What is it about going abroad that leads people to take absurd risks? Each holiday season throws up incidents of self-inflicted horror: the banal (helmetless moped crashes); the macabre (ill-advised befriending of caged animals); and the exotically foolish (orchid hunting in guerrilla territory).
Reading these stories might well send shudders down the spines of all those who have been tempted to dive that bit deeper, ski too far off piste, or drink a stranger's mysterious home brew, yet these cautionary tales are all too likely to be forgotten on departure.
Perhaps it's the altitude on the flight or the cheap booze on the ferry that turns us into rabid thrill-seekers in foreign climes. On various trips abroad, I've struggled up mountains in blizzards, swum with sharks and attempted to bash my swindled money out of a scar-covered local crook. Safely back home, I'll barely risk a different topping on my takeaway pizza.
I'm by no means the only one: a former colleague, a shy and self-effacing computer operator, would despatch postcards from bungee jumps, camel treks, marathons and general all-action adventures once out of the office.
It seems that holidays aren't just about escaping the dreary confines of your work environment but also breaking away from the boring, everyday person you have become. A couple of weeks away are a vital escape for those who may have dreamt of a more exciting existence before ending up in the nine-to- five routine.
This sudden holiday rush of blood to the head is the compelling reason for good travel insurance. There is a thin line between pushing yourself on and sheer foolhardiness. In the latter category, it is worth noting that in Foreign Office statistics for British fatalities abroad, 'deaths from balconies' have their own special category.
You have to sympathise with anyone, though, who has been told to stroke a friendly lion by the locals or was informed that their bungee rope honestly wouldn't stretch as far as those jagged rocks below. Travel requires a degree of trust, especially when we are reduced to the status of infants by our complete lack of knowledge of local languages and customs.
Cheaper plane fares mean more and more tourists are dropped off in distant, baffling locations. As far as those who prey on the gullible are concerned, they might as well be dropping off a consignment of fattened, deserving fish into a barrel.
Wherever the responsibility lies, the fact is that all the best travel involves that little element of risk, if not outright danger. Sometimes you have to go into the lion's den, although few would counsel jabbing a fat finger into its mouth.
· Gwyn Topham is editor of Guardian Unlimited travel, featuring the best travel writing from The Observer and Guardian, as well as original online news and features.
