Photo Competition – Don’t Go Abroad Without Me!

Competition closed – please click here to see the results.

Whilst the judging of our Hidden Gems travel writing competition continues, our new competition aims to be fun and interactive for all, whilst also highlighting an important issue – the number of people that choose to go away without travel insurance in place. As you can see, Harold is clutching his insurance paperwork as a timely reminder!

With alarming new research from ABTA revealing that 24% of people travelling abroad from the UK last year (2012) did so without any travel insurance, we want to encourage you to get insured to go – and take our Harold with you!

Some people fail to take out travel insurance because they feel that it is unaffordable or unnecessary, or incorrectly believe that the government will pay for medical treatment abroad. The message is, find the right insurance cover to meet your unique needs, and you are free to enjoy your travels with peace of mind. There are too many cases where a traveller has been uninsured and faced the stresses and financial impact of meeting the costs of something that has gone wrong, for themselves.

If you are going to Europe, make sure you get an EHIC card, as this will provide access to free or reduced-cost basic state-funded care, but it won’t cover private treatment if state care isn’t available, as well as repatriation, or lost baggage or possessions. For that, you need a comprehensive policy, with cover in all of these key areas.

Harold is our Founding Partner, and a keen traveller who has recently taken a seven week trip around Australia. However, he is keen to see even more of the world, and we invite you to print him out, pack him in your trusty suitcase or backpack (along with a copy of your travel insurance documents!) and take a photo of him (and anyone else who wants to join him!) in your forthcoming travels. We are keen to see Harold travel the world and ‘enjoy’ new experiences, visit exotic destinations and make new friends. You can make it happen – and possibly win a great prize in the process. To make him more durable and stand-alone, he can obviously be stuck onto some card, or simply hold him up where you think it would make a great shot. If printing is impractical, or time is of the essence, then you can simply display his picture on your phone and hold it up for the camera.  Here are a couple of possible examples:

You can then enter our ‘Don’t Go Abroad Without Me!’ photo competition by completing the entry form below.

The entries (which must not be offensive in any way, and only contain pictures of people with their consent) will then be shared in the Facebook Photo Album ‘Don’t go Abroad Without Me!’ and you are then free to tag the photo, share and invite your friends to ‘like’ and comment. The three photos with the most ‘likes’ will win our fantastic prizes. First Prize is….The deadline to send your photos in, is August 31st 2013, but we will extend the voting period until 19th September to allow votes to be cast for later entries.

So, your mission should you choose to accept it, is to snap an eye-catching photo of Harold whilst you’re enjoying either a UK holiday or one abroad – and then share it with a wider audience – and maybe win yourself a prize, if your snap is the most well ‘liked’ by the 19th September. You are free to enter as many photos as you wish.

*****   Special    Bonus    Prize     *****

In addition to this, there is a special additional prize, as judged by our Harold himself, for the entry that he finds the most amusing.  Let your imagination run amok and think of a rib-tickling pose that our Harold could be placed in, or an amusing scenario or scene that Harold could unwittingly find himself in…you could be in with a chance of winning an Apple iPod Shuffle if it gets the nod from Harold, just make sure that your entry doesn’t cross the boundaries of common decency! All entries will be put in our Facebook album with a chance of winning the main prizes, as well as being considered by Harold for this special bonus prize.

And, of course, wherever you are going (especially if it is anywhere outside of the UK) don’t forget to arrange travel insurance – not so much an optional extra, as more of a travel essential.

Don’t go abroad without it – or Harold!