Emily Ainsworth – 2008 RGS/BBC Journey of Lifetime winner – The Romance of Reality: An Exploration of Mexico from the Inside Out, Travelling with a Family Circus

In 2008, Emily Ainsworth, a 22-year-old Oxford graduate in English, ran away to the circus in Mexico. “No tigers here, because Humberto’s niece got eaten by one of them, but they do have an elephant which plays the harmonica. She’s decided that she doesn’t like me. She picked me up with her trunk, just like they do in cartoons, but instead of putting me on her head, she threw me in the mud and tried to stamp on me. I was very unimpressed. But I think she’s behaving badly because her tamer ran away the other night…” As Emily and the circus hopped from city to city, working through the night to pitch on the scrubby hinterlands, she learnt more about the role of transformation in the circus and the people who worked there. Characters included the female circus performer who danced her way through the evening shows, and then worked for her mothers’ quesadilla stall until the early hours, to fund her degree in international relations. For five generations audiences have paid their pesos to watch performers under the patched canvas of the Circo Padilla family’s tent. Emily was lucky enough to see what went on when the curtain fell and the lights went off.

See more details via http://www.rgs.org

Tracey Murray – From Bauhaus to Bastei, Travels in the former East Germany

Globetrotter’s very own Committee member Tracey Murray took us on a trip around the former Eastern Germany to visit a number of World Heritages sites and parks. Tracey described how easy it was to use buses, trains & cycles to view the many sites and showed us some excellent photos. I think we got to hear more interesting aspects about that region than we expected – Tracey obviously enjoyed the architecture, the surprisingly stunning national park scenery and even managed to sneak in references to local breweries & public houses. The audience were also impressed that Tracey put together this excellent talk at very short notice, as one of the booked speakers had to pull out at very short notice !

Details of the forth coming meetings at the London branch, September to December 2009, can be found at https://globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

The London branch 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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the web site: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Picture courtesy of Derek Clark : Perfect Pitch

Hi Ant

I’ve been receiving the newsletters for awhile now and thoroughly enjoy them.

I’m no globetrotter myself. I went to Switzerland three times in the early ’60’s and have been to Paris twice in the late ’90’s. I don’t like flying and find that I have no great desire to visit foreign parts although I have a vague plan to travel the Roman roads of Europe when my wife retires in four years time.

I am, however, very interested in the history of England and Wales and I travel about cycle camping. I am no great shakes as a photographer – I use my compact camera as a diary – but here is a photo from last year that won me a prize in the Perfect Pitch section of the Camping and caravan Club competition.

I hope that is of interest

cheers

Derek Clark

August 2009

Hello,

I am contacting you regarding CarolineÂ’s Rainbow Foundation new website, we are re launching the site after six years in operation. We are registered UK charity working to raise awareness of the importance of safe travel to young people, whether they are going aboard for independent travel, gap years, organised tours or simply visiting a different country.

We established Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation after the tragic death of Caroline Stuttle in 2002 in Bundaberg Australia whilst travelling on her gap year. Aimed at young travellers, CRF works with the education sector, The Foreign Office and other organisations, trusts and charities to provide easy accessible and helpful information about safe travel. In particular the charity provides information about personal safety abroad and encourages young people to recognise and prioritise lifeÂ’s values where ever they maybe in the world.

We are looking to give specific travel/personal safety information to a country or city in our Global Guide; other new features include podcasts and travel stories with safety tips, our “Time of Your Life” DVD and recorded presentations we give in schools and colleges to promote travel safety awareness and the importance of following your dreams.

The new layout for our site means that it is a great foundation for the expansion of travel safety information, the Global Guide will only grow, all our information has been gathered by researchers that have travelled to the places and experienced the culture and local customs. If you would like to contribute to the site in the way of personal and travel safety information please contact us.

Kind regards

Richard Stuttle

Founder

PO BOX 216

YORK

YO42 4WZ

Email: richard@carolinesrainbowfoundation.org

Website: www.carolinesrainbowfoundation.org

Registered Charity No 1095766

Uk Company Registration No: 4525003

Several things in the May 2009 Globetrotters E Mail Newsletter (besides what countries I liked, disliked etc Ha!) interested me. I would be interested in hearing other Globetrotters likes, dislikes etc..

Finding out from Jennifer Barclays visit to Tilos (Greek Island) and her telling that years ago Elephants, when water was shallow, came over from Africa to this island. They became smaller to adapt and they became just one half of a metre tall (I would like to know their diet). As I had just read Culture Shock, Saudi Arabia by Harvey Tripp and Peter North (which was excellent) it interested me that you get to hear of it in England and can see the TV series.

I am doing a lot of travel reading but not much travelling.

Thanks for remembering me. Mac

The Cook Islands chapter from Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now online at http://cookislands.southpacific.org/

I updated the information during a visit to Rarotonga after the 2004 edition was published, so whatÂ’s on the web is more up to date than whatÂ’s in the printed book. The 125 pages of my Cook Islands Travel Guide contain 15 detailed island maps and town plans, plus dozens of photos and line drawings. Many of the pictures are from my most recent trip while others appeared in previous editions of my guidebook.

The material has been specially adapted for the internet and I removed guidebook-style details such as telephone and fax numbers which can be easily checked online. The accommodations listings are grouped according to price with six pages devoted to Rarotonga and four for Aitutaki, organized geographically.

There are clear maps of Aitutaki Atoll, Aitutaki Island, Arutanga, Atiu, Avarua, Mangaia, Manihiki, Manuae, Mauke, Mitiaro, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rarotonga, Suwarrrow, and the Cook Islands.

Navigation is easy with top and side menus, plus a full site map. Many of the maps are clickable to more detailed maps and the highlight pages are linked directly to specific references. A search box is also provided.

These features make the site as easy or easier to use than a printed book. This is the seventh of the 15 chapters from Moon Handbooks South Pacific to go online, after the Samoas, Niue, Pitcairn, Tokelau, and Wallis and Futuna.

contact@southpacific.org

Vancouver – CANADA: Save the date for the 6^th annual around-the-world travel adventure competition that crowns The World’s Greatest Travelers. The world’s only open international travel adventure competition known as The Global Scavenger Hunt™ that circles the global over three-weeks, is set to begin April 9^th, 2010, is now accepting applications for the 25 Team limited open competition slots.

What: The Global Scavenger Hunt is the annual around-the-world travel adventure competition that takes Teams on A Blind Date With The World™ while performing culturally-oriented scavenges in off the beaten path destinations.

When: April 2010, over three-weeks between April 9^th and May 1^st. Teams will travel from the West Coast to the East Coast-–the long way!

Who: Limited to 25 Teams of two. Entry fee include all international airfare, First Class hotels, 40% of meals and special event gear. Travelers will be interviewed for suitability! Single travelers are welcome to apply. Travelers from 45 nations have previously applied for this truly international travel competition.

Prizes: The World’s Greatest Travelers™ trophy and crown. Winners are invited back to defend their title for FREE.

Where: A circumnavigation of the globe that touches down in at least 10 countries; that may include: Peru, Brazil, Japan, China, Cambodia, India, Jordan, Morocco, Kenya, Portugal, Greece and Italy. (These are only potential 2010 countries as The Global Scavenger Hunt is truly A Blind Date With The World™ for all its participants because travelers won’t know where they are going to until at least 3-hours prior to each departure.

Why: Bragging rights, trophy and Teams will be traveling 1 million kilometer to help raise the $1 million goal for ongoing charity micro-loans and elementary schools building programs in developing nations like: Kenya, Sri Lanka, Niger, Bolivia, Sierra Leone and Ecuador, among others.

How: For additional information visit GlobalScavengerHunt.com to apply, or call GreatEscape Adventures at 1.310.281.7809.

Press Contact: Pamela Finmark –310.281.7809 or mediarelations@GlobalScavengerHunt.com

Luke Freeman – A Drovers view of Madagascar  Luke’s talk was based on the time he spent with the cattle drovers, who take the long horned cattle from the highlands to markets on the coast. Cattle are currency in Madagascar, they can even be seen on the bank notes. These young men hope to earn enough from this hard existence to set themselves up in life. The Drovers carry only the basic’s, a blanket, polythene sheet which they use when it rains and as a shelter at night, cooking pot and some clothes. They buy food from markets along the way, though often end up having to pay for what their cattle steal from the same markets as well. As well as the obvious hardships, the Drovers also have to deal with local bandits, who raid villages. The Police also have check points where they check the cattle’s “Passports” and paperwork, each cow has its own document and woe betide the drovers if it doesn’t all match up. Luke is an Anthropologist and has come to the conclusion that in many ways the drovers of Madagascar are responsible for helping maintain the country’s cohesion and common language, despite the diverse ethnic make up of the country. One surprising fact about Madagascar is that its population eats more rice per person than any other country on the planet.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3645594.stm for more details…

Our second speaker was Ed Gillespie whose talk was called “Around the World without the aluminium sausage!”. Ed set out to travel around the round with his girlfriend emitting as little carbon as possible. His original idea was to parody Phileas Fogg and go “RTW in 80 ways”, but he soon realised this would involve lots of animals! But in 381 days Ed managed to travel 45,000 miles via 31 countries emitting just 1.8 Tonnes of carbon. He left the UK by ship for Spain, then travelled across Europe by train to Moscow, across Russia to Irkutsk where his Scottish girlfriend was delighted to find Irn Bru being in a supermarket! Through China and then by cargo ship to Japan and Hong Kong, before resorting to buses on the backpacker routes through south east Asia. After a stop in New Zealand to visit his cousins, he travelled by rust bucket across the Pacific to Mexico and buses through Central America, before finding a container ship heading for Dover and home.

Ed is the founder of Futerra http://www.futerra.co.uk/

For the end of the season London meeting, we had the traditional Members’ Slides to entertain us and this time around we had as many new speakers as returning favourites.  All provided the audience with a varied range of excellent journeys and adventures, illustrated with some stunning photos:-

Eric Hayman : slides and memories about the extensive steam rail network in Ireland that he travelled in the 1960’s, often by hitching a ride with the driver. A wonderful insight into times gone by and the life of those who lived nearest to the tracks.

Delia Cardnell : A colourful glimpse of Delia’s trip to Vietnam and especially her interactions with the children and families she met there.

Jacek Obloj : These fascinating portraits from a trip to Morocco showed both Jacek’s interest in the human face but also a close up and intimate look at a colourful and varied people in black & white.

Suneel Kaur : A recent trip to India to visit the Jain temples near Bundi provided the subject for this presentation. History, culture and lots and lots of steps added to the attraction of this ‘off the tourist trail’ site.

Liz Cooper : Beautiful close-up photographs of the insects, birds and animals of Thai and English islands. A timely reminder that it is not always necessary to travel a long way to see beauty in nature. 

Kevin Brackley : A trip to Sweden to practice his yoga gave Kevin a fine opportunity to explore the quirky sculpture & art that seems to litter the urban landscape of Stockholm. Who could miss the Shrek roof decoration or the stickered bin? 

Nick Preston : Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia, was the source of Nick’s inspiration. Waterfalls, Adam Lindsay Gordon, the Three Sisters and lots of leafy bush spoke of sun and warmth and Nick’s love of travel.

Neil Harris : the Crimea. Florence Nightingale, the charge of the Light Brigade, Yalta, Soviet architecture,  beaches and the Russian naval base whose lease is almost up, all came up for a mention. Once a favourite vacation spot for the elite of the USSR, the Crimea is now the summer escape for Ukrainians, with package tourism starting to discover that the beauty & history of the region i.e. a real selling point.

Details of the forth coming meetings at the London branch, September to December 2009, can be found at http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon09it1.html

The London branch 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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Fellow travel enthusiasts Footprint books have generously offered eNewsletter readers a summer surprise to help us all with our travels, whether we’re planning or actually setting off…if you read the following instructions, it should all be fairly self explanatory.  At this point I should say that you should read the fine print and for our non UK based readers, you should make sure you understand any currency & shipping costs, before you place your orders.

The Ant

     “Hello there,

      We would like to offer the readers of your monthly newsletter a discount off our guidebooks – would this be something of interest ?  Footprint would like to offer you an 15% off all their

      guides, all you have to do is:-

• log on to footprinttravelguides.com
• add the item [of your choice] to basket
• proceed to checkout and enter the coupon code, globe15
• click update [and complete the checkout process]

      Best wishes

      Hannah”

Channel 4 (UK) are producing a new landmark documentary series about the growing number of British families putting day-to-day life on hold to see the world with their children.

Through the films we hope to highlight just how rewarding, educational and most importantly possible it is to go travelling with the kids.

Our hope is that the programmes will inspire more parents thinking about this kind of trip to actually take the plunge and get involved around the world. We also want to highlight the positives of this kind of experience has on a family unit and the educational benefit for children. Each family would be left with a unique travel-log of their journey.

We would not plan to be with the family the entire time but would provide them with a camera to record the events with us dropping in at certain key points along the way.

We hope to follow five families in the series and whilst we have already started filming with four we are still looking for one more to be involved who could be leaving anytime up to 2010.

I am trying to cast the net as wide as possible in the search for families and simply want to spread the word so that people can get in touch with me if they are interested.

It’s like a needle in a haystack trying to find people so any suggestion or help however small would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards

Naomi Elkin-Jones

Assistant Producer

Twenty Twenty Television

20 Kentish Town Road

London NW1 9NX

Tel: 0207 2842020

NaomiElkinJones@twentytwenty.tv

Hot off the press the club has just received this email from one of its own speakers – read more and click the link to find out what Peter is up to…The Ant

Dear all,

I spoke at the Globetrotters club [London branch] during the March meeting this year about my Long Ride Home – bicycle journey from Japan-UK. 

I would just like to inform you that on August 16th I am beginning my next major two-wheeled adventure. The Big Africa Cycle is a solo and unsupported expedition from England-South Africa – 15,000 miles and 25 countries, give or take.  I have a website for the trip at www.thebigafricacycle.com – it would be a pleasure to share my experiences with members again on my return [and as I travel along].

Many thanks for your help.

Kind regards, Peter Gostelow

 

Paul Whittle – Land of Gold and Green, a journey through Burma, aka Myanmar. Burma gained its independence in 1948 and since 1962 has been run by the military with an iron rule, the only threat to its continued dictatorship being Aung San Suu Kyi winning the 1990 election, but never being allowed to hold office. The country is 90% Buddhist. Paul showed us the capital Yangon, where the public buses are made from 60 year old truck chassis. From Yangon you can take the steamer up the Irrawaddy river to Mandalay with its Pagodas and Kyaiktiyo gold rock said to be precariously held in place by a hair from Gautama Buddha. Paul travelled around Burma using a hired steam locomotive, which would stop whenever a photo opportunity arose. Paul showed us the beauty of Inlay Lake, with its famous “Jumping Cat” Monastery and also the UNESCO listed Bagan with its 2200 temples.

Brazil Bunch – Tony Annis & five friends (three of the six being Globetrotters’ members) travel across to the western Brazilian state of Acre, in order to spend time with the Ashaninka people and sample life in their communities along the rivers & forests for Peru/Brazil border. Whilst not professional speakers or authors, these enthusiastic travellers showed us a range of adventures as they left the modern state behind and headed up river in a small convoy of powerful motorboats. Whilst not quite Bruce Parry in Amazon, they did get a chance to gain a unique insight into a way of life that is rapidly changing.

Polly Evans – “Mad dogs and an Englishwoman”. Polly travelled to Canada’s Yukon Territory to learn about the Huskies who take part in the 1000 mile Yukon Quest sled race. First Polly spent time with Frank, who invented the race and his son Saul who have 108 Huskies in training. She learned about the dogs, how they each have a personality and like to “live” with their friends and their rather gruesome looking horse meat in hot water diet! The race itself runs from Fairbanks in Alaska, via Dawson where the Mushers have a 36 hour rest, before continuing to the finish at Whitehorse. Each team set out with 14 dogs and are allowed no outside help, though they can drop off injured dogs at “Dog drops” and pick up supplies along the way, though they must finish the race with at least 8 dogs, which the fastest sleds manage in 10 days. During the race Polly watched, a bad storm occurred resulting in the Military having to use helicopters to rescue over 88 dogs and their Mushers. After the race Polly had a go at dog sledding, as she said you end up with lots of photos of dogs behinds!

More information at www.pollyevans.com

Our second speaker was John Mole whose talk was called “I was a potato Oligarch!”. When Russia changed into a free market economy John thought he saw a gap in the market between McDonalds and Pizza Hut, something quintessentially English, his own version of the now defunct “Spud-U-Like” chain to be called “Jackets Moscow”. After getting a grant he set off to try and find the best potatoes Russia could grow, visiting farms, looking at Spuds and learning Russian along the way. Alas John’s plan was thwarted by the Russian Mafia, where everyone from the Police, Fire Brigade, Local council all want paying off, the Russian mafia demanded 10% of his takings, which was the equivalent of 80% of his profit, so the whole thing was a no starter, but made for a great story.

More information at www.johnmole.com/oligarch

For details of the forth coming meetings of the London branch, December 2008 through to July 2009 – http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon09it1.html.

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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Ontario meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Oh, I know – Greece. Hardly globetrotting, says you. But some of the best experiences can be had close to home, if you dig a little deeper. You can go to the other side of the world, coddled in the security of an international community, a set route, your preconceived notions… Or you can take a cheapo Easyjet flight to Rhodes, then an erratic ferry to a quirky little rock in the Med, and you can be surprised by another way of life.

Yesterday, Dimitris the chemistry teacher and I went snorkelling and I asked him about the best places to find octopus. He found one for me, dived down, lifted up the rock, grabbed the little creature and thrust it into my hands underwater. I was giggling so much that I swallowed a big gulp of seawater. Just bigger than a fist, light brown it was, the gentle suckers gripping my hands as it tried to decide if they were a comfortable place to be or not. It decided probably not, blasted black ink at us, and like a cartoon octopus it shot off and into the seaweed.

Tilos has a population of 300 – people that is; though there are probably more goats (the main traffic problem is that the goats like to sit in the middle of the road towards the end of the afternoon when it’s nice and warm). Ferries come here somewhat less than once a day, though we do get the occasional warship or submarine in the harbour, being so close to Turkey. Boosting the local population now as well as a few Brits there are Albanians, Romanians, Bulgarians and Ukrainians. The government offers tax incentives to Greeks to move back to islands with a population this low, and there’s now a primary and high school on the island. Children play on the beach in the afternoon and play football in the square at night, watched over by everyone.

I go snorkelling often in one of the tiny coves where you have to scramble down steep slopes covered in wild thyme and sage and oregano (in antiquity, the island’s herbs were well known for their healing powers) and flowers, since the dry season is only just starting. The rocks in the north-west are volcanic – purple bauxite and white pumice. My favourite fish is the fikopsari, ‘seaweed fish’, which looks to me more like a native spear with eyes, and changes colour in seconds. On the way back, I look out for the big lizard, the agama, scuttling away into the rocks.

My friend Vangelis remembers when the families moved down to Despoti Nero beach in the summer for its fresh water supply which drains into the sea, and they’d grow grapes and figs. Tilos still grows oranges, courgettes, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, though the island is capable of growing much more. You can eat tiny sweet shrimp straight from the sea – or octopus, if you’re a good fisherman, like Dimitris. You can gather herbs and other edible plants from the wilderness of the island.

Four and a half thousand years ago, when civilisations on Crete and Santorini were thriving, Tilos had the last European elephants. They came from Africa 45,000 years ago, crossing the sea when it was shallower, and living on an island evolved into a dwarf species just one and a half metres tall. The bones of the last remaining forty elephants were found in Harkadio Cave, probably trapped during an eruption of the volcano on the next island, Nisyros. You can see a skeleton of mother and baby in the tiny museum in Megalo Horio.

The European Commission has helped to turn Tilos into a Special Protection Area for endangered and rare wildlife such as Bonelli’s Eagle and Eleonora’s Falcon; historically it’s been an important stopover for migrating birds such as Bee-eaters in spring and autumn, and is visited by monk seals and sea turtles. Vangelis says before the buildings in Livadia there was a wetland, and it was fantastic to watch all the birds landing here.

People do what they can to make ends meet here, since no business can be very busy. Some keep bees or collect grass for hay. Vangelis keeps goats (‘I go to kill two animals,’ he said, one day when he got an order) and makes charcoal in the winter when there are no visitors to be bothered by the smoke; he does the slow burning of the wood up on the mountain near a small chapel; in the summer, he’s adapted to the new way of life and sells bottles of water on Eristos beach. Meanwhile, Georgos, the waiter in Irina, the restaurant named after the island’s famous ancient poetess, works as a medic, going around to visit the old people who live on their own, taking their blood pressure. The husband of the lady who looks after the museum is a roaming barber on a motorcycle.

Things get busier in July and August. The festival of Saint Pandelimon (July 25-27) culminates in feasting and traditional dancing at the monastery on the desolate cliffs of Profitis Ilias, and there’s less traditional dancing till the early hours at a bar in an abandoned village, and hundreds of families from Italy and Greece camp for free on Eristos beach. But it’s hard to beat the months of eesikheea, tranquillity.

In some ways it’s a scrappy little island. There’s no recycling, and cars and tractors get abandoned wherever they stop working. Oil gets onto the beach from passing tankers, and stray cats leap out of rubbish bins leaving plastic bags and bottles in their wake. Plastic washes up onto the beaches, and there are always goat droppings. Roads get bulldozed in whenever someone wants to build a house, and the rule on building no more than two stories high has been bypassed. Meanwhile the new museum near Harkadio Cave has been half-built for three years now, and its shiny marble floor is covered with goat droppings. Everything, here, is for the goats.

If you want pretty perfection, go to Symi or Halki. But if you want the freedom of a wild, ancient rock with a mysterious past and a slow and simple present, Tilos inspires. I love the fact that there are sheep in the fields on the edge of the beach. That’s how it should be.

To find out more about Jennifer and her travels see

Jennifer Barclay once lived in Greece for a year, teaching English in Athens and cleaning hotel rooms in Santorini, and has visited regularly ever since. Her first book is Meeting Mr Kim: Or How I Went to Korea and Learned to Love Kimchi (Summersdale, 2008).