Although it is not a legal requirement to have travel insurance when you go aboard on holiday, accidents can happen and insurance can protect you and your family against cancellations, injuries, illness or lost luggage and money.  Therefore you should try and include travel insurance as a standard part of your budget when booking any holiday, and there are some affordable policies around which can provide good cover for those with limited funds available.

If you travel abroad more than once a year it is often cheaper to get annual travel insurance policies rather than taking out separate policies on each individual trip.  This will also normally cover you for trips in your home country as well.

Remember that if you are going on an adventure holiday you need to make sure you get adequate insurance to cover those more active entertainments such as skiing, white water rafting etc.  Also some carriers will charge premiums for covering extreme sports such as skydiving or bungee jumping, or indeed may refuse to cover you for these high risk activities at all.

If you are going to Europe on your holidays this year then remember that all holders of British passports are entitled to free health care in other European countries using the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) provided by the Department of Health (www.dh.gov.uk).

This will cover you for any state provided medical treatment you need during your trip in Europe , through either accident or illness, and once you have received your card it is normally valid for 3-5 years, so can be used again and again.

Please bear in mind that this type of insurance will not cover you completely for every single kind of treatment you may require, and you may need to make a contribution to the costs of your care in some cases, so it can be a good idea to supplement this cover with some private travel insurance.  Also the EHIC will not cover you for free treatment abroad if this is the main reason for your trip.