"As all of these characters embark on such perilous adventures, we decided to see how this would measure against real travel insurance cover. "
Alistair Ball, Head of Insurance for Asda Money
World Book Day marks a day to celebrate reading and the power of storytelling. This day has been an annual event for 26 years, each year children get lost in the magic of books and dress up as their favourite characters.
This year during lockdown, its purpose and cause for children is greatly significant, as many continue to tackle home learning. Families of school children will have access to digital tokens on the day, you can find out more about this and the schedule for World Book Day on the charity’s website here.
To mark the occasion this year, Asda Money are celebrating in the only way they know how – by looking at the quests of five popular fictional characters and quoting travel insurance for their adventures, of course!
Alistair Ball, Head of Insurance for Asda Money comments, “World Book Day will look a little different this year, so we wanted to revisit some of our favourite book characters to honour the event. As they all embark on such perilous adventures, we decided to see how this would measure against real travel insurance cover. “
Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Frodo Baggins, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Lyra from Northern Lights all feature in the research.
From Alice being accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts and getting put on trial, to Frodo getting captured by Orcs and imprisoned in Cirith Ungol, these famous literary heroes sure do get themselves into some tricky situations. The team at Asda Money have calculated how much these storybook characters could be covered for with travel insurance, for all of their endeavours.
Character travel insurance cover:
Valuable items
Frodo would certainly need to add a valuables benefit to his travel insurance policy to protect his ‘precious’ gold One Ring, this could cover him with a limit up to £250. For Lyra’s priceless artefact, the alethiometer, the same cover could also be available.
Dangerous sports
Alice would want to consider her involvement in dangerous sports when reviewing her travel insurance needs, with an optional add-on to cover her up to the value of £15m in medical expenses - in case that croquet game ends up in an unfortunate incident!
Pet care
Our characters’ furry (or feathery) companions can’t be overlooked either, as Harry’s owl Hedwig and Dorothy’s dog Toto could be covered for up to £200 if they add a pet care benefit to their travel insurance policies.
Technically Pantalaimon is Lyra’s daemon (an extension of her soul), but for arguments sake if he were to be included on her claims form for proper cover while travelling with her ‘pet’, Lyra could also claim up to £200 for pet care.
Storm damage
In the story of the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s farmhouse is famously whisked away by a tornado. With the right policy she could protect from any storm damage by adding insurance cover up to the value of £13,200.
Aviation
We know that playing Quidditch on broomsticks is a serious sport, so there is certainly a need for Harry to protect himself with an insurance add on for aviation. Lyra’s escape from Bolvangar in Lee Scoresby’s hot air balloon would also require the same type of cover. Both characters could be insured for medical expenses up to the value of £144,000 should they get injured!
Interested in finding out more about Harry, Alice, Frodo, Lyra and Dorothy’s pursuits if insurance and literature worlds collided? Explore further by looking at Asda Money’s fictional travels research
