Win a Frommer’s guidebook on Seattle 2003. See www.frommers.com for info on Frommer’s guidebooks.
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.
The winner of last month’s Moon guide is Andrew Hindley.
Some thoughts by Padmassana, likening travel to yoga – or the other way round!
He says: “When you travel you are thinking about what you are seeing, where you are going to stay, how you are going to get there, the people you are with. You are absorbed in where you are at that moment in time, not thinking about the past or far into the future. In yoga you are thinking about the practice, the breath, the foot positions and the bandhas. As with travelling, you have so much to think about, you are absorbed in that moment.
In both yoga and travel, you are enjoying being where you are at that time and the clarity of mind and general happiness; you leave behind all the daily worries. I think that yoga has become a substitute for travel for me, for the 48 weeks a year when I am at home”.
You can contact Padmassana by sending an email to padmassana@globetrotters.co.uk
The tourism industry has been heavily hit by the current conflict in Iraq. Holidaymakers are avoiding Turkey and Cyprus and indeed, the most of the Mediterranean. Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Turkey, or those that have suffered recent terrorist attacks, such as Kenya, are the worst affected.
Destinations as far away from the war zone as Spain are also suffering. It looks like family bookings are the hardest hit, with six out of ten who went abroad last summer not yet having booked for this year.
People who are travelling appear to be shortening their holidays. The number of fortnight breaks booked in the UK for this year has fallen by half while the number of one week stays is down by only 20 per cent. Travel Trade Gazette deputy editor Ian Taylor said: ‘It is clear Easter is likely to be poor by industry standards and family bookings probably won’t come back in large numbers until a ceasefire.
You can contact Padmassana at padmassana@globetrotters.co.uk
For the first time this spring, visitors will be able to walk the full length of what was the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire. Opening May 23, the 81-mile Hadrian’s Wall Path – one of 13 long-distance National Trails – is a signposted route from Wallsend (Newcastle upon Tyne) in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, via the city of Carlisle.
Though ideal for a week-long walking holiday, 40 short walks have also been created for those with less time or energy.
Farmhouse and bed-and-breakfast accommodation is available near the trail. Tel: 01434 602 505 for more info or take a look at: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrians-wall-path
Source: britainexpress.com
If you are planning to travel to the Sahara in Southern Algeria, you may want to re-think your plans. 8 Austrian tourists have just gone missing, bringing the number of foreign travellers who have disappeared in the region since mid February to 29: 16 Germans (in several different groups), 4 Swiss and 1 Dutch national have all gone missing in the desert since mid-February. All were travelling by motorbike or car and most disappeared between the towns of Ouargla and the towns of Illizi and Djanet in the far south of Algeria. Smugglers and drug traffickers are known to haunt the area around southern Algeria, near the borders with Niger and Libya, and there are fears the tourists may have been kidnapped. Austria has also issued a travel warning for the country, urging all its citizens to leave the country or contact its embassy in the country.
Vineyard tours and wine tasting are planned to mark English Wine Week this spring (May 24 – June 1). There are 379 vineyards and 115 wineries all over the country and English Wine Producers aims to promote wider interest in them. For more information, please see English Wine Producers
Britain’s longest national walking trail, from Minehead in Somerset to South Haven Point near Poole in Dorset, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year.
The 630-mile South West Coast Path takes in steep, ‘hog’s back’ cliffs rising to 800 feet, fishing harbours, pretty villages and unspoilt countryside.
There will be a wide variety of events between April and October, including guided walks, talks and displays of works by local artists, writers, musicians and other performers who have been inspired by the path. For more information, see http://www.swcp.org.uk/
Source: Britain Express
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
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office have just updated its advice for Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, referring to a high risk of terror attacks.
The FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk/travel) warns visitors to the three countries to be highly vigilant in all areas frequented by foreign visitors, including hotels, nightclubs, shopping centres and restaurants.
The website has been changed to underline the continued threat from terrorism: ‘The Foreign Office continues to receive information that Westerners are at risk from terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.
‘In particular there is a potential threat against western interests in Nairobi, Kenya.’
Despite the current warnings, the Foreign Office has stopped short of advising against all non-essential travel to the three countries.
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
Wandsworth Museum
Housed in the old court house, this local museum collection shows the development of social history in the borough of Wandsworth from medieval times to the present day. You can find out about local life in Roman times and learn about the London’s first black mayor. There are plenty of interactive displays and quizzes to keep children occupied and amused.
Address: The Courthouse, 11 Garratt Lane, SW18 Telephone: 020 8871 7074
Admission times: Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm; Sun 2-5pm
Costs: Free
Disabled facilities: Wheelchair access
Web: www.wandsworth.gov.uk
Win a Moon Handbook on Guadalajara. See www.moon.com for info on Moon guidebooks.
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.
The winner of last month’s Moon guide of Guadalajara is Gavin Fernandes, so please let us have your postal address, Gavin.
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!!
0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!
1-3 – not bad
4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!
5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?
The Beetle likes www.bunk.com a directory of university-owned accommodation for all UK universities and colleges, available to rent outside of term time in the UK. It’s a great way of staying cheaply in a town or city. Check it out!
Ever been to Mexico and Guatemala and looked at the wonderful remains of the Mayan culture? Climbed the pyramids and wondered what went wrong? New research indicates that climate change was largely to blame for the collapse of the Mayan Civilisation over 1,000 years ago.
At the height of the Mayan era, around the middle of the 8th Century, there were up to 13 million people, but within 200 years, it was all over, cities ruined and people gone.
Archaeologists have shown that the Mayans built sophisticated systems of canals and reservoirs to collect rainwater for drinking in the hot, dry summers. Now scientists are able to prove that in the 9th and 10th Centuries, probably just before the Mayan civilisation collapsed, there was a long period of dry weather and three intense droughts caused by climate change and this contributed to the fall of the Mayans.
Some 21 million Britons take a package holiday every year, with three-quarters travelling with the “big four” – Thomson (TUI), MyTravel, Thomas Cook (JMC) and First Choice.
The Consumers’ Association surveyed 30,000 of its members and asked them to rank UK tour operators for value for money and quality of service. Most customers of the “big four” tour operators said that they would not recommend the holiday to a friend, when asked by the Consumers’ Association.
Customers of smaller independent travel firms seem to enjoy their holidays the most. More than eight out of 10 customers of travel company Laskarina said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend, for example.
At the other end of the scale, Thomas Cook (JMC), the UK’s oldest travel operator, came last in the Consumers’ Association survey for the second year running.
Only one in five Thomas Cook (JMC) customers said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend.
TUI, which owns the Thomson brand, did the best of the big four – 47% of its customers were satisfied.
However, the average for all independent travel companies surveyed was 66%. “When it comes to quality of service, the smaller independent holiday companies are topping the ratings,” Which? editor Helen Parker said.
Source: bbcnews.co.uk
A major exhibition about the ill-fated transatlantic liner ‘Titanic’ will be on view at London’s Science Museum from May 16 to September.
“Titanic: the Artefact Exhibition” will take visitors on a chronological journey, from the design and construction of the vessel to its maiden voyage in 1912; and from its sinking after collision with an iceberg to the scientific recovery efforts made by RMS Titanic Inc. in the 1990s. These expeditions recovered 6,000 artefacts from the wreck, and hundreds of them – including jewellery, crockery, clothing and personal belongings – will be in the exhibition.
Visitors will be given the name of a passenger, and explore what it was like to be a first- or third-class passenger – and then discover if they were among the 1,523 who died, or the 705 who survived. Full-size recreations of some of Titanic’s interior spaces, including a first-class cabin, also feature. The tragic story comes alive in the iceberg room, where visitors will learn what it was like to be in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Admission prices have yet to be announced – entry to the rest of the Science Museum is free. Tel: 020 7938 8000. Website: The Science Museum
Source: Britain Express
Hawaii depends on tourism for roughly a quarter of its economy, and since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the industry has suffered. Looks like a new US spending bill will help to bring jobs and more cruising opportunities to the Hawaiian Islands and will overturn a federal law that prohibits foreign-built ships from sailing exclusively among U.S. ports.
While many ships sail between the islands – including two of Norwegian ships – they are all foreign-flagged, and are therefore required by U.S. law to put into a non-U.S. port during an American itinerary. The Norwegian ships stop at Fanning Island in Kiribati, about 600 miles (960 kilometres) south of Hawaii. The only cruise ship that offered solely Hawaiian cruises, the US company American Classic Voyages, went bankrupt a few weeks after 9/11. Norwegian Cruise Line (actually Malaysian owned) plan to take up this space and sail exclusively among the islands without a foreign stop.
Reports of a “rampaging beast” in the Dowa district, about 100 km from the capital Lilongwe, has sent at least 4,000 people fleeing four villages to seek refuge at a community hall at the district headquarters. Parks and Wildlife Officer Leonard Sefu said his department believed the mysterious beast could be a rabid hyena but said it was strange for a hyena to terrorise whole villages without being cornered. Dr Matius Joshua, the Dowa District Health Officer said that two old women and a three-year-old baby died when the beast crushed their skulls and ate their intestines and private parts. He said his department was examining the maimed people to establish what the animal could be. All efforts to shoot and kill the animal have so far failed. Dr Joshua said the 16 victims admitted into hospital following the latest attacks sustained various appalling injuries – some of them lost both legs and hands while two have lost both ears and eyes to the beast. One woman lost her mouth and nose.
Source: BBC News