International / Global Travel Insurance

The farther you wander from dear old Blighty, the dearer your travel insurance will be.

Travel within the UK or Northern Ireland, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands is naturally enough classified as the UK and it's the cheapest of all.

Europe

Europe doesn't cover all the countries that are part of the EU but ones that border the Med. It covers Madeira, the Canary Islands, Iceland, the Azores, Mediterranean islands and non-European countries bordering the Med.

Algeria, Israel, Lebanon and Libya aren't included in Europe.

Worldwide

Worldwide includes Australia and New Zealand but excludes the USA and Canada.

Worldwide including USA and Canada simply means the whole world.

Outside Europe

Outside Europe - the EEA (European Economic Area) - you need to take extra care when it comes to arranging travel health insurance.

The country/countries you'll be visiting won't offer the same safety blanket if you fall ill in the UK or Europe.

To find the best value, and a cheap travel insurance quote, you'll need to do a little extra research and compare quotes and policies.

Many insurance companies will provide information about the cover on offer at the drop of a hat, and give immediate online quotes for travel medical cover.

Some internet quote systems are easier to use than others. Some want masses of information about you before you get a quote.

Insurance companies with easy-to-use online systems and that appear to provide relatively cheap quotes are:

• Essential Travel
• Norwich Union
• Endsleigh Insurance
• Go Travel Insurance

Credit Card Perks

Some credit/debit cards also automatically offer cover for:

Travel and accommodation arrangements being cancelled before your departure from the United Kingdom due to -

• Death or disablement by bodily injury, illness, pregnancy or being subject to quarantine
• You being called for jury service or as a witness
• Your redundancy
• Your home being made uninhabitable

Tesco Credit Card (Visa)

Travel accident insurance

If you pay for a trip with your Tesco Credit Card, you'll automatically receive free travel accident insurance.

It'll cover accidental bodily injury or death when travelling, up to a maximum of £50,000 (for Finest* Platinum Card £250,000) for any one person.

Tesco are the first to emphasis that this in no way replaces travel insurance.

Your credit/debit card may cover you for holiday ill health, or your holiday airline going bust.

Royal Bank of Scotland Card

Whenever you use your Royal Bank of Scotland credit card to pay for travel you and your family are covered for up to £50,000 (£100,000 for Gold card customers and £250,000 for Platinum cardholders) travel accident insurance during the journey for injury, disability and death.

But you have to use the card to pay for the journey/holiday before you can claim.

Going for Gold

Similarly as a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland's Royalties Gold membership scheme, the member and his/her family are covered for:

• cancellation up to a limit of £5000
• personal accident for £15000
• emergency medical expenses up to £5 million

Royalties Premier Cardholders enjoy full travel insurance but check the small print in the service guide.

Emergency medical and legal assistance abroad

Gold and Platinum cardholders and Royalties Gold cardholders enjoy world-wide assistance with access to medical and legal help, as well as an international emergency helpline.

FirstAssist

You can call on the medical and legal referral services provided by FirstAssist.

The service includes a travel information service, medical advice, contact details for doctors in the local area and a legal referral service.

For full details or call +44 208 763 3362.

Abbey National

Abbey National, on the other hand, no longer sell travel insurance - instead they'll introduce you to Norwich Union Direct.

Some of the not-to-be sniffed at benefits Norwich Union Direct have on offer include:

• European Breakdown Cover - if you travel by car in Europe
• Personal Accident Cover - up to £50,000
• Delayed Baggage Cover - included automatically under your policy

Interested? Call Norwich Union Direct on 0870 010 6710.

If you want to link to a financial institution that offers Visa cards and accompanying travel insurance benefits here's a list of online financial institutions in the UK together with links to their websites.

Just remember - buyer beware . . .

• Abbey National
• Alliance and Leicester
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclaycard
• Barclays Bank
• Bradford & Bingley
• Cahoot
• Capital One
• Egg
• Citi Cards
• First Direct
• Flemings Premier Banking
• Halifax
• HSBC
• Lloyds TSB
• MBNA
• Nationwide Building Society
• NatWest
• Norwich and Peterborough
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Standard Chartered Bank (CI) Limited
• Tesco Personal Finance