Category Archives: archive

London.

Charlie Loram, the intrepid trekker/philosopher first visited India in 1992 and visits the Himalayas almost every year. Who else is so well qualified to talk about trekking in Ladakh and to talk about life and the people there. Charlie showed us some superb slides of the area, interspersed with maps of his routes and some of his own philosophy about eco-tourism and the quality of life. You can order a copy of Charlie’s book, Trekking in Ladakh (Trailblazer) online from www.trailblazer-guides.com.Fantastic, Charlie, and we look forward to seeing you again!

Just when you thought things could not continue on such a high, Paul Grogan took over the gauntlet in the second half and entertained us with some of the highs and lows of his adventures kayaking across Siberia with his babe magnet friend. Paul amazed us using slide and video footage (well done to Webmaster Paul!) starting with his moments of getting stuck in mud on the way to the source of the river Amur, flat calm days, sinister watch towers, political bureaucracy, gorgeous girls (!) and getting sozzled on a Chinese boat and waking up finding a very nasty plastic watch strapped to his wrist in exchange for his nice one! Brill!

Next, in London on 3rd November, Tim Burford will look at the varying styles of architecture in his talk on the Castles and Churches of Romania. Tim is a regular at the various London travel shows (along with the Beetle) and has impeccable guide book writing credentials and is author of both Bradt’s Hiking Guide to Romania and the Rough Guide to Romania.

Sebastian Hope will be talking about the Sea Gypsies of South East Asia, finding and travelling with the maritime nomads travelling the coasts of Borneo, Burma, Thailand, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Sulu Archipelago before returning to Sabah to search for Sarani a sea-gypsy chief and his friend. Another author, he has written Outcasts of the Islands about the sea gypsies of SE Asia published b by HarperCollins.

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. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info.line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

Globetrotter Travel Award

Under 24? A member of Globetrotters Club? 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?

Then 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!!

Ontario:

As soon as we get information on the annual barbecue we will let you know what happened! 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.

Travel Tips

Mike from the UK says: if you’re desperate for a toilet and can’t find a handy McDonalds, the more luxurious hotels always have toilets in their lobbies – walk straight past reception and you should find them 🙂

Texas:

True to her word, Christina in Texas held a slide show on a weird and wacky take on Americana over the ages at the New Braunfels Public Library. Thanks to Jon and Beth for sharing their great slides and stories. A magnificent 12 people attended and to start the theme, Christina organized a door prize of a “classic” US Travel Atlas. Trish has loved Globetrotters for 9 years, and won, so congratulations to Trish! The show was thoroughly enjoyed by all – and all that was missing was the popcorn!

Funny Signs Again!

Shirley from Kent in the UK saw the following in Bali:

If you have any loose baboons in your pocket, you might want to visit the “monkey exchange” for something smaller! Also, did you know in Bali you can have “antiques made to order”?

Janelle from Roseville, MN saw in a street in Hong Kong at a tailors shop?;…”ladies, have fits upstairs.”

Dee from the UK was in Japan when she saw a vending machine selling cans of “Sweat”. Although it was hot, and the cans were cold – she decided not to buy one!

Testimonial

Susan and Christina met at the first Globetrotters TX Branch meeting in July 2001. They have become good friends and will be travelling together to the Grand Canyon in November. Christina visits a National Park every year and Susan is ready to start the same tradition. They are doing budget travel together – exploring their options and having a trip to talk about. They’ll report on their trip at the December meeting.

The next Globetrotter meeting will be held at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. From 3 – 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 10th, 2001.

Christina’s advice is to come early so you won’t be late! The Beetle’s is – come early and eat all the cookies! Handouts and refreshments will be available. Anybody want to help Christina or enquire about meetings, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Scams – the "homeless mother scam"

Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us his experience in Rome. He saw a woman ostensibly carrying a baby in her arms (all he saw was a rolled up blanket) and a child about 10 years old approached me begging in a very confined sidewalk area. The pitiful expression on her face would make an old grown man cry. He suddenly remembered warnings he had read – while the tourist digs in his pocket for some coins the kid circles around and slits the backpack or pocket. Fortunately he was carrying his daypack with camera, etc. in front and his

Got any scam experiences you’d like to share with the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

All You Need To Know About Bermuda

The Beetle has just come back from a diving expedition to Bermuda and can share all the do’s and don’ts. Bermuda is without doubt a beautiful green and lush island in the Atlantic, some 775 miles off New York. It is very pretty with some great caves, lovely secluded little sandy bays, nice walks (although walking anywhere other than the beach and the disused railway tracks is very much discouraged – there are very few pavements) and lots of history.

First off, tourists are not allowed to hire cars. To get around, you have two options. You can pay $36 for a 7 day bus pass (which includes the use of the ferry) or you can hire a scooter for about $175 a week. The buses are clean and the network is reasonably extensive, but don’t rely on them at night. Taxis are expensive – very expensive. Scooters, on the other hand are just plain dangerous. The roads in Bermuda are for the most part narrow, hilly and windy – and don’t forget, they drive on the left! Scooter accidents are frequent. The speed limit is 35 kph, but you cannot tell how fast you are going because all of the speedos are disconnected – for obvious reasons!

If you are planning to sit by the sea and sun and swim, it is advisable to stay somewhere on the north coast because the sea is calm enough to swim without any worry on this side of the island. The sea has large waves that sometimes preclude swimming on the south coast.

Bermuda is very expensive in terms of accommodation and eating out. Both are poor value for money. In fact, it is cheaper to both eat and stay in New York, comparing like for like. Take some basic essentials with you, like ground coffee for your coffee maker, cookies etc.

The diving, quite frankly, is very mediocre. This is a great pity as there are over 400 documented shipwrecks off the coast of Bermuda. The dive boats resemble cattle trucks with up to 20 divers on them and the wrecks are disappointing. It is also not possible to dive to depths greater than 10 metres because the bottom of the ocean around the reef of Bermuda is seldom deeper than 10 metres.

It is not a destination the Beetle would whole heartedly recommend to anyone when there are so many other places in the world with similar activities on offer at a fraction of the price with considerably less hassle. A final warning, if you plan on staying at a certain guesthouse in Salt Kettle – do not turnover your valuables for safekeeping. Somehow, somewhere on the way, the Beetle’s wallet was $20 lighter.

If anyone would like to comment on an over rated travel destination or share a disappointing experience – e-mail the Beetle on: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Mutual Aid New Year's Eve Buenos Aires!

Sue (Deputy Chair, London) would like some advice/tips/pointers on where to go and what to do in Buenos Aires at the New Year. Please contact the Beetle with any advice: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

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

London:

Members slides: we had a veritable marathon of Globetrotters showing slides. Part 1 included Dan Buckman showing slides on Belgium and Poland; Ernest Flesch showing slides on how people make their living: rice growing in China and Sumatra, threshing, picking and fanning rice; rubber tapping in Sri Lanka, and oxen pilled water wheel in Rajasthan and tobacco farmers in Yemen. Jean Clough , the Globetrotter gate keeper and more, showed slides on the funeral pyre of the grandson of the last king of Bali and regaled us with some of the more ghoulish facts on how bodies are burned. PhilKoniotes , always good for excellent slides and anecdotes showed us some fabulous slides of fish. Not just ordinary fish, but sharks, huge bump head wrasses, parrotfish cocoons, unicorn fish and er…porcelain toilets. The Beetle was on the edge of her seat, salivating and counting the days to her next dive trip!

Part 2 consisted of Philip (The Whisperer) Ferguson who showed us slides of vintage cars and lorries and a train with Australia written on the side…in Cuba. Peter Mann started off with some slides of pubs in London called The Globe, yes, we know, any excuse Pete! He then sobered up and we visited a series of structurally and visually amazing bridges in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Dick (Curtis) made a couple of appearances at the projector and showed us a series of slides, all of which he reckoned had St Pauls in them. After much good humoured derision, he handed over to Jacqui (Trotter) his erstwhile stand in who finished the Members Slide show with some pictures of Tasmania and lots of people riding penny farthings…

Saturday 1st September

Next on 1st September, we have Beth Wooldridge talking on “My Many India's”, as a tourist, traveller, student, travel-author, and woman – Beth's experiences around the sub-continent were often coloured by her different guises. After the break, Justin Marozzi will give a talk on “The Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara”, retracing the ancient routes totalling 1500 miles, 1200 of which were by camel. Justin is also the author of “South of Barbary” a story of the expedition.

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 on Saturday 1stSeptember. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info.line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/

Travel Tips

Kevin (Membership) Brackley from London says that he always carry a compass in Japan: the train stations are so vast, at least you know you are heading in the right direction for the exit you want!

Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to:Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

New York:

On Saturday, July 14th, we had the fabulous Yuan Li, a Professor Emeritus from Rutgers University and author of several books on photography. He gave a spectacular slide show about China! Breathtaking photos from Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian. He truly captured the beauty of the people as well as the terrain and helped educate all of us on where to go and what
to see in China. A true inspiration to us all!

Due to all of our summer travelling, there will be no August Meeting, but next month, on September 8th, we hope to have a talk from Toni Kamis, the well-traveled journalist who has written several travel books and articles

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 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.

Ontario:

A quick reminder that theGlobetrottersannual picnic is at Meaford, Ont. (on Georgian Bay), it will be held at Vera Blowers' on Saturday, August 11, 2001. Arrive on Saturday (August 11) around 10:30-11 am. You are welcome to stay over till Sunday & camp in her huge backyard. For the less hardy, Vera has a couple of spare beds.

All are welcome! Car pools will be arranged.

If you would like more information on the picnic, car pools and Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek:shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca tel. 416-503-2933, Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911, or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of September and November,January, March, May (with the next meeting on September 21) Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Texas:

Christina in Texas is to hold her second Globetrotter meeting at the at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. from 3 – 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 11, 2001.

Gerri Wright , from Hastings Book Store will present a review of Travel Books and Tour Guide Books and Trish Ross will discuss Practical Pre-Trip Planning Tips.

Christina’s advice is to come early so you won't be late! The Beetle’s is – come early and eat all the cookies! Handouts and refreshments will be available. Anybody want to help Christina or enquire about meetings, please contact her on:texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Reader’s Questions:

Robert from the US says he is going to St Petersburg in early September this year and wants to know what ballet performances are on during this time.

After a good deal of investigation, and surfing of very of Russian websites, the Beetle says that she has news that the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov) will be closed between August 13th and October 5th, but that the Mussorgorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre will be showing Swan Lake over the period including 6th September.

The Beetle says – where are you all!!! Are you all on holiday?

Did You Know?

That the combined age of our two oldest Globetrotter members is 174 years!

The Chariot Festival at Puri

Sanjay, one of our regular readers in India is justifiably proud of Puri, the area in which he lives. He wants to tell us about the Chariot Festival: Puri, on the shores of the bay of Bengal is one of the holiest places in India. It was “discovered” by pot smoking backpackers in the early 1960s. The Jagannath Temple at Puri comprises one of the four dhams (holy places) for Hindus and is on India’s pilgrimage circuit. The temple, built in the 12th century stands 65m high and is in the heart of the town. The temple complex contains over 100 other smaller temples of different Gods and Goddesses. You can also find one of the finest beaches in India in Puri where beautiful and complex sand statues are constructed from sand, on the beach.

The chariot festival is an annual event, attracting many thousands of pilgrims and tourists and takes place during the early monsoon season. This year, it fell on June 23rd. It is an amazing spectacle: the God of the Universe, together with his brother and sister ride along the road in a chariot in three chariots. The procession starts from the Jagannath Temple and continues to another temple where it stays for eight days before setting off back to their own temples.

Puri is connected by train and by road. There are also flights from Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Bangalore. There is accommodation for everyone, ranging from $4 a night to over $100 a night. Sanjay in Puri tells us that he has recently formed a backpackers community club in Puri called Rangers where rooms/dorms cost from US $ 4 a night.To get in touch with Sanjay, contact the Beetle:Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Next month: hiking in the Grand Canyon

Some silly signs seen overseas:

Norway , in a cocktail lounge: LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

Hungary , at a Budapest zoo, PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUITABLE FOOD, GIVE IT TO THE GUARD ON DUTY.

Italy , in a doctor’s office, Rome: SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.

Mexico , in a hotel in Acapulco: THE MANAGER HAS PERSONALLY PASSED ALL THE WATER SERVED HERE.

Japan , in an information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner: COOLES AND HEATES: IF YOU WANT CONDITION OF WARM AIR IN YOUR ROOM, PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF.

If you have seen any funny signs, let the Beetle know! Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

You want to visit?.. The best London Parks Regents Park

Regents Park

Now that the Summer is almost upon us here in the UK, the Beetle thought she would share her favourite London park: Regents Park – an oasis of green and tranquility in the heart of London. Architect John Nash landscaped the park and designed many of the buildings in the area (also worth a stroll around) in the 18thCentury. The park is within walking distance of the following tubes: Marylebone, Baker St, Regents Park and Camden Town up in the North. Within Regent’s Park, you have Queen Mary’s Flower Gardens, where there are often band concerts in the Summer months, the Boating Lake, the Zoological Gardens, one of the oldest zoos in the world and the Open Air Theatre which often stages Shakespeare in the Summer months. A nice day out could be to visit the weekend market at Camden Lock then head south to the park, have a picnic and watch a play in the evening. The cafes are surprisingly good and not too expensive either.

Greenwich Park

Greenwich Park is probably most famous for having the Greenwich Meridian passing through it, and being home to Greenwich Meantime (GMT). The Beetle’s favourite scuttling route to get to Greenwich is to take the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Island River Gardens, and to walk to the river and take the path that goes under the Thames to the other side. Before you take the footpath, stop to admire the view across the river of Greenwich and the fabulous stately buildings including the Old Royal Observatory, designed by Sir Christopher Wren (he of St Pauls), the National Maritime Museum and the Queens House, and not least the Cutty Sark. A good day out would be to take the DLR to Island River Gardens, cross over to Greenwich, take a picnic lunch, wander around and then take a boat back to West London – to Blackfriars or Embankment or Westminster.

Hyde Park

The convenient thing about Hyde park is that is it close to some of the best shopping areas in London. The park is within walking distance of the following tubes: South Kensington, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner in the South and Marble Arch in the north East and Lancaster Gate in the North West. Henry VIII used Hyde Park for hunting in the 16th Century! In 1851, Prince Albert redesigned it for the Great Exhibition. An absolute must is Speaker’s Corner, especially on a Sunday is an example of freedom of speech, where you can witness impassioned individuals, literally on their soapboxes in some cases, espousing some cause close to their own heart!

For the hardy, there’s the Serpentine Lake where you can hire a boat or even go swimming! There’s also a very good art gallery at the Serpentine. Close by is the Lido, a place to have a drink or snack and in Summer months, there is often a jazz band or a poetry reading. A good day out would be to visit the shops in Knightsbridge, then on to the Victoria and Albert Museum and then over to Hyde park with a picnic lunch.

Next month: Iceland

Please contactBeetle@globetrotters.co.uk for your suggested country itinerary