The experience of one backpacker in Australia demonstrates how important buying
online travel insurance could be in the event of an accident.
Backpacker Chad Vance clung to the outside of a train as it was pulling out of a station and stayed there for almost 200 miles.
The 19-year-old had got off at Port Augusta to stretch his legs, when he realised that the train was beginning to pull out of the station without him.
Refusing to be left on the platform, Mr Vance ran and grabbed on to a stairwell at the back of the train and managed to haul himself up into a cramped sitting position, where he remained for the next 200 miles.
While the escapade might seem like an amusing tale for him to tell, it could have been much worse, as the train sped through the Australian outback, where temperatures were falling as low as minus seven degrees, leaving Mr Vance almost freezing to death.
Although Mr Vance's experience would not be recommended to other travellers, it does emphasise the importance of buying
worldwide travel insurance to help cover people if they end up needing hospital treatment in the event of an accident or other mishap.
Recent figures have suggested backpackers are increasingly looking for other ways to travel to destinations instead of flying, which is becoming increasingly expensive and is considered more harmful to the environment than using alternative methods.
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