Far Flung Travel Insurance

The chances of being hijacked or kidnapped by mercenaries during 10 nights in Benidorm are minimal, but there are still plenty of reasons to take out some form of holiday travel insurance.

Holiday travel insurance will help to stop any problems ruining your holiday. Your flight is delayed, you can get compensation; if it's cancelled your insurance could cover the cost of hotel accommodation. Then there are bigger problems: your holiday is cancelled or you have to fly back early because a family member is ill. Without travel insurance, you won't get any money back. There's also the health insurance that's included in your insurance policy which pays for any emergency medical treatment.

Holiday travel insurance comes in two main forms:

• single trip - for when you're only going away once
• multi-trip - for when you expect to make lots of foreign trips in a year

There are a wide range of policies for individuals, couples, families and single parents too. Here are some companies who provide travel insurance online recommended by far-flung.

American Express Travel Insurance isn't a stand-alone product; instead, it's part of the package of benefits offered to cardholders.

The level of cover you get depends on the type of Amex card you have. The bargain basement Blue card comes with simple accident insurance that applies to any plane tickets you purchase with your card; if you've got a Platinum card, you get free annual multi-trip insurance.

Go Travel Insurance is one of the leading providers of online travel and holiday insurance for UK and Irish residents on the Internet. They offers single, multi-trip and extended stay travel insurance, and you can add winter sports cover to your policy. The firm will insure individuals and families, and children are covered free of charge.