Problems
1 I read in the online newspapers that girls are being taken to Hong Kong and tricked into marriage by being told to sign a marriage contract in a mock wedding which they are assured will later be void.
2 An even more serious case was the girl who claimed she was asked to play a series of pranks pushing something in a stranger's face for a TV show, ending with a stunt in an airport. She ended up on a murder charge.
When travelling you are often faced with signs saying at your own risk, or documents you have to sign before boarding a vehicle.
Answers
Before travelling, consider which activities you are likely to undertake, such as skiing, skiing off-piste, skiing for more than five days, surfing and snowboarding, bungee jumping, riding in a helicopter to go whale watching, taking boats and ferries, canoeing, white water rafting, riding on a water slide or rollercoaster at a theme park, riding off-road vehicles. Check whether your insurance covers these. Ask their customer relations department in advance if their insurance covers you and get the document.
As a traveller I have been in the following situations:
1 I go to a launch of a cruise ship which stays in dock. At the entrance I am told I have to sign a document saying I don't hold the company responsible for any accidents.
I call the PR and ask why. He has a chat and comes back and says, because their insurance only covers people booked on cruises. I should have been told in advance that I needed to take out my own insurance and that entry was dependent on my signing that waiver.
Another way around this is to send a company in advance a statement that you must be informed of any such waiver document in advance and will only undertake an activity which is safe enough for the company to be granted insurance. The insurance company has a department checking deaths and accidents. If they find an activity has a bad accident history, you may find that sufficient evidence not to go. On the other hand, drivers in events such as Formula one may either be so well paid that they are prepared to take the risk and use their money to take out a high premium insurance, or fund any medical costs arising.
I have had similar situations with companies trying to send a standard form buying all rights to a short story. On one occasion the story had already been published elsewhere. In another I was planning to use it in a book. I found that the editor was quite happy on both occasions to change my contract with the magazine regarding those stories. However, when I received the cheque, the back was stamped with all right, this must be signed. My boyfriend of the time was a solicitor who said the endorsement was not legally valid and the bank would not even glance at it. just pay it in.
I was not convinced by what he said. So I signed the back, after crossing out the printed statement and writing - terms as on previously signed contract. Neither the bank nor anybody else ever queries what I had written.
My short story was published and paid for and I don't think the company or I or anybody else ever went on to publish it elsewhere anyway. However, I do know that if want to publish my complete works when I reach 100 years old, or a descendant or agent of my family wants to produce a book of my collected works a year before the copyright ends, no long-forgotten publisher will suddenly appear waving a contact saying: you gave us all right back in 19 whatever.
Insurance For Sports, Transport And Activities
You might find that an insurance company will happily add a clause covering your activity, or will charge a tiny premium of, say, under £10, to cover you for the extra days or activities.
Don't take my advice or anybody else's. Ask about the laws in your country and the law in the country you are travelling to at the time of your journey.
I am writing this in one country and on a specific date. By the the time you read it or act on it, circumstances may have changed. I am just telling you this to alert you to the situation in which you may find yourself, who to consult, and how you must consider your options.
Avoiding Trouble
For example, in any of the more serious situations, you might want to refuse to do something which would cause you trouble later, as I have suggested.
On the other hand, you might decide that the consequences of antagonising others in a remote place would be worse. If you think you could be abandoned, or endangered, better to pretend to agree, or to agree, and live.
If you are a short story writer, like me, you could devise endless numbers of plots with endless numbers of characters. What would be the consequences of refusing, worst case scenario? Our heroine, our first heroine, lose a holiday, learns from experience to be cautious, the second girl, her sister, could lose a job, the third, a new friend and colleague, ignoring the experienced and sensible heroine's advice ends up married - and has to be helped, rescued!
Her enraged boss could plot to kill her. His bodyguard, seeing the deal not going through, thinking he might not get paid, might lose his temper and try to push her over the cliff. The fake groom might save her. She might be so grateful that she marries him anyway. I am getting sidetracked here.
I really threw that in because I didn't want to say this is what could happen to you. To present my imagined scenario as what could happen to you was over-dramatic and depressing. Instead, dressing the drama up as a short story was merely amusing. To a practical person, it sounds like a fictional side-track from facts. However, you have gained five minutes extra entertainment.
How do you avoid getting into trouble and signing away your rights, or having your signature copied and forged?
This is long enough. See my next post, later, telling some of my travel stories.
Interesting websites:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45338985#_=_
Headline: "Hong Kong woman marries stranger after being tricked by work
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. For an entertaining after-dinner speech, or a workshop on travel, or story writing, or turning your travels into fiction, contact Angela Lansbury by email or on Facebook.
1 I read in the online newspapers that girls are being taken to Hong Kong and tricked into marriage by being told to sign a marriage contract in a mock wedding which they are assured will later be void.
2 An even more serious case was the girl who claimed she was asked to play a series of pranks pushing something in a stranger's face for a TV show, ending with a stunt in an airport. She ended up on a murder charge.
When travelling you are often faced with signs saying at your own risk, or documents you have to sign before boarding a vehicle.
Answers
Before travelling, consider which activities you are likely to undertake, such as skiing, skiing off-piste, skiing for more than five days, surfing and snowboarding, bungee jumping, riding in a helicopter to go whale watching, taking boats and ferries, canoeing, white water rafting, riding on a water slide or rollercoaster at a theme park, riding off-road vehicles. Check whether your insurance covers these. Ask their customer relations department in advance if their insurance covers you and get the document.
As a traveller I have been in the following situations:
1 I go to a launch of a cruise ship which stays in dock. At the entrance I am told I have to sign a document saying I don't hold the company responsible for any accidents.
I call the PR and ask why. He has a chat and comes back and says, because their insurance only covers people booked on cruises. I should have been told in advance that I needed to take out my own insurance and that entry was dependent on my signing that waiver.
Another way around this is to send a company in advance a statement that you must be informed of any such waiver document in advance and will only undertake an activity which is safe enough for the company to be granted insurance. The insurance company has a department checking deaths and accidents. If they find an activity has a bad accident history, you may find that sufficient evidence not to go. On the other hand, drivers in events such as Formula one may either be so well paid that they are prepared to take the risk and use their money to take out a high premium insurance, or fund any medical costs arising.
I have had similar situations with companies trying to send a standard form buying all rights to a short story. On one occasion the story had already been published elsewhere. In another I was planning to use it in a book. I found that the editor was quite happy on both occasions to change my contract with the magazine regarding those stories. However, when I received the cheque, the back was stamped with all right, this must be signed. My boyfriend of the time was a solicitor who said the endorsement was not legally valid and the bank would not even glance at it. just pay it in.
I was not convinced by what he said. So I signed the back, after crossing out the printed statement and writing - terms as on previously signed contract. Neither the bank nor anybody else ever queries what I had written.
My short story was published and paid for and I don't think the company or I or anybody else ever went on to publish it elsewhere anyway. However, I do know that if want to publish my complete works when I reach 100 years old, or a descendant or agent of my family wants to produce a book of my collected works a year before the copyright ends, no long-forgotten publisher will suddenly appear waving a contact saying: you gave us all right back in 19 whatever.
Insurance For Sports, Transport And Activities
You might find that an insurance company will happily add a clause covering your activity, or will charge a tiny premium of, say, under £10, to cover you for the extra days or activities.
Don't take my advice or anybody else's. Ask about the laws in your country and the law in the country you are travelling to at the time of your journey.
I am writing this in one country and on a specific date. By the the time you read it or act on it, circumstances may have changed. I am just telling you this to alert you to the situation in which you may find yourself, who to consult, and how you must consider your options.
Avoiding Trouble
For example, in any of the more serious situations, you might want to refuse to do something which would cause you trouble later, as I have suggested.
On the other hand, you might decide that the consequences of antagonising others in a remote place would be worse. If you think you could be abandoned, or endangered, better to pretend to agree, or to agree, and live.
If you are a short story writer, like me, you could devise endless numbers of plots with endless numbers of characters. What would be the consequences of refusing, worst case scenario? Our heroine, our first heroine, lose a holiday, learns from experience to be cautious, the second girl, her sister, could lose a job, the third, a new friend and colleague, ignoring the experienced and sensible heroine's advice ends up married - and has to be helped, rescued!
Her enraged boss could plot to kill her. His bodyguard, seeing the deal not going through, thinking he might not get paid, might lose his temper and try to push her over the cliff. The fake groom might save her. She might be so grateful that she marries him anyway. I am getting sidetracked here.
I really threw that in because I didn't want to say this is what could happen to you. To present my imagined scenario as what could happen to you was over-dramatic and depressing. Instead, dressing the drama up as a short story was merely amusing. To a practical person, it sounds like a fictional side-track from facts. However, you have gained five minutes extra entertainment.
How do you avoid getting into trouble and signing away your rights, or having your signature copied and forged?
This is long enough. See my next post, later, telling some of my travel stories.
Interesting websites:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45338985#_=_
Headline: "Hong Kong woman marries stranger after being tricked by work
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. For an entertaining after-dinner speech, or a workshop on travel, or story writing, or turning your travels into fiction, contact Angela Lansbury by email or on Facebook.
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