medical expenses when you went to Europe. Or so you thought anyway. I can only ever remember getting one for school trips like when my daughter went to Italy. But let’s face it, they were an inconvenience and even though everyone knew about them, nobody bothered to get them.

Well now, they are no more, they’ve been replaced by the European Health Insurance Card. This entitles you to medical treatment at reduced cost or sometimes free when you visit a European Union (EU) country* or Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland temporarily. In practical terms, you get the same public health service treatment as locals would get. And there’s the rub. Not all public health coverage is the same and just because it says Health Insurance doesn’t make it the same as a Health Insurance policy you’d buy from an insurer. (more…)

Because if you get a problem, the Embassy or Consulate or whatever it’s called will be around to help you. Won’t they?

Well, they won’t. There is a limited amount of things the Foreign Office can do for you, but getting you home isn’t one of them. Our friend Danny went away recently. It has to be said that he was particularly unlucky, but any one of the things that happened to him could happen to you. Have a look at this video to see what happened.

Then again, whilst you might not get into trouble, there’s all kinds of things that could go wrong

Travelling off-piste is very much in vogue these days. You can do some pretty extreme things in the pursuit of pleasure like flying a MiG jet over Moscow, swimming with sharks or going to the edge of space where the sky above you is black and below you is blue.

You don’t have to go that far though, thrills are still to be found on mountain sides, down fast torrents, on the snow of in the sea. And then there’s all the more exotic places you can go without placing yourself in sporting danger. A recent survey by ABTA has highlighted a trend towards visiting former war zones. (more…)

In an occasional series of interviews, we’ll be asking members of the World First team and beyond, a number of questions about their travel experiences. Today, it’s the turn of the Editor (well, we’ve got to start somewhere!).

First holiday memory

My father worked for British Railways (as it still was at the time) so from the early 1960s, the cheap travel gave us the opportunity to go to a relatively under-developed part of Spain where I first experienced a sunny beach. (more…)