Backpacker Tales
“I planned to go to Australia for 6 months to travel and see some friends that I'd made while at Uni. I didn't think that I'd be away from home for much longer than that as I didn't have much money to be honest. So, I didn't buy any travel insurance thinking that Australia was a pretty civilised place and I'd be OK.
I was lucky as a friend I knew offered to put me up so I really didn't have to pay out much money at all for my upkeep. I just helped out with bills and food. I then got to know some other travellers at the pub who were going on through south east Asia, taking the scenic route back to England. Because I still had some money left I decided to go with them.
It was cool to begin with but things started to go wrong when I got ill. It started out as what seemed like a typical holiday tummy - the local hospital was OK treating that for nothing. But, it got worse and they admitted me the next time- my friends were really worried. I got what they call a gastric infection - it's really common apparently.
It took me 3 weeks to recover and when I had, they told me that I had to pay nearly £3,000 for the treatment. I was horrified. They said my travel insurance policy would cover it fine. I didn't tell them I didn't have one. Fortunately my Dad was OK about it and gave me his credit card details. He didn't realise that I hadn't bought travel insurance. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind - and the costs without it can be huge!
I certainly won't go abroad again without travel insurance”
Janine,
Rochdale
Backpacker Resources
