Martin Bright wrote in to tell us about a cheaper way to get ski passes. This is what he says: Although not the ski season if anyone wants to save lots of money by prepurchasing ski hire or ski passes in Europe and USA Just call World Ski on 0113 3917600 or email www.worldski2000@yahoo.com

They are cheaper than buying in the resort and via tour operators.

London Quiz Fancy testing your knowledge of London’s Cockney rhyming slang, or other facts about London, then try these quizzes.

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

If you’ve ever thought of going to San Francisco and weren’t sure, take a look at this: http://www.virtuar.com/ysf2/ – a virtual tour of San Francisco. It is so real, you almost feel that you’ve been there without the hassle of the journey!

The Foreign Office says it will in future be more selective about issuing travel advice on the risk of terrorism. From now on, people will be warned against travelling only in situations of extreme and imminent danger. The UK government announced that blanket warnings against travel to an area would only be used only when the threat to British citizens looked “acute, large-scale and specific”. The move is likely to be welcomed by foreign governments like Turkey and Kenya who had complained that warnings issued after terrorist attacks had seriously damaging their tourist trade. The Beetle hopes that this applies to Bali, as she has just come back from a wonderful trip, but few UK travel insurance companies will insure trips to Bali because of FCO advice.

Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel is cutting prices in its latest bid to compete with high speed ferry operators. The latest offer is £100 return tickets for a car and passengers travelling to France until December 31. To get this price, you must travel from the UK to France after 2pm on the day of the outward journey and to return before 2pm on any subsequent day, bookable at least one day in advance. Eurotunnel is facing tough competition from ferries and high speed catamaran services on routes from Dover to northern France. The latest rival is Speedferries.com, which recently launched a low-cost catamaran service offering to carry cars between Dover and Boulogne for £50 return.

A new high-speed, high-tech ferry has just started a crossing Lake Michigan, from Milwaukee to Muskegon, a 76 nautical miles journey in about two and a half hours. The ferry is an affordable alternative to flying to Muskegon and is faster and more relaxing than the six-hour 286-mile drive through Chicago traffic and around the southern end of Lake Michigan. The Lake Express has a capacity of 250 passengers and 46 vehicles. Officials from the new Lake Express car-passenger ferry say thousands of tickets were pre-sold. Local attractions include Muskegon’s Pere Marquette Beach and Michigan’s Adventure amusement park, which is just north of town.

This advice is from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office about Zambia.

Violent and armed robberies and vehicle hijackings are increasing. Lusaka, the Copperbelt towns and other tourist centres are the favourite targets of criminals but attacks can happen almost anywhere. Mugging, bag-snatching, theft from parked cars and vehicle hijackings are common in downtown areas, particularly near bus and railway stations and in some shopping areas. Vehicle hijackings can happen anywhere at any time. Drivers must stay alert and should not, for example, stop to give lifts to people flagging them down at the roadside. Drivers should also be wary where objects appear to have been placed to block the road. Walking after dark, particularly in tourist or downtown areas, can be particularly dangerous. There are continuing reports of armed cross-border raids from Democratic Republic of Congo. These are often cattle or food raids, targeting border villages. But some have been attributed to the Congolese Mai Mai faction. The border area between Zambia and Angola remains sensitive and a large number of firearms left over from Angola’s civil war are in circulation. British residents who consider their presence essential in these areas should remain vigilant.

Landmines are a potential danger in Zambia’s border areas, particularly those neighbouring Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

Travel by long-distance public transport at any time can be hazardous owing to poor standards of driving, lack of rest periods for drivers on long journeys, dilapidated vehicles and the poor condition of some roads. Some short distance journeys by public transport can also be dangerous for similar reasons. For example, minibuses used in urban areas are usually severely overcrowded, poorly maintained and badly driven.

I want to thank all the members who helped me in my research for a novel I was writing set on the liner Queen Elizabeth in the 1960s. ‘ Cherry Ice’ has recently been published by Penguin and it carries the following message in the Acknowledgements: – ‘Thanks are also due to the worldwide membership of the Globetrotters Club – very helpful via the Web in my search for the precise amount of the British Sterling travel allowance circa 1964, when no amount of studious research could provide me with a definitive answer. Not even Her Majesty’s Treasury nor Customs and Excise could provide the solution – in fact the latter came up with five different possibilities in a hilarious letter I shall always keep to make me smile in times of angst.’ – from Jill Laurimore

A new bridge over the River Tarn in France’s Massif Central mountains has just been finished. The bridge which completes a new motorway link that connects Paris and the Mediterranean is 2.5km (1.5 miles) long and 270m (885ft) high. Cars will be allowed to use the bridge by the end of 2004.

Moscow’s Vnukovo airport has launched a new international terminal as part of a $1.3 billion modernization plan.ï¿Â½ Anyone who has passed through Vnukovo airport will agree that it is pretty shabby. “Unfortunately when you visit Moscow’s airports…you feel only ashamed when you see such conditions, all these buildings and the atmosphere,” Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said at an opening ceremony marked with a 15-minute jet fighter air show.ï¿Â½ The three-story terminal, with modern-looking check-in facilities, electronic arrival boards, cafes and newspaper stands, stretches 25,000 square meters and can handle up to 10 million passengers a year.

From a newspaper article spotted by Frank in the US.ï¿Â½ Workers at San Francisco’s Department of Animal Care and Control located the owner of a newly arrived stray cat they couldn’t believe what they found: the cat belonged to a woman in Bradenton, Fla. – 3,000 miles away.ï¿Â½ Florida resident Pamela Edwards had adopted the black, short-haired cat in the summer of 1997, naming it Cheyenne. Just a few months later, Cheyenne disappeared. Edwards hung flyers and ran ads in the local paper to try to locate the cat, but had no luck.

Cheyenne was dropped off at Animal Care and Control after someone found her wandering down a San Francisco street.ï¿Â½ After scanning her for a microchip and finding she had been lost in Florida seven years ago, they wondered if it was a joke.ï¿Â½ Animal Care and Control is trying to find a way to return Cheyenne, who is now 10 years old, to Edwards.ï¿Â½ The agency can’t afford to ship her to Florida, so workers there have been searching for a traveller to carry her on a plane trip.

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter — get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet — create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.

Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we’ll try to have them fixed before we arrive.

Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines. Our seat cushions can be used for flotation and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments, as you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.

British low-cost airline easyJet will expand further into central Europe in October, adding new routes to Hungary and Poland. EasyJet said in a statement it planned to fly to Krakow and Warsaw in Poland and increase services to Budapest from October 31. The new routes add to the airline’s recently-established services to Budapest and the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, bringing its central European services to 17.

Iberia, Spain’s major airline will stop channelling its Central American flights through Miami and will instead fly direct to a limited number of destinations. From October, it will run direct flights from Spain to Guatemala and Panama and will suspend another five Central American routes it now serves via Miami. The cost of maintaining a hub in Miami is a factor, but Iberia can offer non stop flights by using a long range Airbus. Another factor is that customers have complained about the strict US security measures they are subjected to when they have to fly via Miami.

Air New Zealand is to remove first class and improve economy class on its flights. Air NZ’s existing fleet will be divided into premium, super economy, and economy classes. They are also introducing video screens to every seat, and installing a lie-flat seat in premium class. The seats in super economy and economy will also be replaced, and cabin interiors refurbished.

Singapore Airlines began the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight – an 18-hour trip between Singapore and New York. The 16,600 km (10,310 mile) flight on an Airbus A340-500 aircraft over the Arctic shaves four hours off an existing service and marks the second non-stop flying record this year by Singapore’s flag carrier. The plane is specially fitted with business class seats that can recline into beds measuring 26 inches (66 cm) wide and 78 inches (198.1 cm) long. Economy seats are also slightly roomier than usual at 20 inches (51 cm) wide.

The US government is implementing new tough rules curtailing visits to Cuba. The rules implemented on June 16 means that thousands of Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island must return before June 30 or face fines of up to USD$55,000. After that date, US residents and citizens will be allowed to visit Cuba once every three years instead of annually.

Virgin Atlantic Airways is to begin flying from London to Sydney via Hong Kong on December 7, increasing competition with British Airways and its Australian partner Qantas.

Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Tonga
2. Albania
3. Latvia
4. Argentina
5. Ireland

For the answers, see at the end of the eNewsletter.

Free of charge multilingual debates in the cafes of Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina and Uruguay.

Thanks for promoting our activities where globetrotters are kindly invited. This is by no means a tourist trap.

Best regards, Felipe Fliess

THE TALK TIME TEAM www.talktime.com.ar