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
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.. Phil Koniotes, 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 1st September. 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/
Barbara Brooks, Committee member of the Globetrotters Club has arranged a stay at a gorgeous hostel: Alstonefield Youth Hostel, Gypsey Lane, Alstonefield, Derbyshire DE6.2FZ. There are five 4 bedrooms complete with en-suite facilities in two fabulous barns overlooking Dovedale. Lots of walking and fresh air on offer! The cost of accommodation only is £20 per person for the two nights. This offer is available to anyone, Globetrotter members and non members alike!
For more info, e-mail Barbara, She hopes you can join her!!
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.
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
A quick reminder that the Globetrotters annual 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.
Tom Freemantle, a regular at the London Globetrotter meetings has planned a walking trip – 2,500miles with a mule from the Mexican border to New York following the journey of his ancestor Lieutenant Colonel Arther Freemantle in 1863, crossing America at the height of the Civil War.
He is aiming to raise $20,000 for Covenant House New York – a crisis shelter in New York for runaway and homeless children. It helps youth of all ages with everything from free food and medical facilities through to education and job training. If you can help, please e-mail Tom on tomfreo@hotmail.com
The latest details on the appeal and the journey will be on the web site www.mini-mule.co.uk
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
From Paul (Webmaster) Roberts: he says that Budapest is a great place to be on August 20; it is their national holiday. Paul says that you can see the hand of St Stephen being paraded around the streets in its silver box. There are fireworks over the Danube and, (strange, this, Ed) you can also catch the Hungarian grand prix (19 Aug) which is very affordable.
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?
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
The beetle always carries a Maglite and stores lunchtime or dinner paper serviettes in pockets as emergency paper for the bathroom.
Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Karen from L.A found Bhutan to be interesting but a tad expensive. She says she had to pay $225 a day per person to stay in substandard hotels and eat substandard food. Although she feels it was not worth the money, she is glad that she did it.
Meeting news from our branches around the world.
Bradt Guides have offered to give away a Bradt Guide Book on Madagascar for the best travel story, tip or info. Contact Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Marion Bull gave us a great slide show and hints and tips about how to make good slides. For example, she advises photographers to take slides which do not have large expanses of background or foreground. We learned that travel editors usually want to see slides of people, and Marion gave us some hints and tips about this but showed us some of her favourites which were more slides of objects and landscapes. Marion can be contacted through her website:
Gina Corrigan gave us a talk accompanied by some wonderful slides showing the people and costumes of the Miau in South West China. We also learned a little about the efforts made by the Chinese government to try to preserve some of this amazing heritage. Gina is a photographer/traveller who runs specialist textile tours to China. Gina can be contacted by e-mail on: gina.occidor@virgin.net
Next on June 2nd
Martin Featherstone travelled to Namibia in February with the intention of seeing the elusive Desert Elephants. Whilst he found the elephants, he lost his bearings and spent two days amongst the beautiful coloured sands of the Namibia Desert. Having successfully extracted himself from that scrape, he was then chased by a bull elephant, which came through his campsite! Martin will show us slides from his Namibia trip in a presentation entitled The Red Deserts of Namibia – A tale of two Stupidities.
Jose Navarro will be talking about his epic journey across Mali entitled Two Wheels to Timbuktu – 2000km cycling across Mali. Jose did this rather amazing journey on his “Interactive Bicycle”. The “Interactive Bicycle” was awarded an “On the Line” Millennium Award by the Millennium Commission. On the Line is a registered charity founded by Oxfam GB, Channel 4 and WorldWide Fund UK with the aim of bringing together people and communities in the eight countries which lie on the Greenwich Meridian Line.
The Beetle spent some time beetling around in Zanzibar last year and noted that unsuspecting travellers at the Dar es Salaam port were being told by unscrupulous individuals that they had to pay an additional $10 or $15 for port tax. This is completely untrue as port tax is included in the price of the ticket. You now know what to say to these vermin!
For anyone based in or within easy reach of London, the Globetrotters Club is holding its Annual General Meeting. It takes place at 1.15pm. Any Globetrotter member is welcome to attend. The Chair of the Globetrotter Club will be on hand to discuss events from the past year, achievements and what we hope to achieve in the coming year.
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, off Russell Street, Covent Garden WC2B 5EZ, (behind the Fortune Theatre) in at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month.
Emma needs you!!! Only 8 people have replied to Emma so far and she needs 90 contestants!!! If you live in the UK, are knowledgeable about travel and countries, and would like to be a contestant on the Geo Quiz – it goes out on the National Geographic Cable Channel, then contact Emma: thomase@meridiantv.com or call her on 02380 712 118.
Bob Fisher, contributing editor to Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel online & Magazine had the undivided attention of our New York branch, writes New York Chair, Laurie Blumenfeld. He gave great insights as to how to break into the travel writing industry, as well as what to think about in terms of shaping a story when on the road. He then went on to share some fascinating stories about his life while living in Japan, India and London. The fun really began when a spontaneous round-table chat started about travelling in Asia. Once again, Bob gave some helpful hints: did you know you can buy an air-purifier to wear around your neck? Handy for the polluted roads in Nepal and India! Bob can be contacted on: email:BobHaru@aol.com.
Next month, by popular demand, Laurie will be holding a travel networking session so you can ask and answer each other’s travel questions!
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 4pm.