Category Archives: Sidebar

Fave Restaurant

Anne writes in: I've been living in Mexico City for 8 months and I'd like to communicate to all the travellers to Mexico the address of a great French Bistro located in one of the most popular area of Mexico City, la Condesa.

Its atmosphere is warm and friendly, and the menu counts with delicious French and Mediterranean specialties. Moreover, the restaurant presents

fantastic photo exhibitions by Mexican and foreign artists, which change every 2 months, the photos being auctioned to the benefit of children living on the streets of Mexico City.

The prices are affordable (32 pesos for soups and salads, from 48 to 165 pesos for main dishes), the service excellent.

To get there:

PHOTO BISTRO Calle Citlaltepetl No. 23 (at the corner of Avenida Amsterdam, between Ozuluama and Campeche, close to the Chilpancingo metro station) Col. Hipodromo Condesa Mexico, D.F.

Tel : 5286 5945 Fax : 5211 9806 Email : photobistro@att.net.mx

10% tax on US $ in Cuba

If you want to change US dollars in Cuba, you will now have to pay a 10% tax on exchange. The move will affect Cuban citizens who receive money from relatives overseas as well as foreign visitors. The Cuban government said the move was a response to the toughening of the US embargo on Cuba wanted by the Bush administration. Cubans in the US can now only visit the island once every three years and can only send money to their immediate relatives. Cuba made US dollars legal tender a decade ago after the collapse of the Soviet Union forced it to accept foreign capital and legalise some forms of private enterprise. Expect a foreign exchange black market to appear.

Globetrotters Travel Award

Under 30? 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!!


Airline Responsible for Death

A US appeals court ruled that an airline that forced an elderly woman to check a bag with her medical devices must bear responsibility for her subsequent death after losing the bag. A lower court ruled in 2002 that Americans Airlines parent company AMR and BWIA International Airways should pay USD$226,238.81 to Caroline Neischer's relatives because she died soon after her bag was lost. Mrs Neischer’s said it was the first case of its kind. “The significance of the case is that never before has an airline been held liable for the death of a passenger caused by delayed or missing baggage.” Mrs Neischer, who spent most of her life in her native Guyana, died at age 75 after flying from Los Angeles to Guyana in 1997. After Mrs Neischer transferred from an American Airlines flight in New York, a ground agent forced her to check a bag that contained a breathing device to treat her respiratory problems. The agent promised she would be given the bag immediately upon arriving in Guyana. However, the bag was lost and Neischer died days later.

Fave Websites

If you are interested in forest conservation, then take a look at this: http://forests.org/

This website provides news from around the world on issues in countries about the protection of forests to volunteer positions.

Also, spotted by Padmassana: Christopher Rogers

He does some fabulous pictures of London, showing all the buildings, they come with a “Key” so you can pick places, buildings etc out.

Eurostar to Close Waterloo

You got used to catching the Eurostar from London Waterloo to Paris or Brussels? Well, in 2007, all cross channel trains will no longer use Waterloo station, which was opened in 1993 at a cost of £130 million. (Note, Waterloo was the scene of one of France’s greatest military defeats in 1825!) Instead the Eurostar will start from St. Pancras station in north London and a depot near Stratford, east London, that has yet to be built. The decision was made because Eurostar believes the cost of running two London bases would be too much.

More US Security

Air passengers flying to the US may have to board their planes an hour before take-off to allow for more rigorous security checks. US Homeland Security undersecretary Asa Hutchinson said the current practice of airlines giving the names of passengers to US officials 15 minutes after take-off did not make sense. Officials want the information earlier so they can check travellers' details against those of suspects on their security watch lists before the plane is in the air, he said.

The airline industry responded by saying any proposals needed careful discussion, adding that they could cause problems with connecting flights and increase the number of passengers who book seats on flights and then fail to show up.

Under a deal signed in May 2004, the United States is able to access personal information on every passenger flying from the 25 European Union countries, and since October 2004 most visitors to the United States have needed scans of their faces and fingers taken under its new US-VISIT program.

Travel Jokes

On landing, the Stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have.”.

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane”.

”Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”.

So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

  1. Bahrain
  2. Japan
  3. Saudi Arabia
  4. Somalia
  5. Burundi

For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.

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

Mt St Helens Risk

Scientists have warned that Mount St Helens volcano in Washington state is likely to erupt again very soon.  Federal authorities are evacuating everyone from a five-mile radius around the mountain.  In 1980, 57 people were killed in an eruption.

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Fancy a Trip into Space?

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has signed a £14m agreement which will allow passengers to travel into space.  Branson has commissioned five “spaceliners” built in the US by the team behind the SpaceShipOne vehicle.  The rocket plane will became the first privately developed carrier to go above 100km in June 2005.  It will cost around £100,000 to go on a “Virgin Galactic” spaceliner, and the first flights should begin in about three years' time.

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New Tunnel under the Bosporus

Work on a tunnel and rail system under the Bosporus Strait connecting Europe and Asia in has just started in Istanbul.  The tunnel will be 13.7 kilometres long, (8.5 mile) tunnel and 1,400 meters of the tunnel will be underwater.  The Bosporus Strait, a 32 km waterway connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, separating European Turkey from Asian Turkey.  It bisects Istanbul as it flows by historic Ottoman castles, mosques and parkland.  The tunnel will become the third link between the city's European and Asian sides.

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Electronic Ticketing

Paperless and ticketless bookings made more attractive by incentives, discounts and offers of air miles are fast becoming the way to travel.  Airlines are planning to stop issuing paper tickets in the next three years, a move that could save the industry up to $3 billion a year in running costs, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).  Some carriers are already ahead of the game: In the past year, more than 18 million customers have used e-ticketing services on Continental Airlines.  The move isn’t limited to airlines, hotel chains such as the Hilton, InterContinental, Sheraton, and Hyatt, are starting to automate processes too.  In Malaysia, you can make air ticket enquiries by SMS to a travel agent and in the case of budget carrier AirAsia you can book tickets by SMS.

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French Card Fraud

France has been ranked as the place where British holidaymakers are most likely to become victims of credit card fraud.  Barclaycard’s annual world fraud index shows that France is the top credit card fraud hotspot, accounting for 43% of spending on stolen cards.  Second is the USA, 3rd Spain, 4th Ireland and 5th Germany.

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New Iran Island Resort

Iran is to build a 1.7 billion euro ($2.0 billion) luxury tourism project on the Gulf island of Kish designed to rival nearby tourism hotspot Dubai.  Kish is a small island with relaxed rules on women's dress and mingling of the sexes although women are still required to wear headscarves and cover their bodies when swimming, and alcohol consumption is banned.

The “Flower of the East” project , Iran’s largest tourism project since the 1979 Islamic revolution is aimed at attracting foreign money and diversifying its economy away from oil.  A German company has won the bid to develop a tourism, recreational and residential complex in KishIsland which lies some 125 miles (200 km) away from Dubai to the south. 

The complex will include a 7-star hotel to rival Dubai's 7-star Burj al-Arab, a marina, 27-hole golf course, sports clubs, shopping malls and 4,700 luxury apartments.  The project is largely aimed at Iranian expatriates seeking a holiday home in their native land, will be completed by the end of 2009.

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New Airport Planned for Madrid

Spain, which attracts 50 million tourists a year, is building its first private airport 200 km (125 miles) south of Madrid in a bid to lure budget airlines away from the capital and develop a deprived mining area.  The airport is expected to be operational from the second half of 2006, is being built on the plains of La Mancha, best known for Cervantes's Don Quixote and will be named after the windmill-tilting knight. 

The new airport has been nicknamed “Madrid's Luton” after the British airport outside London which challenges London's Heathrow and Gatwick, particularly in the budget flight market. The Don Quixote airport will try to woo low cost airlines with lower tariffs and flexible timetables. A high-speed train link connects Ciudad Real with central Madrid in 45 minutes, making it a viable alternative to the capital.

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Tours to Iraq

Budding British travel operator Don Lucey is proposing to offer tours to Iraq.  Never mind the troops, killings and kidnappings, Don Lucey, a former soldier and policeman who worked in Iraq in 2003 has set up Bann Tours in Swindon, western England. “It has a lot to offer, a lot of history. It's not just all war and people killing each other. Obviously terrorists scare a lot of people, but people like myself want to prove that they are not in control,” he said in a telephone interview.

 

Lucey said tourism in Iraq had to start somewhere, and that he and his clients were determined to be the catalyst. The 10-day trip, which will take in some ancient sites, costs 1,200 pounds ($2,192) per person, not including insurance.

 

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