Survivalist Chronicles

During this, one of our worst winters for a long time, many of us have found ourselves suffering with no end of nightmares and catastrophe. You wake up in the morning and find it is more often than not a case of what lies in wait for me today and a feeling of dread!

According to the article “How to weather those wintry hazards” we are now discovering our insurance protection may not protect us as much as we once thought!

We skid into a passing car on icy roads to find our car insurance hasn’t covered us because they have deemed our trip out not a necessity. You return from a long spell away and find that your pipes have burst in your holiday home and your insurance will not cover the damage. You hadn’t realised that your insurance only covered you for periods of absence no longer than thirty days!

How can we reassure ourselves that our insurance policies are covering what we are buying into them for? Here’s a clue, why not take it out of the drawer and read it.

Planning a trip to Dubai or Egypt this year? Abandoning the usual Spanish holiday resorts and the Canaries for a destination you have never been to before? Good for you! Travel really does broaden the mind and it certainly doesn’t hurt to learn about the customs and ways of life of other countries.

New rule books and codes of customs to observe, you may not be too surprised to hear that some countries have different ideas of what constitutes appropriate behaviour! According to the article “These smoking hot travel tips could save your bacon!” picking up the Rule Book before you set off could turn out to be a life-saver! Kissing in public is illegal in Dubai and you could get arrested for carrying your daily medication. Cover up your arms ladies when visiting the marketplaces or souks and mosques, no matter how hot it gets. Revealing your legs or arms can be seen as a sign of disrespect and will attract the worst kind of attention! Buy a guidebook before you set off for these complicated countries and contact the British Foreign Office for advice.

Even the best-laid plans can let you down at the last minute! Even the most organised among us can overlook something, so if this article has no other impact on your life, it could help you in some way! According to the article “Read on! This could happen to you!” despite preparation, a trip abroad can still go wrong! You have done all the right things, you’ve checked your passport, your travel insurance, your tickets, your Visas and then suddenly something out of the blue rears its ugly head and your holiday disintegrates in front of your eyes!

To avoid something going wrong and losing all the money you paid for a holiday, at the time of booking double check all the details with your travel agent, insurer and always read the small print!

According to the article “Planning a holiday in 2009?” any of us who are lucky enough to reside in particularly scenic areas could expect a call any time from distant relatives stating their wish to spend their summer holiday with you and yours!

Now is the time to get those stock replies ready! You know the ones where your sentences begin with “Ooh, that would be lovely, but …”etc for when the phone rings out of the blue one evening soon.

One thing it seems, the credit crunch is responsible for, is bringing people together. But is this always a good thing? Uncharitable people may even suddenly see their idyllic coastal residence as a curse when announcements from those cost cutting family members begin to trickle in packed with suggestions of ‘catching-up’ this summer. Won’t they be positively patting themselves on the back with the money saving idea of packing up the car with flip-flops and beach towels and making for their favourite Uncle Andy and Aunty Peach’s! You can almost hear the immortal words over the eleventh free of charge, cooked meal for seven “Why didn’t they do this every year?”