Category: general

Australia is a hugely popular destination for British pensioners and people of all ages. This is despite the huge distances and costs involved getting to the land downunder!

It is often thought that due to reciprocal health cover you do not need to worry about having healthcare as British citizens will automatically be covered on the Australian medicare scheme. Well this is not the case.

Some of your hospital fees will be covered by in public hospitals downunder but never in private ones. Ambulances are privately run and are not covered by medicare. Indeed even some Australians in certain states would have to pay for an ambulance of they didnt have their own health insurance.

So you really need travel insurance if you are going to Australia, there are no two ways about it. Ambulance travel alone can cost many 1000s of dollars and that’s even before you get to hospital.

Doctor visits also have to be paid for too.

Below are a couple of links that you should check out before planning a trip to Australia.

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/enablers/rhca-medical-care-visitors-australia/27436

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/australia

It’s almost December and we thought we’d take a look at some of the latest travel news from around the World that is affecting older travellers.

Skyscanner bought by Chinese firm

UK based flight search engine which is very popular with the Over 80s has been bought by Chinese company Ctrip. The amount paid was thought to be around £3 billion!

Seniors from the UK will not only use Skyscanner on their PCs, but more and more have downloaded the App onto their tablets too.

New Zealand open for business again after earthquakes

NZ is very much open again and gearing up to another busy summer season. The popular southern hemisphere island is particularly popular with older Britons.

The country suffered a major earthquake of over 7.2 magnitude, centred on the busy tourist area around North Canterbury, on the South Island. Some roads and access to towns were severely disrupted, but a lot of work is ongoing to get the infrastructure back on it’s feet.

New Zealand is expecting over 4 million visitors which is almost the same as the population.

The country remains popular with seniors as it often reminds them of how England use to be.

Thailand to extent long stay visas for seniors

Thailand, the ever growing tourist hub of Asia, is increasing long stay visas from 1 year to 10 years for seniors citizens from a few select Western countries.

The 10 year visas are targeted at the Over 50s who can prove they have a healthy income or 3m Baht in their bank. They will also need good health insurance coverage too.

For more on this check out…

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism-and-transport/1141756/10-year-visa-for-senior-tourists

 

The EU referendum vote has come and gone and the UK voted to leave the European Union. It was pretty close, at around 52-48%, but the nation spoke and Britain will leave the European Union, probably in the next couple of years.

In terms of travel and holidays in Europe, not much is likely to change. The biggest impact will be on expats living in Europe and Europeans living in the UK.

The EHIC card is not actually an EU thing as such, it is tied into the EEA, for which the UK might still remain as a member. The controversy is that the EEA generally allows free movement of people, which is what many voted against in the first place.

As we said, not much will change. If you are going on holiday to France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Portugal or any other EU country, then you will still be required to take out travel or holiday insurance. THIS IS REGARDLESS OF HAVING AN EHIC CARD!

Welcome to the news section of our site. We will be bringing you specific travel news related to the Over 80 age group, a group that in the UK is growing in numbers.

We will cover areas such as travel insurance, of course! But we will also cover general travel topics such as..

• Holiday Planning
• Cruises and cruise deals
• Flight deals and car hire
• Safety alerts for various countries you may visit
• Anything that affects travel and living abroad, e.g. Brexit
• Travel Money and how to manage your credit cards

So keep coming back to our news section!