Tripologist: Can I get motorcycle medical travel insurance in Vietnam?

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Tripologist: Can I get motorcycle medical travel insurance in Vietnam?

By Michael Gebicki
If you don't have an Australian motorcycle licence then you cannot obtain motorcycle cover.

If you don't have an Australian motorcycle licence then you cannot obtain motorcycle cover.Credit: iStock

I have been looking for motorcycle medical travel insurance to cover my partner's forthcoming trip to Vietnam. She is a dual Australian/Vietnamese citizen. All Australian insurers require her to have an Australian motorcycle licence. Since she only has a Vietnamese licence she cannot obtain cover. D. Anderson, Melbourne Vic

As a Vietnamese citizen, your partner would be allowed to ride a motorcycle in Vietnam assuming her licence is still current. However as you say, since she does not have an Australian motorcycle licence she cannot obtain motorcycle cover from an Australian travel insurance provider. If she was to ride a motorcycle or scooter in Vietnam it would be at her own risk.

Vietnam is a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (1968) while Australia is a signatory to the 1949 convention. That means Australian drivers' licences and International Driving Permits (IDP) issued in Australia are not valid in Vietnam. Unless they convert their Australian licence to a Vietnamese licence, Australian licence holders are not permitted to drive a car or ride a motorbike or scooter in Vietnam. Without a licence that is valid for the country you are in, any travel insurance you have that covers you for motor vehicle accidents while in control of a vehicle would not be valid.

Our adult children and their families will meet us next July in the UK. As accommodation will be expensive and scarce, can you advise a town with adequate accommodation options for seven and within rail commuting distance of London? L. Van de Velde, Brunswick Vic

Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton are all potential candidates however the cost of rail travel to central London is going to cancel out any savings you might make on accommodation in the capital while the journey time to central London – slightly over an hour – will become tedious if you plan to make regular trips into the city.

My choice would be to stay somewhere on the outskirts of London, and Greenwich, Richmond, Hampstead and Windsor all qualify. Apart from Windsor, travel time to central London is well under an hour, you have a choice of a slower but scenic bus journey or faster but totally non-scenic London Underground and each of these locations has plenty of local interest. Each also has a choice of accommodation, from Airbnb to bed-and-breakfast to hotels. Sawdays [sawdays.co.uk] has some prime stays.

My onward Lufthansa flight from Munich has just been cancelled and the new scheduled flight means I will be at the airport from 6am to 10pm. Any suggestions as what to do with all this "spare" time? M. Grabacki, Richmond Vic

With an early arrival you might want to freshen up in one of the airport's pay-for-use lounges, and Airport Lounge World [munich-airport.com] is the best bet since it has showers and more space than the Airport Lounge Europe. Travel time into the city from Munich Airport is 40 minutes by the S-Bahn and the Gray Line [grayline.com] has a hop-on, hop-off bus tour that makes a circuit of the city in about 2½ hours. Stops include the Central Station, where the S-Bahn from the airport terminates, the Kunstareal, the city's arts and museum quarter, BMW World and Museum, a futuristic look at what you might be driving in the next decade, and the English Garden, one of Europe's largest city parks. Another stop is Nymphenburg Palace, a baroque wonder with a frontage wider than the Palace of Versailles. The Beauty Gallery has a portrait of Lola Montez, the Irish dancer and courtesan, famous as the mistress of King Ludwig I. The stop at Marienplatz is close to the Hofbrauhaus, Munich's most famous beer hall and one of the world's oldest.

My husband and I want to fly into Santiago then visit the Atacama and the Galapagos Islands and possibly Torres del Paine. What would be the best time of year to cover all these within about 4-5 weeks. Do we need to use a travel agent? K. Lindsay, Northbridge NSW

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The warmer season between December and June are optimal for visiting the Galapagos. For the Atacama and Chile generally, March to May and September to December are ideal while for Torres del Paine, March to May, after the summer crowds have left. Overall, March is probably the sweet spot to begin your travels, first to Torres del Paine, then the Galapagos and finally Santiago. Unless you've been to South America before you definitely need a travel agent. Melbourne-based South America Tourism Office [southamericatourism.com] would be my first choice.

Got a travel question? Include your name and suburb or town and send it to Michael Gebicki - tripologist@traveller.com.au

Travel advice is general; readers should consider their personal circumstances.

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