Author: The Beetle
-
Soccer Flight Scam
Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need to make an emergency landing in Peru so that passengers could watch their nation's team play a…
-
Destination Guide to Bassano del Grappa by Karen Bryan
Bassano sits in a stunning location by the River Brenta with Monte Grappa in the background. It is about 35 kilometres north east of Vicenza. The town's symbols are said…
-
Tibet Railway To Open
China has announced the completion of the first railway line from Golmud in China's north-western province of Qinghai to Lhasa, in Tibet. The line is expected to start taking passengers…
-
Ice Kingdom of Animals
If you happen to be near Lubeck in Germany, there is a huge ice and snow sculpture festival opening 9th December. Forty ice sculptors will create sculptures for the “Kingdom…
-
Venice Barriers to Go Ahead
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed that work on an underwater dam to try to save the lagoon city of Venice from floods will go ahead, despite increasing calls…
-
Crocodile Attacks in N Australia
About a dozen people have been killed by salt-water crocodiles in Australia in the past 20 years. Now divers in northern Australia are calling for development of crocodile warning devices…
-
Red Light Tours
The UK's longest-running holiday operator Thomas Cook is offering family tours of Amsterdam's red-light district. The package costs £12, though half-price for children. Thomas Cook claims the tour, which is…
-
Get In Print
Europe From a Backpack travel book series are now accepting submissions for Italy From a Backpack and Spain From a Backpack. They are looking for first-person must-tell stories. If you…
-
Plymouth – Banjul Rally
You may have heard of the Paris – Dakar car rally, well, here's a slightly different take on the idea of driving a car across deserts and getting lost, but…
-
Non-stop Bangkok flight
Thai Airways, Thailand's national carrier, has announced that it will fly non stop from Bangkok to Los Angeles as of Dec. 1. The flight used to stop in Osaka, Japan…
-
Space Tourist Returns
The US businessman and scientist Gregory Olsen is the third person to pay to be a space tourist, after American Dennis Tito in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth in…
-
Want to Fly Into Space?
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has collected $10m in deposits from people wanting a quick journey beyond Earth's atmosphere. More than 34,000 would-be astronauts have registered for rides aboard a…
-
9 Yr Old Boy Swims From Alcatraz
A 9-year-old boy, wanting to help Hurricane Katrina victims, swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco, raising $30,000 in donations in the process. Fourth-grader Johnny Wilson made the mile-and-a-half swim in…
-
Been In Prison Overseas?
Philip recently contacted us to say that he is an English producer currently putting together a film about British citizens who are or have been imprisoned abroad. Perhaps, you remember…
-
20% of Americans Have Passports
A recent survey of Americans indicates that international travel, particularly for leisure, continues to rise. A record number of nearly 62 million U.S. travellers went abroad last year, up 10…
-
London Palaces: Hampton Court
The Hampton Court Estate dates back to before the 15th Century. The estate was originally formed by merging of the manors of Hampton Richard and Hampton Mappenor. It was granted…
-
Pakistan Earthquake Appeal
On October 8th, an earthquake around 7.6 on the Richter scale hit close to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Over 80,000 people have died, at least 80,000 injured and 3.3 million…
-
Armed Dolphins Let Loose
Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean…
-
China Tourists
China's mainland will become the world's biggest supplier of tourists by 2020, according to a recently released report by CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. As many as 115 million Chinese mainland citizens…
-
Travel Facts
Travel Facts One in three adults aged 15-49 are infected with HIV/AIDS in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland. If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again – its land area is…