• Fly-By-Wire: Fly a plane tethered to a 105m cable
• River Boarding: Surf a boogie board down a whitewater river
• Bungy Rocket: 35m-tall slingshot launches riders at 160 km/h
• Canyoning: Rappel off waterfalls and swim through river rapids

• Lucy Lawless, Actor, Xena: Princess Warrior
• Peter Jackson, Director, Lord of the Rings & King Kong
• Sir Edmund Hillary, Mountaineer, First to climb Mt. Everest

• Shotover Freefall
  Skydive (9000ft); Jetboat the Shotover River ;Helicopter flight into Skippers Canyon; Whitewater raft the Shotover: Full day; NZ$525
• Queenstown Combo
  Jetboat the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers; Helicopter transfer to the Skyline Gondola; Gondola ride back to town: 2.5 hours; NZ$185
• Nevis Bungy Raft
  AJ Hackett Nevis Highwire Bungy Jump (134m); Whitewater raft the Shotover River: Full day; NZ$334 Combos.co.nz

DISPATCHES: EUROPEAN VIP FOR VLC (very little cash)

Article by Sarah Hashimi

Small purchases can mean huge savings when traveling, like European City Passes that save on museum entrance fees, metro rides, tours, and restaurants. Europeancitycards.com collects on one web site 45 of these city-specific discount cards. Some city passes, like Vienna for 16.90 euro offer free public transportation for four days, or London’s 42 euro one-day pass hooks up free entry into the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. Plus city passes save time by letting you bypass long lines at popular attractions. Consider it VIP treatment for backpackers.

When choosing a city pass, keep in mind your duration of stay and what attractions sound most appealing—don’t pay 15 euro for card with a 5 euro discount to the marionette theater if puppets tend to freak you out. London comes in one- to six-day packages (from 42 to 158 euro), but it would be tough to hit 60 museums even in six days. Europeancitycards.com’s greatest benefit is the full listing of discounts and attractions to help you decide whether it’s worth it. The Berlin WelcomeCard is valid for 48 (16 euros) or 78 hours (22 euros), with free public transportation and 124 discounted attractions—a big savings over a few busy days. But Europeancitycards.com falls short in a few areas. They have a card for the cool college town of Olomouc in the Czech Republic, but not Prague. Many off-the-beaten-path cities cards were out of stock (Budapest, Tallin, even Madrid).

THE NEWBIE

Q: Should I buy travel health insurance?

A: The answer boils down to one question: Are you willing to spend a little money now for peace of mind later? It’s a must if you are planning an extended trip in the developing world. First-world weekend jaunts? Less likely you’ll need to be airlifted out—unless you’re pushing yourself on a mountain biking trip or planning some hardcore Alpine ascent.

Travel health insurance—supplemental health and accident insurance—(not to be confused with travel insurance, which covers your travel investments like payments for tours, cruises, airline tickets, etc.) guarantees free or discounted medical treatment overseas. Plans vary; some offer services like phone calls to consult American doctors or flights home in the case of serious problems. Prices depend on length of stay, age and other risk factors, but typically range from $80 to $150 for three months.

Choosing among many carriers can be difficult. Check out HTH Worldwide (hthworldwide.com) to view their student-specific plans, or the alternatives offered at Compton Insurance (comptoninsurance.com). Odds are you’re more likely to get seriously hurt on the drive to the airport than while traveling in a foreign country, but finding yourself on the wrong side of the odds can be a painful and expensive predicament. Just read Mary Hollendoner’s article “I’ve Fallen in a Foreign Country and I Can’t Get Up!” to get a first-hand account of how terrifying sustaining a serious injury abroad can be. Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. —RM

Got a travel question you’re too ashamed to ask your world-weary pals? E-mail newbie@studenttraveler.com!