If you think it is bad having to pay ?30 for something you are unlikely to have to use, try paying foreign hospital bills running into thousands of pounds. If you're uninsured abroad and things go wrong, you really can find yourself in big trouble.

But that doesn't mean you can't minimise the cost of travel cover. Competition between insurers can work in favour of the consumer. We in the UK spend more on travel each year than anyone else in Europe, and as you would expect there are an appropriately large number of insurance options available.

Picking the most appropriate cover package will save you money ? and more importantly, paying much less in the event of an accident abroad. When shopping for your travel insurance, you might want to consider some of the following options:

Single Trip Travel Insurance. Most likely, are you going to travel abroad more than once in the coming year? This is a question we all should be asking ourselves before we choose a policy, as it is the easiest way of saving money. as you would expect, single trip cover is more economical than a yearly or multi-trip package but would work out more expensive should you buy two single trip policies within a year. But that doesn't mean this type of policy can't go a very long way. Practically, you can probably stay away for up to six months.

Annual Travel Insurance. If you are likely to travel overseas more than once in a year, this kind of coverage is most economical, especially if you travel often. There is usually no limit on the number of journeys you can go on, however the length of any single journey may be shorter than the length under a specific Single Trip policy. For example, Go Travel Insurance's Annual Policy allows for any one trip to be up to 31 days long.

Specialist Travel Insurance. This is a varied and often very specific section in the market. Examples of specific packages would be backpackers insurance , wedding insurance (yes, some people do want to go to the other side of the world for their big day), or sports insurance (such as golf). The particular needs and risks associated with specific activities has been assessed by the insurer in order to construct a comprehensive policy.

The overriding concern is to buy adequate travel insurance. Once you have taken care of this factor, there are many ways to save money on your travel policy. The best way to find them is to shop around, get to know the market, and how you can cut out what you dont really need.