Serves 6:
4oz dark rum, 4ox light rum, juice of 2 fresh limes, 5oz of pineapple juice and 6oz orange juice, 2oz of Grenadine, 6 dashes of angostura bitters – put into the same jug and stir. Enjoy!
All posts by The Beetle
Appeal for Holidays for the Deaf
Can anyone put Emma in touch with a tour operator who runs trips for people with impaired hearing. Emma’s sister is partially deaf and has speech difficulties, but her sign language is up to date and excellent – she also lip-reads. She has a very good sense of humour and gets on with most people! If you know of anyone who organises tours that would be suitable for her, please contact Emma by e-mail
Globetrotter Travel Award to the under 30s!
Under 30? Been a member of the Globetrotters Club for 2 years – or want to take out a 3 year subscription? Interested in a £1,000 travel award? Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested? We have just made the first award to Mike Dodd, a 22 year old mechanical engineering student at Warwick University, to help him with his trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
See our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we'll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!
Fave Websites of the Month
If you are ever planning to travel by rail in the UK, there are two invaluable web sites. The first railtrack.co.uk will show you timetables for the entire country; simply enter your starting point, destination and preferred timings and it will come up with the options. You can ask for earlier and later journeys. However, this site does not show prices, so for this you need to go to: thetrainline.com
Here in the UK, if you book your train fare one week, two weeks and further, in advance, you can achieve substantial savings. Even buying a ticket to pick up the next day at the station can make a big difference in price.
The two rail journeys where buying tickets in advance makes no difference is the Heathrow Express, the £12, 15 minute journey from London Paddington railway station to London Heathrow airport, and the Gatwick Express costing £11, and taking 30 minutes from London’s Victoria railway station to Gatwick.
Travel Tips
From Stuart, in London: e-mail yourself your passport details in case you lose it.
Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: the Beetle
Shopping Outlet in Wales
If you find yourself in South Wales or around Bristol and you feel like shopping, why not check out the McArthurGlen designer outlet just off Junction 36 of the M4. The nearest train station is at Bridgend. It’s open from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm on Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sundays. It’s got ladieswear, menswear, jewellery, household – you name it, plus a food court. Name includeTimberland, CK Jeans, Windsmoor, Clarks, Wedgwood, Royal Worcester etc. For information, contact: 01656 665700 or visit: the website
Mutual Aid
Free accommodation in New Zealand
Land of the Lord of the Rings. A message from Yves: Hello! If you plan
on passing through New Zealand, just come and pay us a visit! We will
put you up for free, providing you inform us in advance. Contact details:
Monsieur Yves Héraud 17
Morningside Road, flat 4, 0101, Whangarei, New Zealand
Tel: 64 94308181
Web: Click Here.
E-mail: Send e-mail.
American Rose would like to meet UK Roses!
Can anyone in the UK help Globetrotter Rose from Seattle via New Jersey?
She says she plans on coming to England in the fall and would dearly love to know people there. If by any chance any Globetrotters members are interested in hosting people, and she in exchange would be willing to host others, let them know that I just love to travel and really don't have firm plans in mind, at this time. She says she just wants others to know that as a single woman, she is really keen on knowing people in different places. Please contact Rose on: ratterayr@aol.com
Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid
News: Photo Exhibition, Suffolk, England
Owen Brown, a mad adventurer and ex-Tour Leader of good old Explore adventure travel (maybe some of you know him) is exhibiting a great collection of photos of all his journeys. If anyone happens to be in the area of Suffolk between 27APR-08MAY and fancy giving it a glimpse, the address is: CLOISTERS GALLERY St Edmundsbury Cathedral Bury St Edmunds Suffolk
More Funny Signs
In a City restaurant: OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, AND WEEKENDS TOO. One of the Mathare buildings: MENTAL HEALTH PREVENTION CENTRE. In a Pumwani maternity ward: NO CHILDREN ALLOWED. In a cemetery PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.
Write in and tell us your funny sign! Drop a line to the Beetle! the Beetle
Hydro Plans in India
Arundhati Roy, the prize-winning Indian novelist, was jailed Wednesday (March 6, 2002) after the Supreme Court in India convicted her of criminal contempt for suggesting it was trying to “silence criticism” of its approval of a hydroelectric project. As about 250 supporters stood outside with banners reading “Free speech is not contempt,” the court sentenced Roy to one day in prison and a $42 fine. If she does not pay, she will spend three months in prison, the court said. The court said that in sentencing her to one day, it was “showing magnanimity of law by keeping in mind that the respondent is a woman.” Roy won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel “The God of Small Things.” She has written articles criticizing India's nuclear program and is a prominent campaigner against the Narmada Dam, the nation's biggest hydroelectric project.
Source: by Nirmala George / Associated Press (via Common Dreams News Center) If you want to take action, visit Amnesty International’s web site.
Have you got a tale to tell??
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
Kenyan Proverb
“The Earth was not give to us by our parents, it was lent to us by our children.”
Five Things You Didn't Know About Tourism
1. According to the UN, 13-19 million children are working in the tourism sector all over the world. More than 1 million are forced into tourism’s sex industry.
2. 5,200 people were given 12 days’ notice and then forcibly removed from their homes in Pagan, Burma to make way for a tourism development. The military junta said they were an eyesore to tourists.
3. Spain’s 12 million visitors a year leave behind 100,000 tonnes of rubbish.
4. In destinations with beautiful beaches, especially the Caribbean, local people are often barred from beaches by hotel security and prevented from carrying on their livelihoods, such as fishing.
5. The UN calculates that a tourist uses as much water in 24 hours as a Third World villager would use to produce rice in 100 days.
Tourism Concern is a charity that works to ensure that local communities get a fair deal. Seetourismconcern.org.uk
Iceberg in Antartica
Did you know that icebergs are given names, and that these names relate to the section of Antartica where they are first sited?
US scientists recently reported that an iceberg more over nine times the size of Singapore had broken off Antarctica. It is over 64 kilometers (40 miles) wide and 85 kilometers (53 miles) long, and covers an area of about 5,500 square kilometers.
The National Ice Center said the berg, named B-22, broke free from an ice tongue in the Amundson Sea, an area of Antarctica south of the Pacific Ocean.
The B designation covers the Amundson and eastern Ross seas and the 22 indicates it is the 22nd iceberg sighted there by the US National Ice Center.
The iceberg broke off as a result of climate warming. One UK glaciologist at the Bas in Cambridge said “[It is hard] to believe that 500 million billion tons of ice sheet has disintegrated in less than a month.”
Free London Museums: The Museum of London
Last year, the British government announced that it would drop the entrance fee to many of the larger museums in London.
The Beetle’s favourite London museum is funnily enough called the Museum of London. It is about 15 minutes walk from St Paul’s Cathedral and the closest tube is the Barbican.
You could combine a visit starting at the Barbican, visit an art exhibition, grab a bite to eat or a coffee or wander around the Barbican complex, which is interesting in itself. Then walk down Aldersgate (about 5 minutes) towards St Paul’s to the large roundabout road where the Museum of London is situated.
It’s a great museum which looks at the early Roman remains in London, all through the ages to the modern skyline of the City. And it’s free!
Weekends are the busiest time since the admission fee has been scrapped, so try and visit during the week, if you can. Take a look atMuseum of London or tel: 020 7600 3699
Globetrotter Travel Award to the under 30s!
Under 30? Been a member of the Globetrotters Club for 2 years – or want to take out a 3 year subscription? Interested in a £1,000 travel award? Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested? We have just made the first award to Mike Dodd, a 22 year old mechanical engineering student at Warwick University, to help him with his trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Seeour legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we”ll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!
Fave Websites of the Month
Gives you stacks of info on countries, cities, weather, airports – most things you’d like to find out about a country.
Travel Tips
Compression bags are amazing things. They can compress bulky items such as sleeping bags and fleeces into small and manageable packages. So take that fleece with you for cooler evenings but compress it!
Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: the Beetle!
Varig Brazil Air Pass
The pass is available to Brazilians and non Brazilians living outside Brazil when you buy an international ticket. It costs the same amount no matter what time of year you travel. It is valid for 21 days starting on the day of the first flight and can be used for flights in up to 9 cities throughout Brazil. Packages vary from US $530 to US $930.
Mutual Aid
Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website:Mutual Aid