Are you interested in using your holiday time to help somebody else, while having a great experience yourself? A charity or volunteering holiday could be the perfect solution for you. Plus Direct Line can help you stay insured while you’re away…

Gap years and working holidays are hugely popular these days – but did you know that you could make even more of your time away by helping to make the world a better place? Here’s a few ways in which you can ‘do your bit’ on a break away:

Sponsored charity holidays
Charities and organisations such as Oxfam (www.oxfam.org.uk) or the British Heart Foundation (www.bhf.org.uk) have been running fundraising holidays or global challenges for quite a few years now. These generally involve raising funds and sponsorship to pay for your trip and for the charity in question, plus raising awareness at home and abroad by ‘spreading the word’ to people you meet. Examples of exciting global challenges include cycling around Cambodia, hiking the Himalayas or climbing Kilimanjaro. These usually last for around two weeks, so fit easily into an annual leave schedule. To take part in a charity global challenge, simply choose the charity you wish to support, click on their website and then follow links to fundraising abroad. While the Direct Line travel policies do cover some activities as standard, you should call us to discuss all the activities you might be doing so as to avoid any problems.

Working expeditions
Some charities and organisations run more specific working expeditions that can give you the opportunity to take a ‘hands on’ approach to getting involved in a project. These expeditions could see you assisting a turtle conservation project, building schools in a developing country, teaching English in the jungle or conducting field research for an environmental project. Larger organisations such as Raleigh International (www.raleighinternational.org) have been running these kinds of projects for years and in return for you help, promise great outdoor or conservational training, personal development skills and enhanced cultural awareness. Hundreds more expedition companies have sprung up recently so you can choose a project to perfectly suit your needs too. Check out www.travel-quest.co.uk/charity-expeditions.htm for more ideas or for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) training and opportunities abroad, visit www.tefl.co.uk. Please note that all Direct Line travel policies exclude manual work as well as anything linked to the care of children. There will be liability exclusions in the policy that will relate to working overseas.

Long term voluntary projects
If you get a taste for adventure or for using your skills to help other people then you could decide to volunteer for longer. VSO (www.vso.org.uk) is an international development charity that works through volunteers and their skills. With VSO, there are two kinds of opportunities to help. Volunteer Jobs are long term assignments that last for one or two years. If you’re a qualified and experienced professional between 20 and 75 years and have the time to give, you could volunteer to make a difference in one of 30 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia. Specialist Assignments with VSO can be for only a number of weeks or months but are often on a troubleshooting basis when an emergency occurs. For these opportunities you need to be a senior consultant in a specific area and often available at short notice. While VSO projects are far from the original concept of a ‘holiday’, feedback proves that they do offer a truly rewarding, inspiring and invaluable experience with the ‘feel good factor’ that comes from helping others. Working in your professional capacity will mean you will need to speak to your employer about arranging suitable personal liability cover whilst working overseas as this will not be covered by Direct Line travel policies.

Staying insured
Direct Line travel insurance is designed to cover you for a variety of experiences abroad. You can choose from our Single Trip, Annual and Discoverer Travel Insurance, depending on the length of time you are away and frequency of travel per year. Single trip policies cover you from 1 to 90 days if you are aged less than 60yo, or up to 42 days if you are over 60yo. Annual policies are available to those who are less than 65yo and cover you for up to 120 days travel per year but with an individual trip limit of 42 days. Discoverer policies cover you from 91 days up to 365 days in Europe or 550 days worldwide, with an upper age limit of 54yo, including temporary casual work placements of up to 90 days at a time.

We can also tailor your policy to cover you for the geographic area of your choice. However, do note that our policy excludes some countries from cover – for example, if you choose a destination where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (www.fco.gov.uk) has advised against ‘all travel’. You can find out more from our travel insurance policy documents online. We also have helpful online features on ‘Advice for activity holidays’ and ‘Advice on working holidays’. From these you can see which global activities and types of work we cover under our travel insurance policies. Please note that you will not be covered for any manual work or any occupations involving the care of children and that in many instances, there will be a personal liability exclusion in place whilst you are working, so you might need to arrange additional cover via your employer.

There’s no time like the present to do your bit. To find out what the best level of cover from Direct Line costs for a charity or volunteering holiday abroad, apply for a travel insurance quote today.