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!!
The winner of last month’s Frommer’s Guidebook on Spain Moon guide is: Azusa Nakamura congratulations!
This month, win a Rough Guide guidebook on Los Angeles. See www.roughguides.com
for info on Rough Guides.
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research: try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.
Four giant squid, one of which is said to be the length of a bus – 12 metres long – have been washed up on the northern Asturias coast of Spain. Spain’s marine agency believe that naval exercises have been causing shock waves that have contributed to their deaths, although the Spanish navy deny this. Giant squid, as in the monster that attacked Captain Nemo’s Nautilus in the Jules Verne adventure 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is the world’s largest invertebrate and lives at depths of up to 2,000 meters (6,562 feet).
1. Austria: Vienna
2. Ethiopia: Adis Abbaba
3. Mauritius: Port Louis
4. Swaziland: Mbabane
5. Vanuatu: Port Vila
Due to the unseasonably hot weather Europe has been facing over the summer months, the Danube has fallen to its lowest level for over 120 years. This is normally bad news as it prevents the usual convoys of ships – tugs barges pulling barges from travelling between the Black Sea and the rest of Euope. However, in one stretch of the river, between Serbia and Romania, this has revealed the most amazing find: wrecks from the second World War of German warships, once Hitler’s Danube Fleet.
Karrimor are pleased to announce to all Globetrotters Club members (please note, club members only and not Including sale goods) a 25% discount through their factory shop. They offer a mail order service and all products can be found on our website www.karrimor.com
Further details are avalible in Globe or our online members area
We are a couple in our mid 50’s in Australia. We are experienced campervan travellers who wish to travel in UK during mid April 2004 – mid August 2004. We are looking for a campervan/motorhome exchange site. We have a Toyota hi-Ace LWB 2/3 berth hi-top & looking for a similar exchange. Can any e-newsletter reader help with a site or we would not mind a private hire arrangement. Nadia, e-mail: nadiak@picknowl.com.au
Gudbjorg offers his services to e-newsletter readers. If you are planning to visit Iceland, he can arrange a variety of trips. He is a trained tour guide, has transport and can find suitable accommodation in Iceland. He says: “be among the first to experience the West fjords in Iceland, where hardly any tourists ever visit. For more information, contact Gudbjorg Bragadottir on: guggabraga@visir.is
We are looking for help with a programme we’re making for BBC2 called 1001 Things to Improve Your Life. Would you be interested in being filmed? The show is about making the best of modern life, and we want to feature tips on how to improve things when you travel. We’re keen to get some really good insider information in this area. It may be that you know a fab way of keeping flies off in a hot climate, or the essential carry-on items for a long haul flight…or something more fun and original! We want to hear from really knowledgeable, enthusiastic, amateurs – quirky characters – to actually show us their tips which we will film. The tips should be unusual with perhaps a sense of magic, clever, or something most people will be delighted by. Please contact Sarah on 0207 684 1661 or e-mail: sarahb@ideallondon.com
Anyone planning a few days stay there. Globetrotter Ashley recommends a newly built ‘penthouse’ above a village type shop 2km from centre in Mysore. There is a sitting room, dining room with breakfast bar tea coffee and toast making facilities, double bedroom with mosquito nets, hot water geezer and roof terrace. The charming family who own the shop will cook meals (full breakfast 30 rupees) Indian dinner 50 rupees. Cost for 2 people is 750 rupees per day. Tel Mysore(0821) 450483. I will be happy to e-mail more details and map of how to get – Ashley@indiarail.worldonline.co.uk
Our webmaster spotted this: an on line travel magazine for more mature travellers, with a guide book, links directory and travel article library. For example, the travel article section includes information on bird, nature and ildlife, cruises and trains, Haaii, the Med, European travel, Chinese and Asian cultures. See:
The World Health Organsation (WHO) says that affordable and effective treatment against malaria should be available by about 2006. More than one million people, mostly children under the age of five are killed each year by malarial parasites. The new treatment is based on the plant qinghaosu, or sweet wormwood, which Chinese doctors have recognized for centuries as having anti-malarial properties. Another component of the new treatment, pyronaridine, was also first developed in China and has been proven effective in treating malaria in the Hunan and Yunan provinces, according to WHO. The new medicine could be taken as a single tablet dose and appears to be well tolerated by most patients. there’s also a big problem with forging of these pills, as the plant only produces the drug when grown in parts of china.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has just issued a travel warning about the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
There has been no recent history of terrorism in Trinidad and Tobago, although an Islamic group, the Jamaat Al Muslimeen, attempted to overthrow the government by force in 1990.
We believe Trinidad and Tobago to be one of a number of countries where there may be an increased terrorist threat. British nationals should exercise vigilance, particularly in public such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls.
Whether you’re looking for – independent travel, small-group expeditions, adventure sports, ideas or simply inspiration – from classic walks, treks and safaris to the thrill of adventure sports plus all the latest equipment will be at Manchester 1st and 2nd November at G-Mex and 16th to 18th January 2004 at Olympia. The Ticket Hotline is: 0870 060 019 or visit: Adventure Show
Aviation enthusiasts, get ready! Air France is set to auction 200 parts from its retired Concorde fleet at Christie’s Paris auction room in October. After 27 years of service, everything from the famous nose cone to smaller pieces of memorabilia will be for sale. The proceeds will go towards children's causes supported by Air France. As a price guide, the famous drooping nose cone is estimated at EUR10,000 (USD$11,000) to EUR15,000 but prices for other mementoes, such as photos and models are as low as EUR20. There are no reserve prices, so everything must go.
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!!
London based human rights group Amnesty International has openly criticised the government of the Maldive Islands and asked them to end what it calls systematic political repression. Amnesty says torture, unfair trials and abusive power by the security forces are endemic in the Maldives, contrasting somewhat from their image of romantic holidays on beautiful coral atoll islands with white sandy beaches.
Amnesty are asking for an urgent radical reform of the criminal justice system. One opposition website has said that the security forces detained more than 100 people, but other sources put the number lower.
A Sri Lankan teacher who spent three months in jail in the Maldives last year said it was common for inmates to be tortured – hung upside down on bars and beaten on their feet or submerged head first in water. He said after the beatings, the guards would throw sugar on the prisoners so they'd be bitten by ants in their cell, and he said political prisoners were kept in the same cells as ordinary criminals, where powerful lights would be kept on to make sleep difficult.
Our webmaster likes: the Theban Mapping Project a website that allows you to go on an interactive tour of the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, complete with film and commentary, explore the Theban necropolis and find out more about the history of the Valley of the Kings, its tombs and Thebes today.
UNESCO has hailed as “a major step forward” the pledge made by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) – comprising 15 of the world’s largest mining and metal producing companies – not to explore or mine in World Heritage sites. The sites include Kakadu National Park (Australia), Kakadu National Park (Indonesia), Huascaràn National Park (Peru), Huascaràn National Park (Spain), and the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park (South Africa).
Three US airlines have been fined $750,000 between them over failure to offer adequate facilities to passengers with disabilities. America West, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines were found not to have provided enough space for storing wheelchairs on their flights.
Australian airline, Qantas, has denied reports that it is considering arming its planes with anti-missile devices.
Australia's second largest airline Virgin Blue has unveiled a new low cost carrier, Pacific Blue. The airline will be based at Christchurch in New Zealand and plans to start flying on February 1 next year. It aims to offer heavily reduced fares on routes to Australia and South Pacific destinations.
Bankrupt United Airlines has announced that it intends to launch a low-cost carrier. It will be competing with Frontier, JetBlue and Southwest, in the US and Ryanair in the UK all of whom have grown quickly despite the economic downturn. The new airline, not named as yet will initially fly from its Denver hub to Reno, Nevada, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New Orleans and Tampa. Tickets will go on sale in November.
British Airways have planned 20 farewell Concorde flights between Saturday, October 18 and Friday October 24. The last flight on which customers can buy seats will be the BA001 London Heathrow to New York JFK flight on Thursday, October 23. Thinking of taking a final Concorde trip? The one way trip between London and New York costs £4,350 ($7,165) and the round trip is £8,292. ($13,658).