Travel insurance for the extreme

For example, the Philippines is widely recognised ashaving some of the best scuba diving sites in the world because of theclarity of the surrounding waters and the sheer diversity of the marinewildlife that inhabits them. Britain’s murky depths just cannot compareto these tropical hotspots.

Other activities cannot even be attempted here, suchas skiing for example. The opportunities simply don't exist.Fortunately the best slopes in the world aren't very far away, andgetting to the French Alps takes just a few hours by air. When thealternative is a dry ski-slope off the M62 motorway, it seemsreasonable to get to the airport.

The problem (sometimes) with activities that get theadrenaline flowing is that they can be very risky. The fact is you canstill break your leg on the artifical ski-slope just off the M62motorway. So when taking on the most challenging areas of the worldthose risks are much greater.

Travel insurance, it goes without saying (but I'llsay it anyway), is absolutely necessary when travelling abroad, evenfor a chilled out holiday on the beach. There is always risk involved.Travel insurance is invaluable under normal circumstances and for fansof adventurous sports it can be a lifesaver.

Most standard polices will not cover activitiesdeemed unusually risky automatically. As a result many companies offerdedicated sports travel insurance for those going away to challenge andterrify themselves doing their favourite sport, whether it is skiing orparagliding.

When things go wrong it is essential to have a policythat is suited to your activities. If you don’t, then you could findthat the insurance policy has been invalidated by the activity that ledto your injury, for example. Which means hefty hospital bills to add tothe pain of that broken leg.