Gap year travellers urged to think carefully about security abroad

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For the 250,000 people preparing to set off travelling the world on their gap years, safety and security abroad is high on their list of concerns.

The majority of gap year travellers are aged 18-24, and are travelling alone and in unfamiliar places, where looking after valuables and in particular currency, cash and credit cards is crucial but not very easy.

You almost certainly will not have access to a safe or safety deposit box and you might well end up sharing a room with complete strangers.

The new prepaid currency cards can help alleviate some of these concerns for gap year travellers. These cards are usually pin protected and operate on the MasterCard, Maestro and Visa networks so that it can be used to pay for goods at over 25 million merchants and withdraw money from over 929,000 ATMs worldwide.

It is estimated that students on gap years spend an average £3,000 on their trips. Of these travellers, security is one of their biggest concerns and some comment that “being mugged is an everyday problem for young people, both in the UK and overseas”. Generally it happens in a flash, no one gets hurt, the pride is dented and the wallet is empty or gone. But without money backpackers can't go anywhere. Running out, losing it, having it nicked from their bag or worse of all, being mugged is a common occurrence on the backpacker trail. Unfortunately for many, these events cause unnecessary hassle, or even worse, cut short their trip of a lifetime.

For parents this is the dream travel tool for their children. For years they see them leak money like the proverbial sieve and the thought of them travelling around the world with large sums of money causes many sleepless nights.

Whilst mums worry about whether their child is going to eat three square meals a day whilst packing it through Thailand, dads tend to worry about whether they have the money to do so, or whether the 3am call from the Hadrin Beach Bar is going to come through demanding cash to stave off the hunger pains! Having the ability to keep the cash flow running to keep Johnny in banana pancakes will keep Mum happy, and if it helps Dad get some more beauty sleep, then all the better!.

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