Shopping for Travel Insurance

I never buy travel insurance so when a friend asked me today if travel insurance would cover the airline strikes going on this month in France and Germany, I didn't know.  But I knew where to look. Jumping onto Squaremouth.com and found the answer to her question and a whole lot more.

The New York Times in a January article, "The Claim Before the Storm," called Squaremouth the best of several new sites where travelers can do some comparison shopping for travel insurance, and I agree. Others that also provide travelers with insurance information include InsureMyTrip.com and QuoteWrite.com.  Before buying any travel insurance, check to see what sort of coverage your credit card company provides.

Squaremouth lets you compare insurance products and prices from more than a dozen carriers, including Air Ambulance Card, CSA Travel Protection, Global Rescue, Global Underwriters, HCC, HTH Worldwide, IMG, ITravelInsured, Medex, Travel Guard, Travel Insurance Services, Travelers Liberty, Travelex, TravelSafe and USA Assist.

And the answer to my friend's question is that while standard travel insurance coverage is not available for airline strikes, some travelers may be able to buy a travel insurance policy with the upgrade Cancel for Any Reason benefit.  Cancel for Any Reason allows someone to cancel their trip without explanation.  However, not all states allow the purchase of this product and travelers must purchase a travel insurance policy within 14-30 days of the initial deposit payment.

Oh, and to keep up with who's on strike where in Europe and beyond, EasyTravelReport.com and Europe-Airports.com keep pretty good running lists.  Being prepared is the best insurance. 

.

Au Secours!

Thanks to Cucina Test Rossa for the
photo of the cute policemen

The folks over at AngloInfo published a very useful set of numbers to call in case of emergency.  My adult son says I'm a  hysteric, pain in the a-- worrier, but I say better safe than sorry. I'm posting this list on the refrigerator in the kitchen and in his room.  Some of the useful numbers:

• Medical Help -- SAMU  ...................................................... 15
• Police/Police Nationale ................................................... 17
• Fire and accident - Pompiers .......................................... 18
• SOS -- all services (Europe wide) .................................... 112
• Emergency Shelter ............................................................115

The bad news is that the person you get on the line may not speak English just as you note your English-French dictionary is on fire. The good news is that you can cross your fingers and use the other hand to call any of these numbers free of charge -- from public phones, fixed land lines or cell phones.

You need to be ready to tell the dispatcher where you need assistance (location), your name and phone number, what happened and if it is still happening, how many people need help and wheter weapons are involved.   AngloInfo also provides a handy dandy list of useful phrases for emergencies,  from "I'm in labor" to "that last chunk of foie gras is giving me a heart attack."  (I made up the second one.)

Property Trends 2012

Photo: guy harrop / Alamy  

French banks, following in the footsteps of American mortgage lenders, are making it harder for home buyers to get a loan. Expat borrowers and French residents alike are being told "non" unless they have very large deposits and lofty incomes. BNP Paribas, one of France's biggest lenders to expatriates, overhauled its mortgage range for non-residents and has cut loan-to-value ratios from 80% to 70%.  They've also chopped the terms on interest-only loans -- but then these loans have always struck me as a perfectly terrible way to borrow money.  French banks are being cautious and rejecting borrowers with loan debt exceeding six times their income.  This seems reasonable to me, but it could affect people with several buy-to-rent properties or even some first-time buyers.  But then again, perhaps someone so heavily leveraged should rent for awhile before taking on more debt.  Call me old fashioned.

Despite the tightened lending, borrowers with sufficient income and smaller debt can still get a loan and French mortgage rates continue to look attractive.  French residents, more conservative borrowers than Americans, tend to like long, fixed-term rates and the interest rate on a 25-year-term is now set at around 4.4%.  There's also something called a capped rate deal where borrowers are promised they will not pay more than 4.5% for the term of the loan and the current rate for these is just 3.5%.

Meanwhile, FrenchEntrée just published their annual property survey based on feedback from their network of immobiliers (real estate agents) and property finders across France.  A few interesting items jumped out at me from this year's report, which showed real estate sales pretty grim in some parts of country but lively in others:

• There seemed to be fewer buyers from the UK last year, except in the Alps and Cotes d'Azur, but this was made up for by French, Dutch and Belgian buyers.  Increased interest from Australian and American buyers also showed an uptick. 
• Paris had a stunning year with a 22% increase in property values in the first half of 2011, although that pace slowed significantly as the year progressed. The number of transactions was down, but only because there weren't any properties to sell.  The 3rd and 4th arrondissements were hot.  
• The Languedoc saw more American buyers, as well as people from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and, of course, French seeking homes. The region already has an enormous British community.  A lot of people are taking a look at the Languedoc, which borders Spain, because of the anticipated completion of the TGV link to Barcelona at the end of this year.  Travelers will be able to get from Perpignan to Barcelona in less than an hour. Tapas for lunch! 

With all the gloomy economic news out of Europe, this all looks rather encouraging.

Bringing Up Bébé

My son was born in London but raised in Paris until he was two.  This gave me a couple of years to study the French approach to child-rearing, long enough to notice they were doing something right. They were relaxed. Their children sat through an entire meal without pouring sugar on the table, knocking over glasses, throwing fits. French mothers seemed to have mastered the balance between loving attention to their children and basic self-respect. They were calm but set clear, consistently enforced boundaries around matters like eating and sleeping.  Actually, understanding that the French had a unique approach to child rearing didn't take me two years, only two minutes in the neighborhood pharmacy.

It was my second month back at work and my beloved Alex had been restless the two previous nights. I hadn't slept a wink.  I was pooped.  With my son in the stroller, I staggered down the street to the pharmacy and approached the trim, bespectacled pharmacist.  I was thinking that if I could pop a few more vitamins or some magic energy elixir, I'd be able to make it through the day.

"I'm beat," I explained. "He isn't sleeping well. I'm back at work and I'm having trouble staying awake."

"Ah," she said sympathetically, looking down at the adorable bundle in the stroller and smiling. "You just need a baby sedative."

"Baby sedative!" I was instantly consumed by a delicious mix of horror, guilt, fear and admiration for French ingenuity. "You give sedatives to babies?!!"

"Of course," the pharmacist calmly explained.  "It doesn't hurt them, it helps you sleep and a happy mother is a happy baby."

She handed me a tiny bottle of liquid relief.  Both my son and I slept much better that night and were happier for it.  I was more relaxed and patient, able to both work and enjoy him more.  He was rested, playful and happy with his mommy.  Voila!

I mention all this two decades later because someone has finally taken a good look at how the French raise their children and written a book about it. Why do French children seem to be better behaved than our own? This was the question that started  Paris-based writer Pamela Druckerman's on her quest to understand French parenting and the result is "Bringing up Bébé," being published in the United States later this month by Penguin Press.  (It's already out in the UK as "French Children Don't Throw Food.")

Druckerman wasn't interested in writing a book to make us feel bad by telling us how much better the French are at raising their children. Rather, she went about deconstructing in a very funny way which parental behaviors lead to such well-behaved, yet totally normal, exhuberant, curious, giggling kids.  This interview in The Guardian offers a look at both the content of the book and the charming humor of the writer.  I wish I'd had it 20 years ago.  Pick it up.