School leavers heading off to backpack
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Thousands of school leavers will be about to embark on the what’s becoming an almost mandatory gap-year experience. It is estimated that young travellers will have to fork out between £3,000 and £4,000 to cover the average cost of a gap year, but careful preparation is the key to curbing expenditure.
One of the most important financial purchases will be travel insurance, to protect against the costs of falling ill in a foreign country and losing possessions. “The biggest concern is that 25 per cent of those who travel are either uninsured or underinsured,” says Tom Griffiths, the founder of Gapyear.com.
Insurance for gap-year travel is offered as a separate policy and will often be referred to as backpacker cover. Although annual travel policies are designed to provide a year’s worth of travel cover, there is a limit (usually 30 days) on how long each trip can last. A specialised backpacker policy, on the other hand, will cover the holder for a set period of continuous travel, whether three, six, 12 or 18 months.