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Traveling without insurance is a gamble. Nobody knows that better than my friend Dick Atkins, owner of Dick Atkins, Esq. an attorney from Philadelphia who specializes in assisting companies and individuals on legal issues in foreign countries. He is an owner of International Recoveries, LLC and lectures at travel insurance conventions. He is on the Board of Directors for the United States Travel Insurance Association.

Atkins has literally been bailing out North Americans and North American Corporations abroad since over 30 Years. He also represents foreign nationals on U.S. soil. U.S. Embassies, U.S. Insurance and other large corporate entities.

For those who remember the movie "Midnight Express" and how Billy Hayes, a young American got caught trying to smuggle 4 1/2 pounds of hashish out of Turkey in 1970. Thrown into a hellhole of a Turkish prison, he's tortured by sadistic guards, betrayed by corrupt lawyers and toyed with by capricious judges before he finally escapes. This movie is based on a real story.

Each year, on average, 1,000 Americans are arrested in foreign countries on drug charges. While many are quickly released, roughly 1, 600 are currently rotting away in foreign prisons, often in conditions similar to those endured by Hayes.

Prison conditions in much of the world are pretty horrible, acknowledged Dick Atkins, and the criminal justice systems in a lot of countries are just as bizarre as the one in the movie. It's important to remember that when you travel abroad, your rights as an American citizen don't come with you."