Travel Counsellors have many young customers – but none younger than Gemma Foord, who was born on a TC holiday! Helen and Tim Foord from Kent planned a last holiday before becoming parents. Their Travel Counsellor Pat Wright organised a holiday in the South of France, travelling by train because Helen was six months pregnant. However on the TGV from Paris to Nice, Helen’s waters broke. The train made an emergency stop at Valence and Helen and Tim were rushed from there to Lyon where, on 13 September, Gemma was born weighing just 1kg (2.2lb). Helen and Gemma stayed in Lyon hospital for nearly a month, before being flown home to Biggin Hill by private Learjet. Their journey took less than an hour. Tim, however, flew back on a BA flight that developed a puncture on the runway. His journey took eight hours!
Six weeks later Gemma finally came home from her local hospital and by Christmas she weighed 3.5kg (7lb). The family is hugely thankful they had good travel insurance. They also had their European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC) which covered 80% of all the medical costs. Tim says that future holiday plans for the three of them definitely include a visit to Lyon to see all the friends they made there. ‘Maybe one day,’ he hopes, ‘we’ll get to stay in the hotel that Pat booked for us on the French Riviera.’ An EHIC is a replacement for the E111 scheme and is free: see www.ehicard.org, or pick up an application form from a Post Office. It entitles you to the equivalent of NHS treatment in most European countries – but it’s not a replacement for medical travel insurance.
Some of the content of the magazine refers to flights or prices from the UK. At Travel Counsellors Ireland we can source flights from Ireland and provide full quotes in Euros. Please call me for latest availability and prices.
