Although insurance has been in existence, in one form or another, for the past two - three millennia, starting with the Babylonians in circa 1750 BC, Travel Insurance is a relatively new insurance, with respect to other insurances like Life Insurance, Property Insurance, Car Insurance, etc. In the past two centuries, travelling for business and leisure has been growing exponentially and providing a multitude of services for travellers has become a huge business. Due to the ever increasing number of travellers and the many problems encountered by travellers within their own country and abroad, insurance companies came out with comprehensive Travel Insurance Packages for intrepid travellers, businessmen who travel regularly, and for families and groups. Besides these comprehensive Travel Insurance Packages, insurance companies also came out with Cheap Travel Insurance Packages for budget travellers, backpackers, and those travelling alone or in a group, but on a shoe-string budget.
A comprehensive Travel Insurance Package covers almost all risks and includes all facilities and many services and assistance like medical assistance in case of accidents and injury, including air lifting to hospitals if required through an Air Ambulance, hospital expenses, compensation and assistance for lost or stolen baggage, lost documents, booking cancellations, etc. All these services and assistance come at a cost, which is the premium charged for the insurance package. But this does not mean that the Cheap Travel Insurance Packages are useless or should not even be considered. Cheap Travel Insurance means that the package covers the essential and most common risks like medical assistance required, accidents, etc, but some cheap packages may not include some risks covered in the comprehensive packages, and which may not be required or essential for the policy purchaser.
Many insurance companies may also charge a lower premium for comprehensive Travel Insurance packages, based on their assessment of the risks and calculations. This does not mean that these Cheap Travel Insurance packages are not as good as the ones that charge a higher premium for the same package. Offering cheaper travel insurance by an insurance company may be due to its own internal assessment of travel trends, risk factors, calculations, and experiences with previous policyholders and policies issued. Offering of Cheap Travel Insurance and charging a lower premium may also be due to the competition in the insurance industry to entice customers to purchase their Travel Insurance packages.
Whether you opt for comprehensive Travel Insurance or Cheap Travel Insurance, one should always enquire about the risks covered, services provided like online help and call facilities, and assistance provided in case of emergencies and problems. If you are travelling overseas to another country, you should also inquire about the assistance that is provided overseas in case of medical emergencies, cancelled flight and hotel bookings, etc.
Cheap European Travel Insurance
Travel writing is a major genre. Go into any bookshop and see the vast array of travel writings aimed to appeal to every type and taste. There are food travel books for food enthusiasts, historical travelogues for the historians, humorous travel books for the irreverent, and every other imaginable slant on travel. But where did this interest in the travels of others begin?
One of the earliest European travel accounts, where the writer traveled for the sake of travel and wrote about it afterwards was written, oddly enough, not during the heydays of Greece or Rome but in the year 1336 A.D. Petrarch, an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists -- the man credited with perfecting the sonnet and making it one of the most perfect art forms to date -- climbed Mount Ventoux and wrote about it afterwards. It was a climb that resulted in far more than just the view he described or his account of the satisfaction of reaching the top. He introduced an entire new activity to humanity: travel writing.
True to the genre as well, Petrarch was critical of his fellow travelers or, in this case, those who refused to accompany him. He described his companions who stayed at the bottom of the slope frigida incuriositas, an insult that fell just short of calling them stupid. A loose translation is ?people with a cold lack of curiosity?. Petrarch not only talked of the toil involved in reaching the peak but went a little overboard, by today's standard, making allegorical comparisons between climbing the mountain and his own moral progress in life. It was a sort of vertical Pilgrim's Progress, but it would be several centuries before John Bunyan followed Petrarch's lead.
Then there was Michault Taillement, a poet for the Duke of Burgundy, who traveled through the Jura Mountains in 1430 and diarized his personal reflections, which included naked terror when confronted by sheer rock faces and blind fear when observing cascading waterfalls.
In the same era Antoine de la Sale, author of Petit Jehan de Saintre, climbed to the crater of a volcano in the Lipari Islands in 1407 and recorded his impressions. He put his impulse to undertake the climb to ?councils of mad youth?.
In the mid 15th century Gilles de Bouvier gave a delightful explanation of why one should travel and write. In his Livre de la description des pays he wrote: ? Because many people of diverse nations and countries delight and take pleasure, as I have done in times past, in seeing the world and things therein, and also because many wish to know without going there, and others wish to see, go, and travel, I have begun this little book.?
In 1589 Richard Hakluyt published Voyages, a text which became the template for the travel literature genre for many centuries.
In the 18th century, travel literature was commonly known as the Book of Travels, and most often these consisted of maritime diaries and the public couldn't get enough of them. Captain James Cook's diaries (1784) were the equivalent of today's best sellers. It was in the 18th century that travel writing matured as a genre. Every writer had a travel book or two and today nothing much has changed in this respect.
Other later examples of travel literature include accounts of the Grand Tour written by countless aristocrats, clergy, and others with money and leisure time, who traveled Europe to learn about the art and architecture of its past. The tradition of the Grand Tour lasted well into the 20th century and was still a feature of the Belle Epoque (the 1920's). Another travel literature pioneer was Robert Louis Stevenson in the late 19th century whose ?Travels with a donkey? introduced a light-hearted tone to the genre.
Both Ron Mark & Justine Richards are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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Justine Richards has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Writing and Cheap Travel Insurance for. Justine has been a journalist for 20 years and is a contributor to Just The Planet, the online luxury travel magazine for independent travelers.. Justine Richards's top article generates over 12100 views. Bookmark Justine Richards to your Favourites.
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