Travel insurance is taken out to cover financial and other losses incurred when travelling either domestically in your own country, or travelling internationally.

Travel insurance is normally arranged at the time that you make your travel bookings to cover the full duration of your travel and extensive insurance can be generally purchased from insurance companies or banks.

The most common risks that are covered by travel insurance are:

• Cancellation
• Delayed departure
• Loss, theft or damage to personal possessions and money (including travel documents)
• Delayed baggage and replacement of essential items
• Medical expenses
• Emergency evacuation
• Overseas funeral expenses
• Accidental death, injury or disablement
• Legal assistance

Some travel insurence policies will also provide cover for other costs although the details and benefits vary markedly between different travel insurance providers. Separate insurances can be purchased for specific activities such as high risk sports (e.g. skiing, scuba-diving) or travel to high risk countries (e.g. due to political instability/war or natural disasters).

Cheaper travel insurance can be found by using the internet for shopping around and comparing travel insurance deals and offers. You should investigate the particular type of travel insurance you require and collect prices from a variety of agents and then compare and select the best offer that suits your specific requirements.

Pet friendly holiday accommodation, such as a pet friendly rental house, caravan park, apartment or hotel can be of great benefit for some devoted pet owners. For some of us, holidays without our beloved pet just isn’t much of a holiday at all. We prefer to take our pets along to share the fun holiday time. We’d miss each other too much we didn’t holiday together.

It can be difficult to find an available, trustworthy person to look after our pets. This is especially the case if we are going away for an extended period of time. Boarding kennels can be expensive and fairly impersonal. Pets used to a lot of human companionship may fret and become anxious. In these cases it is preferable to holiday someplace that offers pet friendly accommodation, where your pet is welcome.

There is a variety of accomodation options available for the pet owner, depending on the type of accommodation required. Most common are pet friendly caravan parks, which normally allow pets of any kind. For a little more luxury there are pet friendly hotels and motels. A pet friendly beach apartment allows allows you to exercise your pet on the sand. There are some more luxury pet friendly accommodation locations, for those who want something special such as pet friendly rental houses or cottages, with room to move, yet lots of privacy. There are even houseboats that cater for pets!

Normally in most situations you will be expected to keep your pet under control and not allow it to cause a nuisance to other people and animals, or to cause any damage to property. It will be your responsibility to clean up after your pet.

Here are some things to check when enquiring about pet friendly holiday accommodation:

• Are pets allowed inside? Are they required to stay off the furniture?
• If pets are required to remain outside, is there a secure area for them to sleep?
• Do they have a kennel, or a securely fenced area outside?
• Are dogs allowed to run free, or must they remain on leads in certain areas and at certain times?
• Will there be other pets in the nearby area?
• Will you be required to produce a current vaccination certificate and flea treatment?
• Are there any limits on number, type, size or breed of animal?
• Is there an extra charge or cleaning fee for pets?

The easiest way to check what is available in Pet friendly holiday accommodation is to search online for details – you can often find special deals that you may not easily find anywhere else.

With more and more people wanting to travel at the cheapest cost, everybody is trying to find cheap airfares and discount flights to help stretch their holiday or travel budget further.

With budget airlines and travel companies today competing for your travel dollar, it can be reasonably easy to find bargain airfares and flights, especially if you are willing to be flexible with your travel arrangements.

Cheap airline flights are often available on standby, but this means you need to be able to fly with a fairly short amount of notice. Airlines also have special promotions for very cheap airfares, so if you can move quickly you can secure one of these deals. These can be some of the cheapest airfares in Australia, often offering one way flights for very few dollars. Sometimes you may have to purchase your return trip at a higher price, but it can still work out to be extremely cheap travel.

Monitor the various airline websites to keep up to date on any discount flights that are on offer. Cheap flights are also often advertised on TV, sometimes with accommodation also included.

Consumers should be cautious about cheap flights and really look at the fine print to see what’s included and then make a decision after that. All flights to all locations will attract airport taxes that may not be included in the price. So if a flight is advertised very cheaply you should check if it includes all taxes.

Cheap flights are often used by airlines to fill seats that would otherwise be empty. What this can mean is that flights are longer or they stop off in strange places. You should check the full flight time and any stop offs. If you fly from Melbourne to Sydney via Norfolk Island, how long will it take and is the flight worth the extra time?

Researching online offers your best opportunity for getting cheap air fares and tickets and cheap flights to your destination. There are often times when flights are almost given away, especially when a new airline enters the market or a particular airline offers a special promotion on the cheap flight market.

Airlines offering cheap airfares:

Qantas
Founded in the Queensland outback in 1920, Qantas has built a reputation for excellence in safety and customer service. Today, Qantas is widely regarded as the world’s leading long distance airline. Qantas cheap flights are quite often available.

Jetstar
Jetstar is owned by Qantas but is managed and operated independently. Its association with Qantas ensures a high standard of operational excellence, while its positioning as a budget airline delivers savings to customers.

Virgin Blue
Virgin Blue has won various awards for innovation of service in the airline industry. The company offers online web check-in, which allows you to check-in, choose your seat and print your boarding pass from your computer. Cheap flights from Virgin Blue are often available.

Tiger Airways
Tiger Airways is the one of the newest discount airline to enter the Australian air travel market. Tiger Airways can offer cheap airfares to and from most domestic Australian locations.

Common searches for cheap airfares:
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