Before you go...
Hiscox has launched a new gap-year travel extension. The cover is available exclusively to Hiscox UK 506 and 606 home and contents policyholders as an extension to Hiscox’s optional travel insurance. The extension means customers will be able to travel abroad on their gap years with confidence, as more unusual sports – such as safaris, paragliding and hot-air ballooning – will now be covered.
Pre-departure, Hiscox home insurance policyholders and their families can take advantage of a special offer on an Objective Travel Safety gap-year training course. Until 1 September 2007, Hiscox will pay £100 towards the £150 fee for the London-based one-day session.
The course is designed to be fun and includes interactive scenarios, role plays, lectures and hands-on learning. It includes topics such as:
- disease prevention
- culture, religion and law
- what to take and keeping your belongings safe
- how to keep in touch
- travelling safely on public transport
- avoiding dangers, from mugging to kidnapping
- emergency first aid
- women’s concerns.
Mind the gap
With young people taking their gap years in the farthest corners of the world, Jason Woolfe finds that no one should travel without a safety netHeather Rodgers was on top of the world – literally – during her gap-year travels in the Himalayas, until she was attacked by a gang of armed men. Trekking in Nepal with three friends, the 23-year-old medical student was en route to the World Peace Pagoda when four men wielding knives surrounded them, demanded their bags and then ripped them open. She says: “They took our cameras, money and wallets. One of my friends begged them to leave our passports, which luckily for us they did.”
One of Heather’s group, a man far taller than their attackers, stepped forward to protect them but Heather realised his action could escalate the situation and pulled him back. “They threw the rest of our stuff on the floor, brandished the knives again and took off down the path.” The group was shaken but unharmed and able to enjoy the rest of their trip.
Heather’s experience highlights the potential dangers facing gap-year travellers, but also the importance of putting safety before possessions.
Know your limits
It’s a message repeated by Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation. The charity was set up to promote gap-year safety in memory of Caroline Stuttle, a student mugged by a drug addict and thrown to her death from a bridge in Australia during her gap year in 2002. Caroline, 19, had fought to hold on to her handbag. Her murderer was later jailed for life.
The charity stresses the importance of not putting up a fight if challenged and of having adequate insurance. A spokesperson says: “You are much more likely to hold on to your belongings if they aren’t insured. The fact is that nothing’s worth your life.”
The charity’s advice also includes good preparation for the trip, including researching potential dangers and thinking about how to react in difficult circumstances, as well as considering taking a gap-year training course.
One provider is Objective Travel Safety, which counts an ex-SAS man among its staff. Another trainer, Georgie McGrath, likes to use the acronym READE – Recognise, Evaluate, Avoid, Defuse and Extract. In other words, stay out of trouble before it finds you and know what to do if it does. She says: “The muggers and the bad guys are always out there, so it’s all about making sure you’re not a target.”
And she has all sorts of tips to that end, from spotting the sun’s position in the sky so you know whether you’re travelling east or west (useful when a taxi driver is taking an unnecessarily long route in a strange city) to always sitting near the driver in a bus. “That’s so that you can see if they’re drunk, which they might well be,” McGrath says. “I had someone who had to take over from a bus driver once. She saw him swigging away at his bottle of whisky until eventually he keeled over. But she was able to get the wheel and take it to the side of the road.”
One delegate followed her advice and packed a dummy wallet containing a little cash. When a mugger demanded money she calmly handed it over before walking away to buy an ice cream and continue her holiday. McGrath says: “Have confidence, recover and go on to make the most of your trip.”
The course even includes a session when the gents are asked to leave the room so the women can ask questions and learn how to deal with unwanted attention. Objective Travel Safety offers Hiscox policyholders and their families a special discount – see box below for details.
Austyn Tusler, Head of Art and Private Client at Hiscox, says their policyholders may be in greater need of high-quality protection than other travellers. “As the rich get richer and the world gets smaller, people are seeking out the farthest parts of the globe and it’s there that trouble happens,” he says. “Our clients want the best protection, particularly if it’s their youngsters who are travelling.”
Global security experts provide the latest travel information and Hiscox clients can call for support if they find themselves in trouble. Tusler recalls one client who phoned up having just been bitten by a scorpion: “He needed to know whether to apply a tourniquet, and he needed to know really quickly!”
