Backpacking can be a holiday customised completely to your wants and needs. It can be done for a range of costs, and can involve a huge variety of activities. The whole holiday can be tailor made to suit the expectations of the travellers, which means that the itinerary is much more flexible. The result is that there are a huge number more options than if the holiday-goers were tied into an official package, meaning that for anyone who doesn't easily make up their mind, the small details of the trip can be left out, leaving options open.

There are many things that can be enjoyed whilst backpacking, including adventurous activities such as kayaking or rock climbing in beautiful picturesque locations. Or it could just be that you want to enjoy swimming in the warmer climate, or hundreds of different activities. One of the most common is scuba diving; it makes a lot of difference scuba diving in warm water! For these activities, there is obviously a level of risk attached. When rock climbing, one could fall off the rock face, or sustain rope burn; when kayaking one could capsize and knock one's head on a rock and sustain concussion; there are a number of things that can go wrong with activities on a backpacking holiday. This is why travel insurance is an absolute must when travelling abroad, especially on backpacking holidays. In some countries even the smallest treatment without insurance can cost thousands of pounds, meaning that a cheap holiday can move very quickly towards becoming hugely expensive. In others, the hospital will simply refuse to treat you unless you can prove you have travel insurance. This is especially true in France, where they are particularly stringent on the rules regarding insurance in hospitals. Travel insurance also gives the possibility of being sent home for free after accidents or other situations of extenuating circumstance. This is a very good thing, as it means that if anything happens either on the holiday or at home, the travel insurance will bear the cost of sending you home to deal with it.

Quite apart from the possibilities of injury and accidents whilst partaking in activities, there is risk attached to travel as well. Not so much the risk of crashing buses or trains, but more the risk of missing flights because of unforeseen circumstances, or other transport being late. This is extremely relevant in countries where the transport one would be taking is very unreliable, because the travel insurance covers you for any missed transport, meaning that one would then be able to get another flight or train or whatever without having to worry about the cost. Travel insurance is an absolute must for backpacking; there are too many uncertainties to not have it. And not having it could come back and haunt you later.