Category Archives: Budget Travel

SAVINGS on Travel Insurance for Overseas Trips

Whether you are an expat, a round-the-world traveller, or simply someone who is headed off on their annual holiday, a comprehensive travel insurance policy is a VERY necessary item when you leave home. And anyone who fails to purchase such an essential thing may be taking their lives and their financial future in their hands. Rather a lot of people think that they are the ‘lucky ones’ and that no accident or theft or illness will befall them because they are alert and aware and prepared. But, as I can share from personal experience, life’s a little messier than that!

Before you even make a travel insurance purchase, there are ways to save on your overall costs. They usually mean you have to be patient enough to look at quite a few online options, compare the coverage, decide what you don’t need to trim things down a bit, and then consider paying a higher excess or deductible.

Why pay for action sports coverage if that isn’t your thing? And if you aren’t carrying a lot of tech gear with you the way we do, you can probably use a more budget-oriented company that’s a bit ‘no frills’ except on the essentials like medical coverage and missing luggage.

In the past, we have repeatedly used World Nomads as our travel insurance provider. I have nothing but the highest praise for this company and would recommend them to anyone. They were quite reasonably priced, were very pleasant to deal with, and we were quite satisfied with the service we received when we unexpectedly had to make a claim against travel insurance for the first time ever in 2012. They paid a week-long hospital bill for me when I was incredibly ill in France last summer and I would have been stuck with that hefty bill if we had not had an active policy at the time. An episode like that is one of the reasons that I continue to remind fellow travellers to ALWAYS have insurance because the unexpected really does happen more often than you can imagine.

That hospital visit left me in a tricky position though. I now have what’s known as a ‘pre-existing condition’ since it is an issue that could potentially reappear in the future. World Nomads was quite clear on their website when I checked a few days ago and it stated that yes, I could purchase travel insurance that would cover all of the other things like lost luggage or cancelled flights and so forth. But they would NOT COVER any medical issue that had been paid out in the past. On my!

That set me on an almost 3-day search of site after site to try and find good quality travel insurance that I could purchase by simply being honest, stating that I had been hospitalised for a previous issue, and paying a slightly higher premium. Easy, right? But when the companies that I was researching were moving from my budget-target of £500 for the two of us for a 6 week trip and zooming right up to over £1,200 for that short a period, I was a bit stunned. We paid that much for a full year of comprehensive travel insurance a mere 2-1/2 years ago!

I looked at quite a few companies in the UK and discovered that, one after another, they rejected our applications because Mark was British (so he was eligible to buy a policy), but I was Australian and therefore was not. Telling fibs and pretending to be a UK citizen or resident wouldn’t have been a good idea since it would have negated the insurance coverage completely.

When you are preparing to purchase your own travel insurance, you will need to make sure that you answer truthfully what country you are a legal resident of. Since we’ve given up on living in the UK and I didn’t bother doing the paperwork to become a legal resident, I am still a citizen of Australia so I did a web search on insurance for pre-existing medical conditions from the Australian Google site. Simply search from your own country so that if there is ever a problem, they can air-ambulance you back to your home country.

Some of the bigger companies that I included in my search were BUPA, Travel Insure Direct, Medi-Bank, Worldcare.com.au, and 1-Cover as well as the policies offered by banks in Australia. They were all over £1,000 for 6 weeks and CoverMore was the most expensive at £1,249.

Finally (whew!) on Day 3, I found what I was looking for — insurance that covered everything, had a medical certificate stating that I had declared my condition, and we were both covered for all the rest of the baggage, delays, and such. AND, triumph of triumphs, it came in at under £500 for the two of us.

The company we are using this time is InsureAndGo and they have branches in several countries. Securing that insurance for our upcoming trip was the final puzzle piece for the adventure ahead.

Come back soon for more pictures from Newcastle Upon Tyne!

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Perhaps France For Now?

There are days when we can barely believe that it has been 14 months since we left Australia to live and work in Europe on our ‘Grand Adventure’ that was meant to last for a mere 6 months. As I edit photos for my various stock agencies, it is a bit startling to comprehend that some of the images from England, Scotland, and the Netherlands are either a full year old or very nearly there.

Living out of a set of suitcases and snap-lid containers, packing and unpacking every few weeks — well, let’s just be truthful and say that it is getting more than a little tiresome on occasion. For several months now we have been acknowledging a growing sense of travel fatigue. And it never fails that when you need one particular item of clothing, it’s always right at the bottom (or even worse, in the middle!) of those two practically-body-bag sized suitcases that came with us from Oz.

We carry rather a lot of technical gear too — computers and multiple cameras, lenses, 3 back-up drives, a printer, and more — much more. So all of that needs to go into separate bags that go in and out of the van every time we arrive and depart. And did I mention the basic household items and cooking supplies?

Each time we leave, it takes us several hours on the day prior to departure to get organised and go through the checklist as we repack. Then on the day of departure it takes approximately 2 hours for the darling Mark to repack the van so that it all fits into the back like puzzle pieces. Guess what? We are both tired for an overlapping day each and every time we change locations!
 

Checklist and paperwork for getting a Carte du Sejour -- a French residency card


 
We just need to stop for awhile — and we are completely uncertain if this is the final stopping place (country-wise), but FOR NOW we’ve decided to give France a try. The photo above is my checklist from the Prefecture in St. Lo and my paperwork. I am getting my residency card for France — the Carte du Sejour. Mark doesn’t require any of this since he’s already an EU citizen by holding a British passport.

The plan (which, to be truthful, is always in flow!) is to wait here in Normandy for a few more weeks until the laminated card comes back from the government offices in St. Lo. When we went into the offices yesterday to inquire about the time, they told us that it would take at least another 15 days and I have to come pick it up in person since they won’t send it in the post. Today Mark is in Coutances getting his Auto-Entrepreneur paperwork done so he can work as a freelance artisan here in France.

Once we have all of the paperwork in hand, we’ll go down to the south of France for a much shorter time than originally planned, and then go on to Italy for awhile. And after that? It’s likely to be either a trip to the USA to visit family or, if our schedules don’t line up, looking for an apartment to rent here in France for at least 6 months and finding some renovating or building work for Mark. I really need to get stuck into the editing work for several uninterrupted months since there is that big a backlog!

The idea of completely unpacking and seeing ALL of our clothing for the first time in 6 months is rather thrilling, too!
 

Writing and editing in my pajamas


 
Now, while the house is quiet and Mark is out, I’m going see just how much I can get accomplished in the next few hours. Feet up, MacBook on my lap, good internet connection — life is good. But it will be even better once the key that opens the front door goes into our OWN little home — no matter how long we live there!

UPDATE

Oh my — not going quite a smoothly as expected. Mark has to show the registration office here in France some paperwork indicating that he had a business in Australia and that he was in business for himself for over 3 years. Well we certainly do have all of that paperwork, but it’s in a box in storage in Australia! Who in the world would think to travel overseas with your former business paperwork with you?

I’ll keep you posted as I try to determine how to get the Australian government paperwork that we need. Sheesh! Another time-wasting challenge that I really don’t need! There goes my productive work day. (sigh!)

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A New Facebook Page to Click On LIKE

Just set up a Facebook Page for this website A Wanderful Life — Around The World and Around The Neighbourhood Travels.

So if you are already on Facebook or planning to sign up, please DO go over there and click LIKE so I can get the minimum 80 LIKES this weekend and begin being indexed. Thanks ever so much!

HERE is the link for the FACEBOOK page!

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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
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Beachy In Brehal

Winter has descended on Normandy and all of the wool clothing has been unpacked. We’re back at the seaside for a week or more of out-of-season stay in a marvelous 6 bedroom beach house named MAISON MIELLES in the lovely small seaside town of Brehal. Make sure you click on the link for Maison Mielles and have a look. If you are ever thinking of having a holiday in Normandy near the beach, this place is simply splendid!

What I didn’t know prior to our arrival in Brehal was that we would be within visual range of Granville — a place that I mentioned wanting to return to in a previous post. As we walk the two dogs that we are dog-sitting along the curve of the bay, we can quite literally see Granville in the distance.
 

Spot the springer spaniel in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France


 

Dougal the cocker spaniel asleep in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France


 
It’s too cold and gray today for me to be walking through the stone streets and alleyways for those picturesque views, but as soon as we have a sunny day — we’re off! As it is, I’ll be getting my fair share of brisk exercise on the second long walk of the day with the dogs. Mark does the early morning hour-plus with the sweet wee beasties and I join him in the afternoon so that they’re tired and they sleep well at night. Think along the lines of getting a toddler good and tired and you’ll understand!

Mark is quite happy to have some peaceful time for his cross-stitch and I have a backlog of writing and photo editing to do this week. So keep watching for more posts and photos of places that we have visited in Normandy in the last month or so.
 

Mark working on cross stitch at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France


 
Bye for now!
 

Spot dreaming in his basket at the beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France


 
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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
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Familiar ‘French’ Foods

Part of our strategy for frugal or budget travel is cooking for ourselves whenever we have a kitchen in a gite or apartment or house. So we had a bit of a giggle two days ago as we did the big weekly shopping excursion.

We noticed some very familiar name brands from our time living in the USA. The packaging might be familiar, but the language describing the Uncle Ben’s Rice and Old El Paso foods were certainly not in the original English!
 

Uncle Ben's Rice in a French supermarket


 

Old El Paso ingredients for making Mexican dinners seen in a French supermarket


 

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Bookish Brainstorming

Ahhhh, it sounds so glamourous ‘in theory’ doesn’t it — the mid-life adventures of 2 rambling nomads who cast aside their safe and secure life in Australia to live out of a suitcase for long-term travel.
 

Normandy Guidebook


 
The reality occasionally lives up to the expectations and some of our destinations have been brilliant, scenic, and memory-making in a good way. We’ve also met so many interesting people along the way. But rather often we’ve had a gritty master class in the concept of ‘living in flow’ just so we could stay happy and sane.

Do we have any second thoughts about our intentionally chosen lifestyle? 99.9% of the time the answer is a firm no!

A small, tight, not-too-rambling book might be on the horizon — perhaps in e-book only format — perhaps also in print.

I did actually format a few pages today and I have a title. But that’s going to be a secret for awhile!

I’ll keep you posted.

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Expanding Our Options for Work and Travel

Staying out on the road, enjoying the travel between countries, meeting new people, seeing new places, and not spending too much money out of our own savings has always been the goal ever since our departure from Australia in December of 2010.

Back in June, our friend Becky down in the Midi-Pyrenees of France recommended that I look into a website called Mind My House as a potential way to travel and have lovely houses to live in for free whilst house sitting and pet sitting. But it has taken me all of these months to get around to doing that because of our intense work schedule and travel back and forth across the English Channel.
 

A Client's Keys


 
This afternoon I created a new profile for us and you can find that at Deborah and Mark’s Mind My House Profile.

There are so many people who have caught on to this idea and who are travelling inexpensively by doing house sitting, but I am hoping that what will differentiate us from the masses is that we are not simply looking for cheap accommodation in foreign countries. We are following a carefully chosen path and we provide professional services along with the more standard house sitting and pet sitting.

In future posts I will keep you up to date on how it all works out!

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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
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