Early November. I need WARMTH and SUN. Flights to Malaga are cheap, temperature check on the web – 22-23°C, comfortable for walking. SO I decided on Andalusia. No, I don’t speak Spanish but I am happy to travel alone and try and chat to people as I go along.

On arrival at Malaga it was T-shirt weather. It was great to feel the sun on my face, quietly sipping coffee and chilling out. Just the job: I decided to head to Granada the next day, and, being typically British, wondered about the weather: would it be too cold, Granada nestling under the mountains. What a lovely city! No problem with the weather or so I thought!! After a lovely day, as the evening closed I could physically feel the temperature dropping by degrees.

Later that night, I shivered under 5 layers of blankets and dare not move off the small patch I had managed to warm as the sheets were like ice. Next day I set off early to visit the Alhambra. It was cold but that meant that it wasn’t busy, giving me plenty of opportunity to absorb the beautiful architecture and the ornate decoration. On my return I begged for a heater for my room `but heaters aren’t supplied until the 15^th of November (shades of Faulty Tower’s – the Beetle!) – oh yes they are!

The view of the mountains from the station next day was very picturesque, all covered in snow! I headed away from the mountains – Seville had to be warmer – but passing a digital display confirmed my worst fears, one o’clock in the afternoon and only 10°. I found a spot out of the bitter wind and actually got warm but you can’t see a city sitting down unless you are cooped up in a vehicle – not my scene. I like to walk, explore and discover the unexpected. Things got worse: the skin on my feet started to crack up and the next day not only did I have sore, bleeding feet but also a sore throat. I persevered.

After a day of sun but little warmth I decided to head south to Jerez the next day. I spent ages looking for the tourist office that I located after tramping through most of the streets and seeking directions from half of the residents. Please note that it is not where the Lonely Planet or the road signs say. They have moved it away from the centre and kept it a secret from the locals! All I wanted was bus routes! After visiting stables and watching the magnificent Andalucian horses being put through their paces I could walk no further so found a bench in the sun and escaped into fantasy with Harry Potter, supplied by a very thoughtful friend.

That night my nose turned into a tap and I shook from head to feet as my cold took it course. It was no good I wanted to go home so next day I headed, defeated, back to Malaga to try and get an earlier flight. There was nothing till the following morning so I got a room near the station ready for a 6am start. Hi Ho. This trip had definitely been jinxed. That evening they decided to knock down the corridor around my room. I do not speak Spanish but I think they got the idea of what I was saying!!! How could my timing be so bad, hitting the week when all Europe was hit by abnormal and extreme weather conditions. Needless to say, on arriving back at Gatwick it was a pleasant sunny autumn day, warm for the time of year……. Harry Potter was great fun…..

Poor sun-starved Gill, who wants the second HP now – my little Beetle heart goes out to her! If you would like to contact Gill, to commiserate, she can be reached on:gill.ward@virgin.net

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

This report of the last London meeting on the 1st December is written by Padmassana.

John Hornbuckle’s wonderful slides took us around Chile. He showed us the wildlife and landscape of the country. Though John began with a slide of an owl, this was a topical Harry Potter joke, he went on to show us photos of birds that can only be found in the Andes and animals like the Vicuna. He went on to tell us about Arica, which until recently was the driest place on earth, Lauca National Park in northern Chile. We saw photos of snow-capped mountains and volcano’s. John’s slides then showed us the salt area of Salar de Uyuni and down to the far south via the hot springs of El Tatio.

After the break, Denise Heywood showed us Vietnam, without too many references to the war. She explained that over 60% of the population were born after 1975 and showed us photo’s of the children, who are Vietnams future. Denise showed us colonial French architecture, such as the Opera House, which is a copy of the one in Paris and towns like Hoi An and Na Trang. She also showed us the Cu chi tunnels left over from the war, which are difficult for westerners to enter. These tunnels led into underground schools, hospitals that the Vietnamese operated in during the war, there are hundreds of miles of tunnels going as far as the Cambodian border.

Coming on 5^th January: Four Mini-Talk Presentations and New Year Party – a programme of four twenty minute talks, offering a format that aims to offer the opportunity for different, specialist and off beat subjects and first time speakers.

After the meeting we will be having our annual New Year Party, please bring a contribution of food and non-alcoholic drink

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Gardenat 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

Hello Globies! Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Due to holiday parties, travel and cheer, we will not be holding a December Globies meeting. We WILL resume on 5^th January with a treat! Matt Link, an Associate Editor from Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel will be our guest speaker.

Matt will be giving a slide show and discussing the sites and culture of Ghana (the most popular country for American tourists in West Africa), with notes on spending time with the Muslims who live and work there, as well as important sites i.e., visiting a mud mosque and much more. He plans to make us feel a part of the Ghanaian culture and will be bringing some special props to help with our immersion! Matt has been travelling since the age of twelve, when he boarded his family’s boat for five years and sailed around the Pacific including the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand, where he attended high school. He hasn’t stopped since, having visited dozens of countries in Eurasia and living for a number of years in both Hong Kong and Hawaii, where he ran kayak tours and published the guidebook Rainbow Handbook Hawaii. He now lives in New York where he works with Arthur Frommer as Associate Editor of the magazine Budget Travel. Keep an eye out of this Sunday’s (12/16) travel section of the LA Times and Miami Herald and a few other regional papers – Matt’s account of his trip to Ghana will appear in Frommer’s column! On January 4th, he’s a guest on The Early Today show (and they mean early – 4:30-5:30 AM!) on NBC.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. See you all soon!

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 154 Christopher Street(btw Greenwich Stand Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.