Rob Keating from Canberra, Australia has taken his love for travel and created a website for the budget conscious traveler. Keating is looking to spread the word about the importance of travel insurance and travel registration.
Keating said "after a 20 year career working for the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade it was time to take the knowledge and experience gained through work and create a website (http://www.cheapflightscruises.com) that provides useful and interesting travel information for today&39;s modern traveler. Keating has extensive travel experience having worked at one time as a diplomatic courier and having been posted to Beijing, China. He has also traveled privately to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Zealand.
With the proliferation of cheap flights on no frills airlines a larger number of people are taking advantage of low airfares and traveling to more destinations worldwide. Keating points out the importance of doing the necessary research before heading off overseas on vacation. . He says to ensure that people check the government travel advisories before booking a vacation and just again prior to departure, and most importantly purchase travel insurance. Having been involved in consular work in the past he has seen the trauma involved, not to mention the financial cost, when a loved one is injured overseas and someone does not have travel insurance. According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade the cost of medical evacuations from the United States to Australia regularly range from AUD 75 000 to AUD 95 000 and sometimes up to AUD 300 000.
It is also important to register with the local embassy in the country of travel. Keating says that in recent times there have been several occasions where violence has flared up resulting in the need to quickly evacuate tourists from trouble spots. This was seen in the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict and more recently in the Pacific Island country of Tonga. If a person has taken the time to register with an embassy the embassy will be in a position to assist a traveler. The latest hotspot is Fiji. The Australian Government currently has navy ships sitting off the Fiji coast in anticipation of a coup and the need to evacuate Australian tourists. Tragically this operation recently resulted in the death of a helicopter pilot and one army soldier is missing believed dead.
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