Stanley: I recently (September 2004) visited my friends in Veliky Novgorod, Russia and stayed in their flat for about a week. There is a requirement to submit a entrance document as well as an exit document upon departure. The exit document must be stamped on the back to be valid. My host in Novgorod took me to the local Russian Government office to take care of the necessary exit stamp and we were told that we must register at a local hotel where they will affix the necessary stamp on the back of my exit permit. The one night at a local hotel cost me 310 roubles for a room I did not need or use just to get the required exit stamp.

I discussed this procedure with my host who just shrugged and I understood that it does not make any sense but this is Russia! It’s best to be forewarned for tourists travelling to Russia. I had a Russian accompany me on two trips to the local government office to translate for me otherwise I would not have understood the procedure to acquire the necessary stamp on my exit permit. E-mail: Smsagara2@aol.com

Mac: Retired Military 81 year old Stanley Matachi Sagara has passed on to me these military tips and experiences. He has visited 66 countries. “I like to take capped ball point pens when I travel. It protects ink from accidentally soiling my shirt pocket (it ruined several shirts before I switched). Someone is always lacking a pen when its time to fill out arrival cards. I loan them my ball point pen but retain the cap so that I have some assurance of getting my pen returned. If not the borrower will have an ink stain in HIS shirt pocket.

Carrying buttoned and folded clothes to eliminate wrinkles in clear plastic zip lock bags makes it easy to locate an item of clothing and makes it easy to pack and repack when necessary. The air in these plastic bags kept his suitcase afloat when his suitcase onetime fell in ocean but did not sink. (In asking what travellers carry I find that zip lock bags is one item that is mentioned again and again) Sagara carries a suitcase with roller blade wheels with nylon bearings the one type that is dependable for easy movement over rough services.

He gave me a nylon bath body cloth that he likes. It is 14 inches wide and about '30 inches (l meter) long. It removes dead skin and is invigorating, comes in hard, medium and soft. He says it is long enough to scrub the back completely without having to shower with a friend. In Japan about US$6.00. In Taiwan and China for about half that price. Since it is made of nylon it can be packed damp in another one of those zip lock bags and it will not mildew.

I did not get this from Sagara but read elsewhere that some of the French policemen along Boulevard St Germain in Paris are now on rollerblades (roller skates) and that all trashcans in Paris are now plastic (zip lock?) bags.

Happy Travelling. Mac

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

Source:

6th November 2004 London meeting

A bumper attendance for the November London Globetrotter’s meeting, with not a chair, table or bit of floor space left. The audience included Globies from overseas including Brie Kelly from Colorado. The crowds had come to hear Globies President Janet Street-Porter’s talk on the Larapinta Trail that starts from Alice Springs and the Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania. Special mention due to Paul Robert’s who burned the midnight oil to scan Janet’s photos so that we could see them digitally. Janet did this 8 day -walk with a group and they were supported by a vehicle carrying their camping, cooking and other equipment, which left them free to enjoy the scenery and swat flies. We saw Janet in a full nylon head net to stop these annoying critters and later she explained a new use for toilet roll to stop the flies entering every orifice! It was all worth it for the great Aussie scenery, the reds and pinks of the rocks and greenery you wouldn’t normally think exists. The Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania is mainly on sand and again we saw some great pictures of her walk. Janet added on some pictures of a walk she recently did near Christchurch in New Zealand, where she stayed in some quirky buildings, one of which enjoyed an outdoor bathtub, where the water was heated by lighting a fire under the tub! The forty minutes went way too fast as we listened to Janet’s commentary.

After the break it was over to Christian Tyler who gave us another interesting talk this time on the Taklamakan Desert and Xinjiang Province in China. His five-week trip began in Dunhuang, famous for its cave paintings. Christian’s group travelled in the ubiquitous Toyota Landcruiser and trekked by camel, supported by a Chinese army lorry. Christian’s journey took him to Miran and to abandoned cities in the desert. Some of these towns have been dug out of their sand tombs, we saw parts of wooden structures which had once been homes and shops. Christian explained that the cities had been abandoned as the underground rivers had either dried up or changed course. We saw other examples such as forests that were now just tree trunks. Christian’s talk gave us a rare insight to an area well off the beaten track.

Mark your diary for forthcoming meetings:

Sat. 4 December

Amar Grover – North Pakistan – Kailash Valleys of Chitral to Gilgit via Shandur Pass

Matthew Leeming -Afghanistan OR Iraqi Marsh Arabs

Sat. 8th January – Four Mini-talks and New Year Party

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk Admission: Members £2.00 Non-members £4.00.

Find the answers

New York meetings will resume in January – subject will be TBD.

Please contact me (Laurie) if you’re interesting in speaking or know of someone who is! For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm. Admission: $8.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members.

Fly Ryanair and gamble

Ryanair’s latest potential cash generating scheme is to provide in-flight gambling. No fills Ryanair already charge for the ‘frills’ such as food, luggage and movies, and, more famously ice if they could get away with it, are now considering providing gambling on board its planes. News reports say that gambling operators have expressed interest, although there are no formal talks underway.

Ryanair’s Chief Exec warns of reduction in low cost operators

Ryanair and easyJet are widely credited to have helped transform Europe’s low cost airline industry. Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O'Leary recently warned the World Low Cost Airlines Congress that “there will a bloodbath in Europe this winter” in the budget air sector. “The bloodbath will reach all the companies,” said O'Leary, who has previously predicted that only one or two large low-fares airlines will be left flying the skies of Europe in the medium term. Competition in the low cost, no frills airline industry is intensifying. In 2000 there were just five low-cost airlines in Europe, now there are 49, according to Wolfgang Kurth, president of the European Low Fares Airline Association and chief executive of TUI's no-frills carrier Hapag-Lloyd Express. Webster told the conference that low-cost airlines could take advantage of short-haul routes likely to be neglected by the larger, established carriers.

Ryanair adopts a school

Cause related marketing is a live and well. Ryanair’s Head of Communications Paul Fitzsimmons recently said: “It’s back to school time for parents everywhere, and we’re giving people an opportunity to grab a back to school bargain with flights for ONLY 10p on many of our routes from Stansted and at the same time help our adopted school Mountfitchet High School. We will sell 200,000 seats at this fare, which means we can donate £20,000.00 to the school. It is fitting that as http://www.ryanair.com is Europe’s biggest travel website, that Mountfitchet High School is to use our donation to further upgrade their IT facilities for pupils. We would urge passengers to book quickly as demand will be huge and to remember that not only will they fly with Europe’s No.1 low fares airline, but they will also be helping school children further their computer education.”

Announcing the support for Mountfitchet High School at a photo call in the school, Mountfitchet High School Headmistress, Jo Mullis said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by Ryanair as their adopted school. Ryanair’s support comes at an important time, because with this help we can buy computer equipment for our pupils, which will help us to achieve our goal of becoming an IT merited school. We hope lots of people will buy their Ryanair flight knowing that Ryanair are donating the entire fare to our school project.” Pass the sick bag, somebody.

Ryanair told to pay back EU subsidy

No-frills Irish airline Ryanair has said that it would repay EUR4 million in subsidies it received to operate from Belgium's Charleroi Airport, pending an appeal to the European Court of Justice. In February, European Union regulators told Ryanair to repay EUR3.9 million (USD$4.97 million) to the regional government of Wallonia in southern Belgium, which had offered Ryanair cheap rates at the region's Charleroi Airport. “(Ryanair) agreed to repay EUR4 million in an escrow account until Ryanair's appeal is heard,” the airline said in a statement. The money will go into a blocked account, to which Ryanair will regain access if it wins its appeal. “We remain very confident that we will win,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary told a news conference in Brussels. O'Leary said the airline reserved the right to quit Charleroi if an adverse ruling raised costs, but said he intended to keep operations at their current level until then.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Lie, Cheat, Steal. Hitchhike, Drive, take a bus, fly, walk or run…do whatever you can to get to the BootsnAll 2^nd annual Travel Party.

When: December 18th, 7 pm to ? Where: East Bank Saloon, Portland Oregon ( map)

Special Guests: The Notorious N.U.T. (Nick O'Neill) from Bali will be in town as a special guest. If you are thinking about travelling to Asia, have travelled to Asia, you simply must come to the BootsnAll PDX party to meet Nick, have a beer with him and swap stories and tips. He will release tips to hidden beaches and share how to live on under $5/day in Bali, and do it like a King!

Prizes: We'll be giving away a bunch of stuff, like travel books, BootsnAll patches, and who knows what else..

Top 13 reasons to come:

1) Christmas shopping? C'mon…save your cash for travel and send 'em postcards instead!

2) Travel Legend Nick O'Neill will make his first appearance in North America in over two years. Be there to have a drink with this independent travelling legend.

3) A keg of beer (Northwest Microbrew).

4) Organic Oregon Pinot Noir will be served.

5) Travel Photography: At least 500 travel slides will be rotating on a big screen during the party. But don't worry, no one will be droning on and on about them.

6) Blogging: We'll be blogging our brains out at the party with wifi, etc all over the place…bring your laptop and digital camera. Let's go nuts like we did last year.

7) If you are coming in from out of town, and you are a BootsnAll member, you can probably stay at the BootsnAll “hostel” (First come first served).

8) Network with travellers. Last year, close to 80 people showed up and travel info/tips were flying around the room. Don't miss this chance to figure out the hows, why's, and get that invaluable first-hand information.

9) You'll be the star of the show. We'll be video taping all night…if you come, you'll be in a movie. This is how Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and other Hollywood Stars got their big breaks.

10) Dennis Rodman will NOT be at this party.

11) Feel like an outcast? My name is Sean E. Keener and I will personally welcome you with a handshake or hug, a beer, and introduce you to at least three other people at the party to get the ball rolling. The rest is up to you.

12) Portland is a great city in December. Sun, beaches…ooops, I mean a little bit of rain, a warm pub, and bright cheery people.

13) Kilts: BootsnAll founders Chris Heidrich and Sean Keener will be wearing kilts, like a true Scotsman would.

Ok, so maybe that last one isn't a reason to come, but don't let it scare you off either.

More Special Guests: Yes, Livenomadic, the most prolific poster on the BnA message boards will here. Meet the posting legend and find out “how he does it”. He is coming all the way from Miami, Florida!

Globetrotter meetings have temporarily ceased until further notice due to a bereavement in Christina’s family. If you can help Christina resurrect the Texas meetings, as she would really appreciate some help, please contact Christina on texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Our friend Antonio Macedo phoned and invited us to a special night out in Cruzeiro do Sul in The State of Acre (the back of beyond in Brazil). He wanted to introduce us to 'Daime', a very Amazonian drink that would awaken our minds, or did he mean blow our minds?

We were taken to a small clearing at the edge of Cruzeiro to a big wooden building. Inside was a large wooden table with benches either side on which twenty or so people could sit round. The decorations reminded me of a small Catholic Church, with its figurines of saints and lit candles. The congregation consisted of a few rubber tappers and a complete cross section of the people of the town, in both position and money. The town people and Brazilians generally call this drug “Santo Daime” and mix it into a sort of semi-religious, Catholic ceremony.

The Yawanawa tribe, on the other hand, think religion is nothing to do with Daime, but that it a necessity for the tribe to take it once a month too clarify the mind and get their heads together for the coming weeks. Daime is not banned in Brazil for it is a drug of a very different nature with a very special effect.

A plant that grows in the ground is mixed with a creeper that falls from a tree, thus the symbolism of the drug is that it is the sky mixed with the earth. We filed into this large hut and sat around the central table. The candles were lit around us and we were introduced as visitors who were about to go into the forest to visit the Yawanawa tribe. First Antonio spoke to the people about having great care in demonstrating against the Governor, as there was no point in upsetting him too much or many more would end up in prison, or worse, rather than solve any problems it would just add to them (another story for another time).

The ceremony proper then commenced with a general prayer for God to help them in these perilous times and then we rose and formed a queue as if going to communion. The Daime was poured out of bottles and each of us had a glass given to us and then made our way back to our seats. The drug started to take effect. We had been warned what to expect but we thought it all slightly ridiculous..

There was silence after we sat down and started to wait for Daime to take effect, the sight and smell of the flickering candles, the only light there was to see around this strange church like place. A few people were sick. This seemed an unusual start to what I had been assured was a great experience! I had been slightly unwell during the day and thought I was going to have bad case of the trots and this seemed to be the last thing I needed!

Daime has two effects and one reason it is not on the banned list is that it is remarkably good for any sort of stomach disorder. That was the good news, but the bad news was that while it cured my problem quickly, it also at the same time stopped me from enjoying the Daime in the way that I was expecting; and the real reason that Adam Baines and I were taking Daime this night.

Still, I had more opportunity to observe the others and see their reactions to the drug. Amazingly, it seemed that after being sick outside on the grass, people tended to have another dose of Daime and on being sat down again, this time it took hold. Thoughts seem to whirl around in time and space with all your life with its, good, bad, family, friends, work and pleasures in a maelstrom in which confusion you seem to be about to be engulfed. Over the next hour the confusion lessens and gradually you start to find that everything is falling into place and you become aware of what exactly you should do, to get your life in order.

At any moment during this time, you can open your eyes and feel completely free of the Daime but as soon as you close them you’re back sorting out the files in your head. Finally the drug clears the system after a total of about an hour and a half. The so called congregation sitting quietly outside, enjoying complete clarity of mind and thought, contemplating under a magnificent starry sky, in the tropical warmth, with the singing of the ‘cigarras’ intermingling with the croaking of the frogs. Everyone, whether Indians or locals, thought it extremely important to take Daime so as to get one’s life in order at least once every six weeks. All believed that it made men and women take control of their lives and less likely to have breakdowns or behave in an anti social manner. The next day I was able, with my stomach now fully recovered, to observe without too much of a sickening feeling, the roaches crawling on the ceiling above the frying pan that was cooking my breakfast!